Adam's Improvised Blog

Kevin Mullaney DCM workshop

on Monday I had the privilege to participate in Kevin Mullaney’s DCM workshop in NYC.. for those who don’t know Kevin, he was former artistic director of UCBT NY and runs the Improv Resource Center and its podcast.

The workshop was unlike the classes and workshops I’ve taken to date- it was very Meisner influenced and we did a bunch of observation and repetition exercises and only a little bit of scenework: 2 people get up and face each other and one says something about the other person in the form of “You are ______…” Then that person repeats back “I am _____…” a few iterations of this go on and then it organically changes as that thought is internalized and you react to it.

so for example:

A- You are smiling.

B- I am smiling.

A- You are smiling.

B- I am smiling.

A- You are smiling.

B- You make me happy.

A- I make you happy.

B- You make me happy.

A- I make you happy.

B- You make me happy.

A- (hugging B) I really needed to hear that

B- (hugging back A) You really needed to hear that

and so on….

So what I took away from these exercises is

1- LISTEN to what your scene partner says. Really take the moment to listen and INTERNALIZE what is said

2- REACT to what they are saying/doing and express that

3- DO as well as say. If you made your scene partner’s character sad and your character doesn’t like that- go give them a hug or something. Do something and don’t talk about it.

The other exercise we did had to do with what he called a ‘crutch dialogue’ which we had to memorize prior to the workshop:

A. Hey.
B. What a day.
A. Yeah, it certainly is.
B. I suppose I should…
A. Yeah probably so.
B. So much to do.
A. Too much.
B. What’s up?

So in a scene we started out and then when it got slow or stuck or less interesting or less energetic, Kevin would say- ok speak the dialogue.

And for some reason after that last line- What’s up? The scenes got recharged and became MUCH better! Why? Nobody knows for sure! ha! It’s an acting technique, but Mr. Mullaney has introduced this to improv for the 1st time. And it was super effective (strangely)… It totally got me out of my head that’s for sure!

My theory on why is that it’s something you’ve memorized and the lines, though they make some sense, are kind of vague and maybe even non-sequiter.. so when your brain tries to recall these lines it overloads you logical thinking part of your brain to the point where it short circuits and allows your emotional, reactionary part of your brain come out- which is where all good improv should come from!

Dcm workshop with Curtis Gwinn

Really fun workshop tonight with Curtis Gwinn drilling second beats. I was in a few really fun gamey scenes. The one that stands out, the suggestion was cliff hanger- I was an authors agent and neither of us knew how his book was going to end.. I think my initiation was “Roger I’ve been your literary agent for years now, and THIS, my friend is GOLD!… but How does it end??!”

Super fun reactions and his note was that he could see us play that scene for ten minutes- a great positive note to get! Stuff like that encourages me to keep doing this- I can at times get this whole improv thing :) two more dcm workshops on Saturday! I’m psyched!

Dcm workshop with Anthony King

This week brings to NYC the Del Close Marathon (DCM) which is a weeklong festival of nonstop improv shows and workshops. The workshops are great because they are taught by theater bigwigs, teachers from outside of NYC, or basically people with whom you’d normally not get the opportunity to study under.

I went crazy and signed up for 7 workshops.

Tonight was my first and was called ‘Being an Improv Genius’ taught by Anthony King who is the artistic director of the UCB in New York.

Most of the people taking the class with me I didn’t know, and I could tell that the skill and experience level of everybody varied so I knew it would be fun and not super serious (even though Anthony is the one who runs Harold team auditions)

So what’s being an improv genius? The way he put it is such: while in a scene, your scene partner is a genius- whatever they say or do IS the right thing or choice. Accept it, embrace it, react to it. And that reaction by you is also a genius move and so forth. So we ran a bunch of 2 person scenes and I had fun.. His big note for me was to let the game moves breath a little and filter the reality through my character. This is a big step for me! My note was something more sophisticated than what I normally get- - and coming from the artistic director!

Another thing that resonated with me (and which I notice I do all too often) is talk about stuff that’s not there. For example if I’m in a scene where my brother broke my bicycle- stop talking about this imaginary made-up bicycle! Only crazy people talk at length and in detail about stuff that’s not there— and we’re not crazy, we’re geniuses, remember??

Tomorrow I have another workshop- I hope it’s just as fun!

So much to remember! So easy to forget!

Last night was the 1st of 2 UCB level 401 class shows and I have to say I was pretty happy with the show (both groups!) and happy with the scenes I was in mainly because I had fun doing them. It wasn’t scary or intimidating. The audience laughed and applauded. The rest of the class was supportive and charismatic. All these things are super good! A bunch of my friends showed up to support me and all had good things to say :)

I remembered to do a lot of things but I also forgot to do a lot of things. I’ve only performed improv on a stage for an audience of strangers a handful of times still and I definitely need to get more stage time in order to get all those mental muscles working that seem so easy in classes or practice groups. The whole dynamic is different - scenes and shows seem to finish after no time at all. Time flies when you’re having fun. It flies even faster when you’re engaged in performing a piece!

My scenes in the Harold we performed were with Robbie and it turned out that his car broke down so he needed to use my phone. I played an abducter who had him fall into my trap… So here is what I think I did well and then not so well:

Well- My scene partner and I were on the same page about what the scene was about and who we were to each other (drawing from our opening pattern game).

Not so well- The premise itself was unusual but that wasn’t the unusual thing so the Game was not really found in the 1st beat.

Well- The scene was fun and active! Neither of us were just standing still on the stage talking at each other.

Not so well- I don’t think either of us reacted enough truthfully to what was going on. Sure it was fun and was getting laughs but I certainly could’ve reacted that I was surprised somebody had fallen for my abduction trap; I could’ve called out his stupidity and showed my surprise that it had worked. My scene partner could’ve reacted more truthfully and heightened the emotion of being abducted.

Well- In the second beat I decided to make the relationship between my scene partner and I more personal and there we reacted and let our realtionship to each other play out (as abductor and abuctee)

Not so well- I didn’t think I added much or was very active in either of the 2 group games. I need to not be so polite perhaps and get involved, but it’s hard in group games to be aggressive with ideas while not interrupting and being able to yield to others.

Well- My move “Let me just lock the door behind you”.

So over all it was a good show but certainly not perfect. The major accomplishments for me at this stage was that I had confidence on stage, wasn’t nervous or scared, had fun scenes, and made people laugh.

The move to react and thus create a game from my surprise that somebody had fallen for my trap and that Robbie was so dumb for falling for it in retrospect (and this was Kevin Hines’ note to me afer the show as well) - would’ve been super fun and easy to heighten. However, my instinct right now is to make my scene partner look good and therefore I hesitate at calling him (his character of course not him) dumb or inept etc. I have to throw that idea away. I think I would’ve made my scene partner look good by playing that game and then seeing his reaction to my own.

Another 401 show in 4 weeks. It’ll be a lot better (i hope!)

Discover, don’t Invent

I am lucky to be taking a 4-week improv workshop at the Magnet Theater with the legendary Armando Diaz focusing on 2-person improv. The one not I’ve gotten a lot in this workshop is to discover through organic scene creation and creating a grounded reality rather than just invent and invent to find the fun of a scene.

At the UCB they are very much about finding a ‘Game’ to play in scenes from as soon as possible to move things forward. Oftentimes, at the UCB we extract scene premises, game ideas, and initiations straight from an opening such as the Pattern Game etc.

This to me right now seems to be at odds. When pulling an idea directly from an opening it seems like the right thing to do would be to start with an unusual premise from the get go and find the game in that unusual thing.

Armando Diaz would beg to differ. His note about this (and I do tend to agree with him!) is that discover things from your scene. From your scene’s enviornment, object work, and character choices as well as through yes anding.

So here’s an example of discovery vs. invention in a scene I was in last night. The suggestion was “police station” and in the 1st iteration of this scene I initiated in such a way that I thought would create an at-the-top, basically that I was back from NASCAR training and could now outrun any bandit in a car chase.

Then Armando had us do it again this time with organic discovery. It started out a bit slower as you can imagine, laying out more who and what we feel about each other. Turns out I’m now a rookie on the force and will be my scene partner’s new partner. I’m all raring to go when she mentions in passing that paperwork needs to be done. “Paperwork?!” I ask incrediously - as a gut reaction! My character wants to go get to business and fight crime on the streets- not do clerical filing! So we discovered a very fun AND MORE REAL game of the scene through discovery.

I don’t yet know how I can fit this in to my UCB training of doing Harolds where the game comes from the opening quick and to the point. I’m sure it can be done and I will try my best to do it.

React!!!

I’m 1/2way through my level 401 class at UCB and my teacher, Kevin Hines, in each and every class has stressed: REACT! This sounds kind of obvious but I often find myself just talking in a scene without reacting. I’m aware of what’s being said a lot and can find a game to play, but the reaction part has been lacking. I’ve never done theater or taken an acting class and that’s maybe why I have found this difficult. But I am working on it- and I know why cerebrally I should: a reaction is behavior! Behavior can be a game.. And it also grounds scenes in reality. If my scene partner tells me my dog has just died the honest reaction is to be fairly devastated- so I should react accordingly. Maybe the ‘clever’ part of my brain thinks that acting aloof or even happy will be unusual.. But why force the unusual thing! Especially when I probably will find little truth in a acting aloof and therefore spend most of the scene in my head trying to figure out why I’m not reacting normally. I guess reacting happily could work if I committed to that- it is a reaction after all, but probably a truthful reaction would serve the scene best.

Being hyperaware of what is said by your scene partner is definitely also key to reacting truthfully. Even more so if you cab pick up on an unusual thing and then react to that— starting a game. Let’s turn the tables - I inform my scene partner that their dog has died and they respond with actual glee. That is unusual for sure, so my reaction to that best be truthful! ‘Are you kidding me? Why the hell does that make you happy?!’ (even better I can react the same way emotionally and then give him a reason- maybe that dog bit lots of people and caused the owner a ton of grief.. I don’t know- I always give terrible examples but then again any initiation can lead to a scene that works. So I’ll be working on reacting more and truthfully.

More on Yes &… (and hyperagreement)

In level 1 all improvisers are taught the most basic longform improv rule: Yes & (or yes, and..) and it is super important! Yes, &.. means that #1 you can not deny the reality being created on stage. As improvisers, we have no props or costumes (or scripts obviously), and therefore everything is made up on the spot including WHO everybody is (their names, relationship to each other, how they feel about each other etc.) and the WHERE (the location and time of the scene, objects in the scene- all mimed). The WHO and the WHERE is important because it creates the reality for the players and the audience from the top of any scene. There aren’t 2 random strangers on stage talking back and forth! There’s Jim and his older brother Jeff and they are cleaning up the pig sty at the farm!

So if I say ‘Hey, Jim- help me clean out this pig sty before we get in trouble for not doing our farm chores’ then guess what — my scene partner’s name is now Jim and we are on a farm. He can react any way he chooses but the reality of the scene cannot be denied! He can’t be respond ‘why would i do that? we’re in my apartment!’ — well that’s just killed the reality of the scene for the audience, made botgh improvisers look bad and kept the scene from moving forward in any way.

So that’s the basic Yes .. the & means add some information as well! ‘Hey Jim- Help me clean out this pig sty before we get in trouble for not doing our farm chores’  Jim: ‘ahh, man I hate cleaning out that sty I always end up smelling like shit!’ or whatever— jim acknowledged the reality and added something new (how he feels abt it and a basic why). The improviser himself should never ever deny a reality but the character he is playing, Jim, can say no he doesn’t want to do that. He isn’t denying the reality of the scene being created.   So revelation #1 & #2 about Yes, &..  — always add information to the yes and your character can say ‘No’ while yes anding the scene itself.

Alright I’ve bored anybody who’s taken a level 1 improv class because they know this already but whatever. Now is where I’m gonna speak of the most recent Yes, &… revelation!

I call it hyperagreement. No idea if anybody else does. Basically not only Yes, &.. in the basic level 1 way by acknowledging a reality and not denying or blocking your scene partner.. but also in a way of hyperagreement. Take that dumb initiation from the above paragraph: ‘Hey, Jim- help me clean out this pig sty before we get in trouble for not doing our farm chores’ … well my mind says I shouldn’t like doing this so ill acknowledge the reality of the scene but not want to do it. I don’t want to help Jeff shovel shit and I’ll give reasons why and the scene will move forward and probably be ok. It may result in a bit of an argument but that will allow us to react and heighten emotion perhaps.

But why not just be hyperagreeable: ‘Hey, Jim- help me clean out this pig sty before we get in trouble for not doing our farm chores’ Jim: ‘Of course I will! I’m gonna help you shovel that shit - the quicker we do that the quicker we can plow the fields for 6 hours!’ or something like that i don’t know this is a dumb scene, but at least now it’s already interesting and in 2 lines there is already the seeds of Game. It’s kind of unsual, and certainly much more fun and interesting (both for the players and the audience I think) to see 2 people loving to shovel shit and do other back-breaking chores. We don’t know why Jim loves this but we will certainly find out in a few more lines.

So I’ve been trying and experimenting with this in practice and here is just one highlight so far (i don’t wanna bore myself nor you, i’ll be sure to highlight this more as I prove this theory to myself)

Criminal with a gun: “Hey stick em up! Give me your wallett”

Me: “Alright sure.. here you go— but there’s no money in it— I’m really poor”

And then that scene became super fun! We discovered that I rode the rails like a hobo (i even had a hobo stick-bag) and that my wallet only contained a condom and no money cuz u do meet girls while riding the rails but that they are always extremely dirty.

But my mind’s reaction (and not my gut) was to be like Ah crap a criminal! i should be scared i should be hesitant to give him what he wants etc. Instead just Yes everything. Agree to everything you can! It’s super fun and super liberating.. and also funny!

The Game of the scene

So The Game is what we are all trying to find when doing an improv scene (according to the UCB at least).. but what exactly game was eluded me for many months. Level 1 they barely mention the word but in level 2 (the class is aptly titled: Game of the Scene) it’s all about The Game. So what is it? Well they tell you to find the first unusual thing. And then I became hung up and in my head about finding that unusual thing— And probably at the expense of doing good scenework or finding a grounded reality of who where and what’s going on! So I’d be in a 2-person scene and just kind of let words fall of my mouth until something unusual would be said and then pounce.

Problem was I had no idea to do once I identified that unusual thing- and it was keeping me in my head and detracting from all the things I learned in level 1! So i got really frustrated with this whole Game thesis. This is one of the many times to date (and I’m certain many more will come) where I figure I just suck at this improv thing, that I don’t get it I don’t have the chops and though I’m having fun doing it I should probably throw in the towel. I did perservere and took level 3 (learning a form called the Harold). While in level 3 a level 2 workshop called 202 - Advanced Game Study or something to that effect opened up and I signed up.

UCB Improv 202 is something they don’t offer very often. It is a 4-week workshop with no class show just a bunch of scene exercises. Brandon Gardner taught my 202 and it was there that I had my 1st revelation about The Game:

The Game is not (usually) the 1st unusual thing. The 1st unusual thing is often the 1st GAME MOVE but it’s not the game itself. That unusual thing has to be justified with a solid WHY? — WHY is this person doing this unusual thing, WHY does this person believe this unusual thing, WHY does this person feel this way. etc. And sometimes there is a WHY BEHIND THE WHY… Why did this person say this weird thing…well maybe he feels this certain way.. well why do they feel that way.

When u get the justification of the unusual thing you can then play the game! Make different game moves. Heighten it. Make it more fun. IF this is true WHAT ELSE is true is how people say it… if this person feels a certain way because he was just released from prison let’s say— well, then how else would this person feel, and what else would this person do.

So if the 1st revelation is that the game isn’t the unusual thing but the WHY behind it, the 2nd revelation is that the GAME is BEHAVIOR. I hear a lot improv teachers saying Behavior.. a better word I think for my mind is that the game has to be a feeling or an action or anything else that is a REACTION and that your scene partner can REACT to. So heighten this behavior to heighten the game. Once you know WHY you’re doing that unusual thing you’ll be able to do more of it and do different things that that person would do.

Playing the game establishes patterns. Heightening the pattern makes people laugh. Calling back a pattern makes people laugh. People laugh at patterns. People are dumb.

Cash Test Dummies!

So I have started a longform improv tournament. By ‘started’ i mean that one day I woke up and thought it would be awesome to bring some improv on a regular basis to my nieighborhood (Williamsburg, Brooklyn). There’s no real venue for it- which is strange since so many people in my classes and performers in shows I see riding home on the L train.

So I thought why not bring some improv comedy to the ‘burg! 1st step- find a space!

The Brick Theater at 575 Metropolitan Ave… I had walked by it so many times. Never ever been to a show there.. never even stepped inside to take a peek. But it’s super close to the L subway (and my home) and it just so turns out they were looking for shows to fill evening spots. So I had a drink with the people from The Brick.. basically I pitched them the idea that there should be improv in w’burg! Everybody is gonna love it! The theater needs a show right? People will come! There’s no tech or prep needed! No props! Just the stage!…….. she stops me and replies “People will come.. how can you know that?” And that’s when the words ‘because it’s gonna be a competition’ fell out of my mouth. Talk about improvising! That wasn’t my intention at all! But hey it sounds like a great idea and some part of my brain made me say so! Cage Match at the UCB, Inferno at Magnet.. Improdome at the PIT.. all are competitions .. the audience votes for a winner..

So now that I have a space and apparently a competition I need to differentiate the show from the aforementioned shows. Well since the theater was willing to basically give me the space for free I worked out with them why not put 1/2 of the ticket sales money into a pot and the theater can take in the other 1/2. They agreed. And thus Cash Test Dummies was named.

on the IRC i put out an open post asking for teams who may be interested in joining up to compete. And i got  A LOT of responses. I asked people I knew at UCB and Magnet Theaters where I’m taking classes and also got a lot of responses!

So that’s how it happened I took 16 teams out of the responses (I wanted to keep it a nice mix of Indie and House Team, old team and new, boys and girls) ran the team names through a randomizer and created the brackets.

So now CTD has had 2 sold out to capacity shows and it’s been a blast! The improv has been very good and the audience has a lot of fun. What’s cool is that the draw tends to be about 50/50 improv people to people who aren’t involved at all… which is great! Shows at the theaters these days tend to be like 90% improv people! — which is awesome— but it’s cool (i know the performers think this is true from who I’ve spoken to) to get new people to see good shows and to be exposed to what is improv.

The next show is Wed. Aug 11th at 8:30 PM @ The Brick. You should go.

check it out on http://cashtestdummies.tumblr.com