I’ve been doing improv since Fall 1994. I’ve been in a group since 1995 and doing it as a hobby since. When I first became a “Screw” I had a year of sitting on the bench before I could or would be able to jump on stage. That experience was worth it’s weight in gold. In fact, being in Loose Screws was the best experience I could have had living in Hawaii. Truthfully it was the only group I’ve ever been in but based on the tutelage of R. Kevin Doyle, I was able to do everything anyone in the group wanted to try. There was no Second City, Improv Olympics and Annoyance Theater schools of training here, we were able to try all of them and just play.

Times have changed. Loose Screws has different goals and different leaders and we now have Laughtrack Theater, Hawaii’s improv-only theater space and two other well-known improv groups in the mix by the name of On the Spot (OTS) and In Your Face Improv (IYFI). All of the groups (and even the space) has R. Kevin Doyle to thank for the intro to improv but no one really is on the same improv path anymore.

Looking back, and taking the random workshops in town, I am very happy to acknowledge that the wealth of improv learned and the respect for the form (in it’s entirety) that I have has everything to do with what I was able to gleam from the years that I had been with Loose Screws and the teachings of R. I admit it’s made me a bit of a drill sergeant as well. I know what I like and I know what I don’t and I can even tell you why I think it sucked (in detail.)

Today was interesting. We broke up into three groups of four and we all worked on different forms we could possibly put up as our Laughtrack show finale.

We did three rounds.

The first round involved making hybrids of forms that we’ve learned in the class. Two groups  did hybrids of The Bruise and Close Quarters, forms were called Squiggly dot and 8 Quarters aka 2 dollars. And, yes, they were completely the same in concept. It involved doing 5 snapshots of scenes and then in the 5th scene creating the time stamp and event stamp of the Close Quarter’s form. After the 5th scene we count down the scenes back to 1 but in replaying the scene snapshots in order we have to play them out more to figure out how (and make sure) these scenes fit into the world that was created in that 5th scene. In essence they had to have taken place within a 15 feet radius and go no further then 15 minutes in the future or 15 minutes into pre-5th scene time. The last group made a hybrid of Close Quarters called the Omelette and made the snapshots all scenes in close quarters to the source scene.

Round two involved doing the opposite of the forms we had created. Group one did a form called Cause and Effect. It was essentially loose scenes with an action in the predecessor’s scenes that influenced the scene that was done right after. (E.g. Couple complaining about the neighbors making too much noise and the wife calls the cops, next scene – two police operators complaining about stupid 911 calls and about work in general.)

Group three did a loose form. It was called Stop 14 and centered around one character waiting at a bus stop and the various types of people that would walk by or also take the bus – it was very living room-esque – scenes were explored in every other encounter. (E.g. – a woman is going on a date and talking to the man at the bus stop about her clothing and if she looked okay. (scene edit) The girl’s parents are concerned about whether or not the date will go well and have opposing ideas on the daughters chances.)

Group two’s form was called Frittata and did another Close Quarters related form. They did a different opening that involved scene painting and they all played different recurring characters around that location.

Round three involved group two splitting and being added to groups one and three. We then tried to find ways to create openings for the Cause and Effect form. The two openings that came from it were the bus scene where we hear mini-monologues from each of the travelers on the bus. The idea is that we would create one scene from these random snippets and that scene would be the beginning of our cause and effect scenario. The second opening created was the popcorning idea. They took the suggestion and did word association popcorning off of it.

Verdict –

1) Cause and Effect is our form of choice to put up as our Laughtrack finale.

2) We need to find a better name than Cause and Effect for the form.

3) We need to work on an opening to set this up for us.

4) Our brains worked really hard today.

I’m trying to get into the habit of posting something at least once a day. Wish me luck. But head’s up – it could mean more randomness on my part. So I’ll try to focus.

Huh.

Having a Zen moment, my head is empty and I have nothing to grasp on to thought-wise. Funny how zen works, you try to think of something and nothing comes. But when you are actually trying for zen your mind is filled with thoughts. Maybe I should try to zen instead and then I’ll have an epiphany.

Improv Hobby is looking at gaining it’s non-profit status. First step is formation in the State, Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, EIN, and Board Members.

The board that we’re developing is what I’m calling a formation board. It is to fulfill the needs of the non-profit entity with members that are interested in dealing with the organizations formation. We are looking for people in Hawaii, interested in the arts but may not be tied directly to it, in fact it would be preferable if they were a little bit more left brained about the whole process.