SUCKFEST, PART ONE Thursday night the Sidewalk Ends had its second-to-last IO show. It wasn't too heavy on technique, but we enjoyed ourselves (except for Dennis). I played a frugal housewife, thanks to the suggestions from my Annoyance class of what I looked like. It was a fun couple of scenes with Gus. We're the only two on the team that didn't make the schedule cut, and I think that's allowed us to kick back and enjoy the rest of our time at IO. It's true. You have to rehearse as a team. Our show certainly showed a lack of concentration. For as much as I'd like to blame it all on that... we also needed to be more flexible on stage. Our form is trying to morph itself into something different, but some of the team is fighting it and trying to stick to a textbook Harold. It hurts us. Ah well... PORTUGUESE was the suggestion for Friday's Kissing George show. Our first prime time slot at the Playground as a guest ensemble... While the show wasn't perfect and had a few icky clusterfucks, we had a lot of fun and the audience was laughing. The highlight of the night was Simone's deaf girl on a date with Fuzzy. She had a great show (with the Black Sheep as well). I was determined not to be invisible girl again, and tried very hard to get myself on stage. We're still prone to rushing the stage and doing really awkward three/four/five person scenes. I found myself in one early on and worked on not getting stuck in another. It was frustrating - I was pushing myself to get out and do a scene, but also trying not to accidentally clutter up the stage. I found my happy medium later on in the show, with a call back to Simone's deaf girl (I was a blind girl on a date with Marc) and a scene with Emily at a Titanic II audition. Hell, I made Bondo and Schaef laugh - good for me. Mark was pleased with our work. The team also managed to bring most of the house. We had 20 out of 35 people for the show. I even brought Jesus, in Bondo form. You can't go wrong with God on your side, right? DISTANCE was the lesson to be learned in this week's scenestudy class at the Annoyance. Mark Sutton had us watch some clips from movies as illustrations and then jump right in with the class offering up different relationships to explore through distance. Schaef and I did a scene as bowling teammates vying for a spot in the league playoffs. It didn't really lend itself too much to the exploration of space (except when one of us would get up to bowl), but it was neat to work with that friendly energy that Scheaf and I have in scenes. We trust each other enough to listen and react to one another, no matter how lost we are. Bondo and Chris Gelbauch had a really great scene as brothers who loved the same woman. Great tension created when Bondo moved around the kitchen space as Chris remained seated. It's neat when you're watching a scene and you get that little click in your head that makes you lean forward and really WATCH what's going on. Silence tends to do this for me. I noticed that scenes that used the most stage area also relied the heaviest on silence to create tension in the relationship. There's something neat that happens in that dead air between two people that makes you want to pay attention. Most important thing I learned - many of my scenes seem to take place in this odd linear space. I should try breaking these up a little bit by exploring the foreground and background. They don't all have to take place centerstage right next to my scene partner... SUCKFEST, PART TWO The final Sidewalk Ends show was Saturday night. It was, by far, the worst show (with the exception of an Occam's Razor gig I don't want to think about) that I've ever been a part of. Too many expectations and too little concentration. We had a decent time doing the Dream. I'll leave it at that. Outside of this, we've got two gigs at the Playground next Saturday. I think that's where the sidewalk ends. FINALE That's right. The last Thriller Theatre happened on Saturday. Jason ran lights, so I got to watch from the audience for the first time. Things always look different outside of the booth. I'm pretty sure that it wasn't the cast's favorite show, but it was still a very solid show and the audience enjoyed most of it. Allison Bills got crowned Pumpkin Princess for her Carrie (post pig blood) costume at the party after the show. I always learn something from working on a show, whether it be a new trick in the light booth or a better way to run a rehearsal. Working with Jason was exactly the kind of inspiration I needed to finally hunker down and work on writing my own show - he's been doing it for longer than I think he'd like to remember. Jason throws all his energy into his projects, which is probably one of the reasons he feel strange about just watching the show. He IS the show, as much as the script or the actors. Thanks to Jason and the cast. It was fun. AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT... A bunch of stuff has come to a close and I'm venturing into waters I'm not as familiar with - as a writer, actress and improviser. I've had plenty of opportunities to learn from others, but now it's time to venture out on my own and see what my arrogance and abilities can do for me. I suddenly have time to focus on what I'm doing. I'm no longer going through the motions and I can feel it in my work in rehearsals and class. It's nice to feel like I'm not stretched too thin. It's good to feel excited about performing. You can't do this and not love it. The instant it becomes something you don't love, it's not worth being a part of anymore. WHAT I LEARNED TODAY 1. Jesus is not immune to the effects of alcohol. 2. My neighbor walks his dog at 4am. Ask Joe Carney what he thinks about that. 3. Rob Smith looks much better than I do in a miniskirt. 4. Inside jokes are not funny to any audience unless that audience is made up entirely of your friends. Required reading: Team Cowbot - I met some of these folks in KC at the improv fest. For That's all I have to say about that. SHEL Been working on the script this week as I need to get things turned in for consideration over at the Playground and honestly, I've been putzing around on this one for a while. Sometimes you have to impose deadlines on yourself and then yell at yourself for not meeting them. It looks like my original cast choices may be REALLY busy in the next few months so I might have to rethink a few of the roles and just do an open call for everything. If Joel, Mike and Allison are still around and able to do it... we'll just burn that bridge when we come to it, yes? Tomorrow morning I'm heading downtown to look through what appears to be the only copy of Different Dances (Shel's coffeetable book for adults) in the city of Chicago. I hope to find a piece or two that will help tie things together a bit better. Also picked up a Dr. Hook CD at Border's after searching around for over an hour for anything Shel Silverstein related, including the "kids" stuff. Shel wrote almost all the songs for Dr. Hook, some of which are pretty good. The things you find out when you just take a look... MUMBLE I'm having a hell of a hard time lately speaking coherently. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I'm getting older and my brain is finally catching up to all the abuse I heaped on it in college. Perhaps I haven't been putting to use that portion of my brain that controls speech and it's atrophied. Perhaps I'm just naturally incoherent. It's really frustrating, however. Sometimes I wonder if I have a hard time finding words on stage in part because I have a hard time finding words in general. If only every scene could be done in silence... :) MS. BISS Hung out with Allison Bills last night over at Shiroi Hana for sushi. We're both amazed at some of the opportunities that are coming to friends of ours... Bumper Carroll and her sister Jen are off to Amsterdam for a month or so to perform with Boom Chicago. We know peeps that got called back for the next season of Boom, too... and there was a group from MTV that took an interest in Mike... and this that and the other. It's neat to know talented people. They do really interesting things. It's neat to look back on the last year with Allison, too. She and I have been doin' the improv thing in Chicago for exactly the same amount of time, starting out in Level 1 over at IO together. It really doesn't seem like a year has passed, the time has gone by too fast. Isn't that how it always happens? Ah, nostalgia. It's a dangerous thing. LAPDANCE FROM GOD is the name we're not using for a team I just formed with the crazies from the Annoyance. It was inevitable that the four of us do something together on stage... Bondo, Schaef, Scott and I all met at the Gingerman last night to discuss what we're wanting to do in the next few months. Bondo wants to write a musical. Schaef wants to do a sketch show. Scott has this "choas theory" long form that he wants to try. I want to have fun without outside pressures or expectations. Scott invited a fellow murder mystery actor named Mari to sit in with us. She's never done improv before, so she may not stick around. Mark volunteered to sit in with us if we needed an extra. It would be fun - I very rarely have the opportunity to perform with him, since he's busy being a coach and whatnot. The most important thing - we're all excited and dedicated to doing something. That makes me happy... that and the fact that Bondo's song "Bubbles" might actually find it's way on stage. THINGS I LEARNED TODAY 1. Shel Silverstein was actually only 5'7". He looks like a giant in the pictures you see in his books, but I'm taller than he was. Hmmm. 2. Always make sure to leave the lid to the toilet down when your roommate has a four month old kitten running around. 3. George Dickson is actually a superhero. Required viewing: Sunshine & Lollipops That's all I have to say about that. SUNSHINE & LOLLIPOPS Friday night I hauled my butt (after a decadent evening of sitting on the couch eating Velveeta Shells and Cheeze with the kitties) over to Second City to see the sketch show that Dennis O'Toole, Mike Bertrando, Allison Bills, and George Dickson are doing. It's D-Train's graduation show for the writing program over there - the others act in the variety of sketches. The show was a little rough in spots, but it was really neat to see my friends in something non-improv. Favorite moments: George as "Faith-Buster", both musical numbers (especially to hear Allison and Lauren Dowden sing) and the football coach/son scene (played by George and Mike respectively) towards the end of the second act. After the show, everybody headed over to the Last Act to celebrate D-Train's birthday. He's an old man, you know... :) AWKWARD Bills threw a big bash Saturday night, mostly improv people from IO, some non-performance friends of the apartment dwellers as well. I ran into the same conversation over and over again with the group from IO - THEM: I haven't seen you at IO lately, are you still doing improv? Too bad? What the fuck is that about? I'm doing just fine thank you, I don't need or deserve your pity just because I'm no longer a part of what's going on at IO. Don't speak to me like my puppy just died... It seems I've lost a huge common denominator with most of the improv community in that I'm not affliated/performing at one of the Big Three. I'll have to see how that whole thing turns out. It's a little awkward right now, even with the kids from the Sidewalk Ends. We're trying to stay together and play an occasional gig, but I feel tremendously outside of the box. It kind of sucks after playing the game for almost a year at IO, but that's the nature of the beast and I did this to myself, in a way. Confidential to Jason: I won't hold my breath for that phone call she promised. LIGHT MONKEY Little by little I seem to be doing more and more techie work again. I was approached to take over some of the facilities management stuff at the Playground recently. It's the thing that I'm really good at, as far as all this theatre stuff goes. I love to get my hands on lights or fix things or whatever... if I didn't like performing so much, I'd probably give up this crappy secretarial job I have, pick up a little more training as an electrician, and do that for a living. If I didn't like performing so much... damn. SACK OF KITTENS We worked on tapping into emotional states at the Kissing George rehearsal on Monday night. Interesting stuff... once you finally hit one, whether it be good or bad, it's like trying to get your point across when you're engaged in a really heated conversation. The words are there on the tip of your tongue, you don't have to think about anything you're saying, because you've either said it or thought it before. I can remember this feeling from a Sidewalk Ends rehearsal where we were working on "serious" scenes. Gus Richter and I ended up in a scene about siblings at a funeral. I had seen something similar in an Annoyance class with Joe Bill, and remembered how it played out. I simply slipped into that character and let the emotional state guide me. Gus and I didn't turn out the same way as the previous scene had, but I managed to catch ahold of the feelings of sadness and rage. Your brain and body know the rest of the way... it's pretty damn exhilerating. I often worry that I get too emotional on stage sometimes. Maybe it's a chick thing or a PMS thing or a crack in my defense system that lets out the insecurities. Until I get that note, I'm not going to worry about it. ORCHESTRATING A KISS The Kissing George kids also met before rehearsal to talk through the administrative/ideologic stuff that needs to be addressed. Things like marketing, goals, schedules, blah de blah blah blah. Everyone's willing to pitch in and everyone's got an opinion and idea of what they want to get from the experience and see the team do. We work hard, we play hard. Even with everything else in our lives, Kissing George is still so important to everyone. I love this team. PORK CHOPS After a messed up amount of emailing and phone calls, Sidewalk Ends had a rehearsal (the first in about a month). Matt had us write out three monologues and we all switched up to perform them for the rest of the group. I ended up with one written by Gus Richter that was all about pork chops. It was the most brilliant and retarded thing I've ever had the pleasure to read. We named my character from this piece Starla. She's a hoot. It was nice to have the group together again. We were really playful for the first part of rehearsal, but as soon as we did a full Harold, our scenework and everything really sucked. Honestly, I think we've outgrown the Harold. We're worried too much about structure and too little about content. A decision was made to try a loose montage form for our Swing Set show and stick to the usual with our Playground gig. I just want to have fun. That's really all I want to do. We've got two gigs on one night - I'm interested to see what that does to us and for us. WHAT I LEARNED TODAY 1. No matter what happens on stage, you have to have fun doing improv. It's not worth doing any other way. 2. Puddin' saw Dogma last night. She says it's really really good. I can't wait. 3. Even though I feel like a cartoon, I am not one. 4. Some things are just meant to be. Required viewing: "Don't Hate Us Because We're Funny" - 11/11/99 That's all I have to say about that. I need to update this page more often. I get so pissy at people that don't update their journals and here I am, twiddling my thumbs. Hm. GET DOWN, GET UP The "GO" was created at our most recent Call for Backup! rehearsal. I like these rehearsals a lot, because we're so relaxed about everything. Most of the session was spent figuring out the form - the escalation of events from trifling to catastropic, tied together in a vicious little circle - and working on character monologues. I pulled out the monologue writing exercise we had worked on in the Sidewalk Ends rehearsal earlier in the week and again, it worked like a charm. We nailed down a few details for our funk caroling, drank some beer and talked about gigs we'd like to do. I need to get in touch with Dan Izzo to see if he'll coach this chaos. We've got a Cagematch gig, waaaay waaay off at the end of February. Fifteen weeks to pull this thing together. That's thirteen more than the Sidewalk Ends had before our first show. Schaef keeps forgetting his Micheloba sketch. Damn him. SKANK JUICE Opal and I partied with our co-worker Patty on Friday night. It was her 25th birthday, we ate Puerto Rican food and felt very not Mexican. We also got pretty goddamn drunk and scared the hell out of Mark, Joel Gray and Joel's friends from Minnesota. I guess two grown women who run screaming into an apartment wearing Wonder Woman crowns and Mardi Gras beads will have this effect on people. STAND UP, SIT DOWN, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT Mark Sutton had us work on different physicalities to run scenes from in Saturday's Annoyance class. The class did the same scenario in various scene set-ups: both seated, sitting face-to-face, back-to-back, etc. It gave us all a bunch of different starting points to run scenes from - the boss/employee situation need never be a boring one... We also did an "airplane" exercise. Three people to start - on stage seated as if in a row of airplane seats. The two on the outside seats would start a scene with a strong relationship (husband/wife, sisters, boss/employee, etc.), the person in between was to be a complete stranger. Joel and I ended up pimping each other something fierce, but it was a neat look at uncomfortably close spaces, and how to fuck with a scene partner... DOUBLE HEADER Saturday marked the Sidewalk Ends return to the stage after a two week hiatus. We were coachless, as Matt had a previous engagement and couldn't stick around for either show. The Chicago Comedy Company was nice enough to trade times with us for the Playground set, which allowed Mike Bertrando just enough time to fly in from his IO show, warm up for five minutes and then step on stage. I don't even remember our suggestion from the first show - but since we weren't at IO and had no expectations for the gig - we scrapped the Harold form we've always done and went wild on stage. Some stuff was funny, some stuff was stupid. The pork chop lady made an appearance. The important thing - everybody had a lot of fun. Then we all went off and drank ourselves silly... which made the Swing Set that much more interesting. Building upon our previous craziness, a slightly buzzed team hit the stage, joined by Joel Gray who had run over from interning at the Annoyance. If our first show was crazy, the second one was psychotic. I'm not sure we did anything artistic, but we had a lot of fun entertaining the drunks. We went EXCEPTIONALLY blue, which made me a little uneasy. Favorite moment occurred after a huge clusterfuck as Mike and I stuck to our guns and waited for the team to clear the stage. We both knew we wanted to do a scene, so we waited, checked in and began one of the weirdest team game scenes I've ever been a part of. But the cool thing was, Mike and I knew exactly what we were supposed to be doing (along with Dennis O'Toole and Allison Bills off-stage) even though we had no idea what was going on. I know that doesn't make sense to read. It didn't make sense at the time, either, we just went with it. Hooray for us. We've finally found the spirit of the team again. CHANGE OF VENUE Rehearsal for Kissing George got moved to Sports Corner, since we lost the theatre for the evening due to renters at the Playground. I've had a bazillion rehearsals in that upstairs room, but the rest of the team really didn't respond well to a non-theatre space. Funny how you get used to things... I wonder how we'd play in a different theatre on a different stage? You can't take for granted that it's always going to be one way or another. That's unreasonable. Anyhow - we worked on the La Ronde form, which is a style of long form that involves two person scenes in which one character from the previous scene remains constant while a new person comes in to show the original character in a different situation, a character exploration of sorts. I've never done them before this rehearsal - they're fun, but you really need some strong characters to put into the scenes, otherwise it's pretty frustrating. I'm starting to find a few characters use (and not just the pork chop lady, thank you). It makes performing sooooo much easier. We've got a show on Thursday night. Eeep! WHAT I LEARNED TODAY 1. My roommate is an alcohol induced lesbian. 2. The Underground Railroad was actually set up to help disco dancers escape persecution in the 70s. 3. The phrase "some woman" is never meant in a positive light. Ever. 4. Opal and I can hold an intelligent conversation screeching like orca whales. Required reading: The Craig Page - for those of you who just can't get enough of reading ALPHA MALE Had a Kissing George show last Thursday. It was one of the those middle of the road shows - there was good stuff and not so good stuff, people had off nights and missed info on stage. We really didn't go blue, which is a plus, and I had a scene with Bill (who I rarely work with in shows) that I felt good about. During our notes, I felt pretty shitty about how I did - not because my work was "bad" but because it was brought up that the team doesn't trust each other enough. I had misjudged a scene Simone and Emily were doing and tried to "save" it, but succeeded in fucking up something I shouldn't have. Ever since the team worked on Meisner waaay back when, I've been stuck with the notion that I'm fighting to be the alpha male on the team - which I don't agree with. I'm an aggressive player on this team, not so much with Sidewalk Ends or in classes. I hate feeling that quality is wrong, especially as a woman. Chicks are supposedly supportive and passive in improv. I think that's a horrible thing to lay on anybody. So I fight being aggressive at times, but the simple fact of it is, I don't like being held back. I guess we all have things to fight against as performers. DAMN The Playground had a great set on Friday night. Cinco de Bob, Judo Intellectual and Black Sheep all had really quality shows. The crowd, for the most part, was pretty drunk and ready to laugh. It's exciting to be a part of that. THE FORM WITH NO NAME Last night, Kissing George worked on a new form in rehearsal. That's one of our goals - to be a team that can pull out a bazillion different forms on stage... Mark couldn't remember the name of it, however, only that he'd done it in his first Del show at IO. It's more plot driven than our usual montage is, and it forces us to get to the relationship in scenes faster since the universe it exists in only has a finite number of relationships to explore. Fuzzy and I did a pretty decent scene in our first go around, as a divorced couple. As a team, we're not so comfortable touching each other yet. Not kinky bullshit, but just simple things like putting our arms around each other or whatnot. Em and I have no problem with this at all, though it's more for the amusement of others than to use in scenes... MARK is very funny. Very very funny. So funny, I just peed my pants. Ha Ha. Ha. WHAT I LEARNED TODAY 1. The Mystic Fan has your answer. 2. I am not a Blockbuster girl. 3. While I waited for an entire year with baited breath, Dogma was as disappointing as Mallrats, if not more. 4. The Cowbot is a noble and gentle creature, even though it plans to one day take over the world. Required reading: Del Close's notes on the Harold - Jason Chin graciously compiled Happy Thanksgiving. That's all I have to say about that. 12/3/99 TURKEY + WINE + HOT TUB = COMA Turkey day really sapped all my energy out of me. As you can see from the helpful equation above, I spent a good portion of the holiday weekend in a zombie-like state. Eep. BONDAGE, PART TWO The kids from Kissing George did a little team bonding this weekend. It was a traditional improviser's night on the town - drinking, drinking, a bit more drinking, and oh yes, drinking. Saturday night we tried out the new bar across the street from the Playground and drank until closing. That's a good five hours of drinking. Almost a full work day. My tolerance for the improviser's night on the town is weakening as I tend to spend less time in bars, which seems to increase the severity of my hangovers the next day. Ick. I like the fact that the team hangs out together. It's true that we were thrown together by fate and the good folks of the Incubator committee, and that anything more than a working relationship should not be expected. Kissing George has turned into a nice little group of friends, I think. I know about bits and pieces of everybody's lives, more so than can be gleaned from a monologue in a rehearsal or doing a scene in a show. I have kissed Em, discussed religion at three in morning with Fuzzy, eaten sushi with George, danced crazy with Marc, played really lousy pool with Patrick, found a mutual friend of Chester with Bill, and talked girlie stuff with Simone. That's a lot of quality stuff to bring to the stage. THE FORM THAT STILL HAS NO NAME Mark still can't remember the name of the new Kissing George form. I think we should call it "Innerview" (you know, a geeky play on "interview") since we have a Q&A session up front that turns into an indepth look at the characters and their relationships over the course of the form. We did two runs of the form on Monday in rehearsal, the first was a bit rocky, the second was really quite good. The first run was Patrick and I playing coworker/friends that liked to hang out, get high, and watch sports on TV. Oh, and of course, I'm playing a butch lesbian named Annie, too. There were some interesting moments with Annie and her mom (I taught Momsie-poo how to drink beer from a bottle), but too much justification and talking about people not in the actual scene was going on. The trick of the form is establishing a strong relationship right off the bat because the scenes don't necessarily have as much time to develop. The second run was much better, with George and Simone playing a very unhappily married couple. Emily spun off the opening interview as their depressed daughter with me playing a grad student/social worker at her university. My character became the satellite - the woman that tried very hard at everything, but failed pretty damn miserably. Fuzzy was the disgruntled younger brother, Patrick and Simone both played various people in the satellite thread. The best part about our second take was that we established who we were to each other quickly and then took it from there. Sometimes the scenes in this form remind me of an exercise that Joe Bill uses in his classes. Two people start a scene and latch on to one emotional standpoint. The goal of the scene is to continually highten the emotions until they reach ridiculous levels. You feel like your about to explode sometimes, when the scene is almost to it's fever pitch. The trick, according to Joe, of a good scene, is to slice the middle of that scene out. Get rid of the warming up bit and the ridiculous bit and you've probably got a really nice progression. The form is odd, in the fact that it's under a time constraint. The opening interview can only be so long, the middle monologues have to come out at the 12 or 15 minute mark, and you have to get the two main characters back on stage for the final scene or interview. Fuzzy has been the timekeeper lately. It does keep you on your toes, knowing that certain things have to happen, but not knowing exactly what those are. Ah, the paradox of improv. SOMETIMES I get ideas for shows. I really wish the Playground was ever available to rent (dammit Mark) because I think it would be neat to have a once a month kind of thing that invited people with "different" forms to come play. I understand that the basic philosophy of the Playground is to facilitate a performance space in which all kinds of improv can be played, but honestly, I house manage a lot and see a lot of the same old Harold/montage stuff get thrown up on stage. Which is delightful for an audience that doesn't see that kind of improv every time because, hell, that's some funny stuff. It's the more "artistic" stuff that tends to get buried. Mission:Improvable does all kinds of interesting things on stage - they even performed a Bat (a Harold in the dark) the other night. I think that's cool to see, it's different. Slam Dunk (which I regrettably only got the opportunity to see once) was an improvised poetry slam. Sybil is Andy Eninger doing a show by himself. Monologue Ponies improvise monologues. There are groups that do two and three man improv - Leather & Lace, Zumph, Bare Essentials (at least at the Festival of Lies), Trio... Anyway, I want to do an alternative improv night once a month on an off night so that improvisers can check out the new/interesting/fucked up/weird stuff that gets put on stage and give these "alternative" forms some stage time. Of course, that is if I can rent the theatre... JIMBO I just wanted to say hi to Jim Nemeth. He's my hero. They're doing "Paradigm Lost" at Second City Detroit. I wish I lived in Detroit. THINGS I LEARNED TODAY 1. Tavern 33 - jukebox is excellent, drinks are good, decor is sparse, needs some bar food other than popcorn. 2. There is nothing sadder than a menorah that burns birthday candles. Required reading: Planet Improv - This is the website for Jim Nemeth's group out in Detroit. That's all I have to say about that. ONE YEAR I'm slowly slipping past that stage in life where a year is really a long period of time. Once you hit college, time starts to fly by at a quicker pace, until you look up and you've been working at the same job for a few years and wonder, what the hell? One year measured in improv time is absolutely nothing. You've barely paid your first installment of performance dues; you're still down for another few years of struggling and learning. At least, that's how it's supposed to be. As a performer, the people you look up to have been learning and struggling since forever. If you respect them and their work, success probably didn't come easy or fast. Yet... The current state of Chicago improv seems to me to be one big cramming session. Everyone remembers cramming in college, right? You'd stay up until 5am chugging Mountain Dew or coffee, kicking back Vivarin and trying to learn everything you didn't study and didn't read for an entire semester in one night. It usually managed to get you a passing grade, but you'd sleep for days, feel like hell, and remember absolutely nothing afterwards. Now, us "New School Punks" (Nik Charov's nickname grows on me more and more...), are trying to do the same thing with improv. We put ourselves through classes at the Big Three simultaneously. We spend every free night hanging on the bar at IO or the Gingerman or the Last Act, every other night in rehearsal or on stage. We associate only with those who do improv, especially those that perform at "our" theatres. I'll admit it. For one year, that's pretty much what I've done. I've felt the pressure to catch up to my betters, by any means necessary. I pushed myself hard and tried to get involved with anything I thought might make me a more successful performer. Not a better performer, just somebody who had a lot of stage time and got invited to the right parties and knew the right people. I learned a lot - but life ended outside improv's boundaries. I have bored my non-performance friends to death with stories about improv. I have had countless conversations about improv. I'll admit, I spend almost all my time with improvisers, much to my non-improv friends dismay. It's been one year - I'm tired and burned out. I don't want to go to any more classes. I don't want to schmooze at any more parties. I don't want to kiss up to anyone so that I can capture a spot on a schedule or a team. You know what I like the best about improv? Not talking about it or analyzing it or "playing the game". I just like doing it. God, I sound like a Nike ad. FIRST IMPRESSIONS We used to have a joke in marching band at Northwestern (that's right gentle readers, I was a band geek. A HUGE band geek, sort of like the girl from American Pie without the bit about the flute) that "it's not a band, it's a cult". We'd scream "IT'S A BAND" and "IT'S A CULT" back and forth at each other in the stands until the other students hurled enough marshmellows at us to shut us up. Well, kids - it's not a theatre, it's a cult. My first impression of the improv community was, here's this incredible cool, spontaneous form of performance and there's all these really cool, funny people that do it. They've accepted me, what a family! Granted, every family has it's dickhead brother-in-laws and black sheep, but no matter what, it's all family. It's supportive and caring; it accepts you because of who you are, not what you can do for it. That's how it seemed to me - and how I felt until I tried to expand my horizons. "The Family" had it's hooks in me and would only let go for a price. I understand that now. But, losing opportunities is one thing, losing friends is something altogether different. That shouldn't be the spirit of this community. My former teammate Jim Nemeth separated himself from the Chicago scene, mainly because of his Detroit address... but he is family. He put together a tribute show for the Sidewalk Ends up there, he still stays in touch with his friends from IO and Second City, he still drops in for a gig every now and then. Jim possesses the spirit of improv, he's still ambitious and a part of the Big Three (Second City Detroit). So I guess it is possible to live outside the cult and succeed. Bbmaj/Eb9-/Bbmaj/Eb9-/Amin/Dadd9+ My first introduction to improvising had nothing to do with theatre and everything to do with music. In music, you follow chord structures and melody lines. You explore sounds and patterns until you develop a unique line that builds upon everything that came before it. People can improvise beautifully without ever having played together, as long as they know the basic ground rules for the improvisation. Experience doesn't even have to come into play - as long as both know which chords fall where... and the ability to play the instrument. I feel something about music when I hear it. There's something that takes you over and seizes your body, when the musician is really on. It pulls at your memories and your emotions. Even the saddest melody makes you smile when it is done skillfully. That connection is what we should strive for as improvisers, musician or actor. It comes through the careful development of our crafts, through practice, listening, experimenting. Seek to gain skills, not opportunities. Concentrate on creating something unique... and own it for a fleeting moment. That's your reward. Not money or fame - but the act of creation. Pretty incredible, if you ask me. THINGS I LEARNED THIS YEAR 1. Allow your performance to be a blank slate to create upon, but bring your emotions, personality and experiences to the stage to paint with. 2. Rules are made for a reason, and you must first understand that reason before you can break them. 3. Respect the people that are more experienced than you. Watch them. Learn from them. But always realize that sooner or later, you will reach a point in time where you can point to their work and say, "I can do better than that". Embrace that arrogance. 4. Find mentors, even if you've been doing improv since the dawn of time. There is always somebody who can teach you something new, even if they're five years old. 5. Gossip is an addiction, like heroin. Don't start up with talking smack. 6. Experience things outside the improv box... Read everything you can get your hands on. See foreign films, go to concerts, get out of the house and watch people. Listen to someone talk about things that are important to them. Call your mother. 7. Go to auditions. They're great - you learn from them, you meet people, you might just land a role or a spot on a team. 8. Be a professional, even with your friends... show up to rehearsal on time, pay attention to your coach/director, take criticism graciously even from your coworkers. 9. Live in fear of nothing and nobody. Fear only weighs you down and keeps you from being happy. 10. Have fun with what you do. If it's not fun or interesting or exciting, it's not worth doing. 11. Write a journal. Then you can look back on it every so often and see where you've been. Required reading: Jason Chin's "The Armando Diaz Hootenanny, Movement and Theatrical Mark Henderson's "A plea for sanity..." By the way, this site got mention in the latest issue of PerformINK. It's not in the online version, but that's still pretty damn cool. Thanks, Jason. Happy holidays, kids. See you in the next year... and that's all I have to say about that.
11/1/99
Halloween sapped me out. It's my favorite holiday, but I didn't have the endurance to party too hard this time around. It was lots o' fun, however... I was a wicked witch. Hee hee.
some reason, Mark really enjoys tormenting them.
11/5/99
This is the first week in months that I haven't had a show to perform in. It's been nice, relaxing and slow.
Fridays through December 17th
@ The Second City Skybox, 10pm
Admission: $10
11/10/99
Tonight Opal and I will cut the December show of Twirly. Sometimes I almost forget that I have a TV show. Weird, huh?
ME: I'm not taking classes at IO this session, but I have a team that plays over at the Playground, I'm writing a show and I formed a group with some friends from the Annoyance...
THEM: Oh, that's too bad.
This is a nationwide benefit against violence and hate crimes. A bunch of
improv groups are participating, you can check here for more information
on a group near you. The main event in Chicago is happening at the
Annoyance Theatre all evening long, (admission $25.00) with groups from
all over the city, including: Oui Be Negroes, Black Sheep, Judo Intellectuals,
Mission:Improvable, Cinco De Bob, Nougat, ComedySportz Chicago,
GayCo, WNEP. All profits from the Playground shows that night will
be donated as well...
11/17/99
Since it doesn't seem like I'm going to be switching jobs anytime soon, I've been taking my company's valuable time to teach myself Java and other computer skills. I figure that one of these days, I'll get a better job. When that day comes, I want to be prepared. Of course, with Y2K coming, the world will probably blow up and all that valuable knowledge will go right down the shitter. Still, it's better than typing invoices into the computer system.
online journals, this is Craig Cackowski's. He writes about being in the
Second City ETC cast. It's pretty interesting
11/23/99
Finally moved into my new office at work. It's quiet and people don't bother me hardly at all. Ah....
these on the Argos Agency website.
Hey - that crappy job I'm always bitching about? I got promoted. Now I don't have a crappy job any more! The amazing power of persistence... coupled with multiple threats of leaving.
Check 'em out, why don't ya?
12/23/99
I haven't written in a while, that's mainly due to the fact that I've been doing a lot of reading and a lot of thinking about the current state of Chicago improv. Also, I've hit the one year mark - I signed up for classes at the Improv Olympic last December.
Experience Sucks" - he said it, not me. :) Just scroll past the article on
Second City's 40th anniversary celebration, it's right underneath.
