I think this picture, taken during an Irish Drinking Song scene, captures a lot of what improv means to me. Mark, Aydin, Justine, Kathy, Ben, Mark, and Dustin are just having fun. Yeah, there's structure and some pressure around performing, but as everyone gets comfortable with a game or pattern, you really find that the structures help you work with others to create wonderful scenes. And, they're just fun to be in.
For a couple of reasons, I'm going to post more pictures than usual. First, we had another large class - 28 players this time. Second, I have a new camera, and the quality of the pictures is much better than what I've been working with. And third, if you hand a good tool to Andy and the other folks taking pictures, you get a lot of really cool shots. I've whittled the 79 pictures I started with down to the following few.
This is a Yes And scene with Scott, CK, Melissa, Ben, Dustin, and Jim. They were working on marketing Flavored Rubber Bands, although it looks more like they were practicing their dance moves.
David, Kathy, Justine, Li-At, Mark, and Marika are trying to sell Doggie Viagra in their round of Yes And. I think David is a little too excited about this product, while Kathy just looks disgusted.
Now this group worked hard at putting together a marketing campaign for Edible Shoes. Pictured are Ann, Mark, Aydin, Scott, Bob, and Sugely.
This next group got split into two pictures, so I guess they were twice as good. In this half we have Sol, Andy, Susana, and Lorien. The group is also working on a Yes And scene and they are putting together a campaign to sell Pickled Papers. Andy is just fascinated by Sol's idea, although Susana seems a bit frighted by it.
Misha, Justin, and Mike were also in the Pickled Papers scene. Clearly Mike is describing an idea that he thinks will truly sell more Pickled Papers than any other ideas - especially Sol's last idea. Misha and Justin look like they're just humoring him.
These three - Sharon, Melissa, and Kathy - are working on a 5 Letter Word scene. Ben was also in the scene, but missed being in this shot. Their word was WHALE. I really like the pose in this shot because it makes me want to know what they were looking at! Another example of how the physical work in a scene makes it much more interesting.
I really enjoyed this scene because the players committed to the absurd nature of it. Justine, Sol, Li-At, and Aydin are playing a 5 Letter Word scene, and their word was CHAIR. They're in a coal mine, and at this moment Sol is trying to resuscitate their canary - which has died. Only Aydin seems concerned about the death of a canary in a coal mine, whereas the others are deeply concerned about the fate of their pet.
Why is this man praying? He's not, really, but it's a wonderful shot of Jim in character. He's in a sauna, apparently leading an encounter group while everyone is suffering from the intense heat. I loved the requests made to "speak someone's truth". Susana, CK, and Mark were also in the scene, and my notes mention some some good physical work between the characters.
Once again I've picked a picture because I love the captured expressions. This is another 5 Letter Word scene, this time with the word FEAST. Mike, Kathy, Ben, and Justin are at a playground, and the three kids on the right are confronting the older man (Mike) about what he's doing there.
Back to the Irish Drinking Song, and this group consists of Scott, Ann, CK, Scott, and Misha - with,once again, my bald spot upstaging them all. I'm always impressed with how enthusiastically the song pieces are done. There are several new players in this group, and they gave it their all.
Another song, this time just showing Sugely, Justin, and Sol from their larger group. Sol looks like he ended up in the wrong scene, or is just wondering why everyone else is so enthusiastically waiving their arms.
Hmm, there were several pictures from this scene, so I'll end the post on this one. We performed several Entrances & Exits scenes, and here I'm playing a religious zealot who was finding spiritual enlightenment through the practice of Sumo wrestling. Okay, the scene made more sense (maybe) when you saw it performed.
Despite it being such a large class, we got quite a few games in. And by popular demand, we ended with Freeze Tag, which took us well past our normally ending time (no pictures of that, unfortunately).