Class May 16, 2007

Okay, doesn't this look like an album cover photo from some 80's indy band? There's even the disaffected bass player in the back. Actually, it's Angela, Aaron, Chris, and Kenna in a Directed Story With Genres. This week, there are only 45 photos in the album! The excuse was that the camera's batteries ran out. Luckily, that allowed me to put a caption on all of them - although some of the captions are more snarky than informative.

We had 20 people in the class, and two of them were there for the first time: Aaron and Chris (both pictured, above). Both have had stage experience, and so there was no hesitation about getting up to participate. Welcome!

We started the evening with Character Intros, and then moved on to a hugely chaotic version of Zip Zap Zop. In this version, each person who was pointed to had to point out to two others, resulting in a population limited, geometric progression (!). It quickly progresses beyond what anyone can fully keep track of, but it's meant to exercise the limits of what you can keep track of. We ended our warms ups with One-Word Stories.

We moved on to Directed Story With Genres. No competition this time (that would have been Story Story Die). I wanted everyone to get some practice with directed transitions.

Next came Assigned Quirks. This is always a wacky piece and it's another exercise where the players see what makes a quirk interesting when performed.

We did a few rounds of Irish Drinking Song, but the camera must have been running low on power because there aren't any pictures from that part of the night. We also did a Three Line Drill, and everyone participated in that.

At the end, we got to the more difficult exercise of the night. Three people had to play a scene where they were each allowed only one line of dialog. The rest of the time they had to be silent, and not engage in some sort of pantomime. The real work is to practice silent communication: to express emotion without words. It was pretty challenging for most folks, but there were enough excellent examples that I think we all could see how effective this can be. It's a practical example of the improv concept Show, Don't Tell.

Once again, we ended the night with a round of Freeze Tag.

Class May 9, 2007

I like this picture of the class, taken during a warm-up exercise called Non-Sequitur. Once again, I've taken the rather large lot of pictures (102) from the class and posted them in a Google Album. I haven't labeled them all, but I think I've identified enough to name everyone that attended the class. There were 18 of us in the workshop, and we started the night with the character heavy, Story Intro. We followed up with Non-Sequitur and then a couple of one-word stories.

Scene work led off with a Hitchhiker rotation in which everyone participated. Then we got to Exaggerated Body Parts, which is a piece we haven't done in quite awhile. It takes some time, and I usually wait until we have a small class. Nowadays 18 people qualify as a small class. I'm glad we got to Exaggerated Body Parts because it's a chance to see what makes an interesting quirk, and how to make a quirk intersting. And, I think everyone did well with the challenge.

Then we moved on to the ever popular Irish Drinking Song. There are a lot of fun pictures from that exercise in the album, so be sure to check it out.

My favorite part of the night was a long-form exercise where everyone was assigned a profession. We don't often get to playing a series of scenes with the same characters being revisited, and so this was a fine way to apply some of the skills developed with the 3-Line Drill. We'll do more of these multi-scene pieces in the future

We ended the night with some Freeze Tag.

I'm behind in my postings, so I'll end this one here and just thank everyone for another fun class.

Class May 2, 2007

Lorien, Eric, Allegra, David and Scott are captured in full, coordinated swing during their Irish Drinking Song. Even Lorien, mugging for the camera, is in a leaning pose consistent with the others. It's a bit of stage magic to see everyone working together like this. We're going to try something a little different for this week's class blog entry. This will be the only picture from the class that I'll post here. The rest of the pictures (142!) are in an online album. I'd like to try putting the time I'd normally spend preparing the photos for the blog into adding some new content.

And now, a quick review of Wednesday night. First off I want to welcome David who came to his first night at the workshop. We started the night with our usual Character Introductions. We followed up with a quick Out Of The Box pantomime exercise, Zip-Zap-Zop, and then One Word Story. For stage work, we started with Gift Giving, followed by Alliteration, and then 185. I was particularly impressed that everyone got up to participate in 185, even though there was some initial resistance. Some of these pieces look particularly difficult, but once you actually step out and try them, they get easier with practice.

Next, we got to the ever popular Irish Drinking Song. This is another good example of a piece that looks difficult at first, but is actually a skill you get better at with practice.

We moved on to the 3-Line Drill, and everyone participated in that one also. We've been working on it a lot lately, and I think it teaches some valuable skills. Unfortunately, it takes a bit of time to get through the whole class, and it leaves us without the chance to use those skills in some open form improv - so we may skip the drill next week, and do some open scenes. We'll see what the class looks like on Wednesday.

We ended the night with almost everyone staying after hours to do a little Freeze Tag. I love ending the night with that piece and I'm glad to see that folks clamor for it.

I'm interested in your thoughts on the blog changes, and directions you'd like to see it go. Feel free to leave a comment, or write to me, or talk to me after a class (or before if you're brave).

Class April 25, 2007

I really like pictures like this one. It captures the best part of the workshop: everyone having fun while performing. In this case, Mark, Li-At, David, Jonathan, and Angela are singing an Irish Drinking Song. We had a good sized class of about 20 people, and over 90 pictures were taken in the course of the evening. I've picked out 10 pictures to display in this post, but I'm making the rest available in a public album. This is the first time I'm trying to post an entire album, so let me know how it works for you and whether there are any problems. I'll post more albums if this one is well received.

We started the evening off with a Tag Out Story. Here, Mark, Scott, Mark, Ann, and Joanna are telling their story with the title The Warehouse. This exercise is normally done with all the players in the scene lined up behind the person telling the story. However, in this photo Scott seems to be completely distracted by Joanna's storytelling.

Here we've switched to a 5 Letter Word scene. Joanna, Li-At, and Angela are working with the word HORSE to construct their scene. I like that there's an argument going on behind Li-At as she washes her hands. It makes an interesting stage picture.

This is a Countdown scene with Li-At, Marika, Ben, and Jonathan. The setting is a kindergarten playground, and at this moment Marika, a teacher, is giving cigarettes to the kids on the playground. Let's just say that this wasn't a "role model" scene.

This is another Countdown scene, and Mike, David, Angela, and Jim are doing some home repair. The Countdown scene gives the players 1 minute to create a scene from the audience suggestion. Then, they have to replay the scene in 30 seconds. Then 15 seconds. Then 8, 4, and finally 2 seconds. It gets pretty hectic.

The third Countdown scene of the night has Scott, Eric, Mark, and Ann all on Noah's Ark. At this moment, they are shoveling manure over the side of the ark. As the scenes get shorter, the players have to look for fewer and fewer beats that can still reproduce the main thread of the scene.

In general, I really like the Countdown exercise because it forces a lot of physical action when the scenes get shorter. Here, Joan, Sol, Kenna, and Scott are farmers and there's a fire. You can see that by the time this shot was taken, the action was pretty intense.

The last Countdown scene of the night had Marika, Joanna, Mark, and Alan drawing at the beach. We did a pretty good job at being mellow in this scene. Even when we got down to the the 2 second scene there wasn't a lot of physicalizing.

Ah yes, the Irish Drinking Song with Scott W., Joanna, Ann, Scott S., and Jim. At the moment shown in this photo, it's Ann's turn to be singing her line. Once again Scott S. looks bored. But, in this case I know he's furiously thinking about his next line. Furiously. Thinking.

One more Irish Drinking Song, but for this one we had a couple of new players singing on stage for the first time. Tannis, Mike, Eric, Sol, and Joan are singing away, and although every one of them seems to be on a completely different beat, It was a fun song with a lot of good rhymes.

Again, I only picked out 10 pictures for this post out of the 90 or so I had from the class. You can check out the rest at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sbimprov/SBImprov42507

Let me know what you think.

Class April 18, 2007

It was good to be back this week. Everyone who reported on Mike and Jim's class from last week said those that two did a fabulous job, so thanks to you both for filling in. I don't have pictures from that class, so we'll jump right in on this week's report. We'll start off with this picture of Li-At, Scott, and Dustin. They're playing a game of Touch to Speak, and in this scene they are astronauts. The basic rule is that anyone who wants to speak must first touch another player.

Here, Angela, Patrick, and Andy are also in a Touch to Speak scene, but in this case they are cattle wranglers. One of the interesting challenges you can give yourself in this scene is to find different ways to touch the other players. I particularly like the dual in this scene which allowed them to speak while standing back-to-back.

Victoria, Justin, and Mike are dog-walkers in this scene. Nothing subtle about this contact; they went right into a clinch.

This exercise also encourages a lot more physical work rather than pure dialog. And, if the scene wasn't enough encouragement, I tried to emphasize that aspect of the scene with a little side coaching ("less chatter!").

Here we've switched to Spoon River. This game is about narrative, and has very little physical interaction. I've always been fascinated by this scene structure, because it's about working together to create a gruesome, mass death. Jim, Sol, Mike, and Kathy are discussing how some scissors, a cat, and a ficus all came together to kill all four of their characters.

Another Spoon River scene with Dustin, David, Mark, and Marika. This one involved a surf board, a church, some holy wine, and a flaming Jesus statue. This was a tough Easter celebration, and of course all four characters died a gruesome, flaming death.

Now on to the ever popular Irish Drinking Song. What I always find amazing about this exercise is how much it is dreaded by people in their first few classes. But it is the most popular piece we do. Patrick, Victoria, Ben, Sol, and Justin are serenading us, although in this shot Victoria is the one singing her verse with a vengence.

Andy is captured mid-warble as he, Karla, Marika, Kathy, and Kenna are singing their Irish Drinking Song. Since I typically direct these pieces, I don't get a chance to jot down the topics, so I don't remember what they were so enthusiastically singing about.

The next few shots are from the night's 3-Line Drill. We don't get enough opportunity to practice with this drill, so I'm glad we got to it in this class. Here, Andy and Karla are practicing the first three lines of an open structure. I liked Karla's pose in this shot, providing a good physical reaction to Andy's line.

I liked this 3-Line Drill from Patrick and Mark because of the unusual vertical position. Getting away from two people just standing and talking makes for a much more interesting stage picture. Although for some reason, Mark started sniffing his shoes right after this shot.

Speaking of interesting physical physical work, here are Kenna and Justin in their 3-Line Drill scene. You can almost work out what the whole scene was about from their physical positions in this shot. Their attitudes are so well portrayed. The scene had something to do with American Idol, but it's their poses and expressions that make me want to know more about whatever is going on.

That's really the point of the 3-Line Drill. We are only performing the first three lines of what should be a longer scene, but the goal is to make those first lines so interesting to the audience that they want to see more.

This is the last picture from the evening, but it's my favorite shot. This is Kathy and Sol's 3-Line Drill. Sol just entered with a line about Kathy being pregnant, and that's what her reaction is actually about. However, their poses and the weird angle of the shot makes the scene look like some sort of warped Film Noir. I imagine Sol smoking a cigarette and Kathy having an aside to the audience about the Private Eye who entered the room. That's not the way the scene went, but it's a fun fantasy.

For the record, we had 19 people in class, and in addition to the games mentioned already, we also did a few rounds of Freeze Tag at the end of the night.

Class April 4, 2007

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).

Class March 28, 2007

Wednesday's class had 19 people, which allowed us to do some scene work with smaller groups. We also got the chance to do some long form drills at the end of the night. I'm going to try and keep that part of the evening in our workshops. I love this shot, where Jim and Kathy appear to be having a perfect moment together. In actuality, this scene is called Info Both, or sometimes Zelig, and the two of them are stuttering together. This is a quick scene where one player is at an information booth and the other enters with a strong emotion or characteristic. The player at the info booth takes on the offered characteristic.

Zelig is played as a quick rotation scene and now Allegra has entered the scene with Kathy. Until I checked my notes, I liked imagining what this scene was all about. Chickens? No, they're sailors on leave. The hands are holding some sort of a backpack. Sailors carry backpacks?

A few rotations later, we have Mark and Justin together. I believe Justin was tracking something. I love the cool pose Justin is in. Mark looks a bit dumbfounded by Justin, but I remember the two of them being fun to watch.

Here's a shot of Sharon and Scott in their Info Both scene. Scott entered carrying a gun and Sharon immediately pulled out hers. They became two ol' boys wavin' their guns. I'm not sure what this pose means, but look at the expressions on their faces. They match beautifully. This was a fun scene.

Mark and Mark are working together on another Info Both scene. Mark on the right entered with a box of cell phones that he found. I'm not really clear what the two of them were trying to do.

What I like about this exercise is its emphasis on taking on the character, not playing against it. It creates a lot of energy between the two characters.

At this point, I'd had it with Ben and decided to give him a piece of my ... oh, no wait. This is another Zelig scene and I entered really furious. Ben matched my inarticulate, stifled screams with his own inarticulate, stifled screams. We never established what we were angry about, but it was very satisfying in a cathartic way.

I like this shot. Marika, David, and CK have joined together to be one character in a two character scene. There are three players forming the second character in the scene. I call this Three Speak as One, One Word at a Time, Switch. I should probably come up with a shorter name. I'll explain it in greater detail another time, but suffice it to say the exercise left everyone with a sore head, and I consider that a success.

Kenna and Scott are working on their Three Line Drill. Kenna entered the scene frightened and hid behind Scott. They had a weak start, but on their second attempt it was a very compelling scene starter.

The Three Line Drill is another rotation exercise and is meant to work on the first three lines of an open scene. The exercise is a great way to learn how to immediately find a compelling scene.

At the end of the night, sometimes folks just need to let off steam, and here Aydin and Scott are working out a few issues. Sol, Jim, Andy, and David are looking on, although Sol appears to be getting ready for his turn.

Actually, we ended the night with a few rounds of Freeze Tag. That night we did it in a line form so that everyone had a chance to create a scene.

All in all, this turned out to be a very emotionally satisfying night.

Santa Barbara Improv Workshop Recital Picture

The recital was a fantastic, and I'm extremely proud of how everyone did on stage. I haven't pulled any pictures from the video, yet, but here are a couple of group shots taken after the show. Unfortunately not everyone is in the picture, but I'll name those who are, starting with the back row: Mike, Andy, Justine, Sol, Scott W, Kathy, David, and Justin. The next 'row' consists of Li-At and Melissa, and the next sort-of row is Allegra, Ben, Angela, and Marika, with Alan (me) kneeling in front. Missing are Lorien and Scott S. I've included the following picture for several reasons. First, Lorien has joined us (she's in the deerstalker cap). Second is Andy's 'Kilroy' moment over Justine's shoulder, and the third reason is the fabulous expression on Marika's face.

Class March 21, 2007

We've gotten to the point where a class of 18 seems like a small class. In this picture, we've broken up into three groups to each tell a One Word Story. This is one of our standard warm up exercises and you can see Mark, Mark, Andy, Kelly, Ben, Justine, Allegra, Scott, Li-At, Angela, Mike, Lorien, Justin, Victoria, David, and Eric. This is a Story, Story, Die scene with Mark, Karla, Justine, and Ben. At this point you can tell that Mark is telling the story, mainly from his pained expression. And, of course, Karla and Ben are watching the direction to avoid imminent death.

Here, we've switched to the Puppets scenes. In this one, Victoria and Mike are the puppets to Allegra and Andy's puppeteering. They were fishing in this scene, although not very well. And I must say that it's good to see Victoria back on stage.

In this rotation of the scene, Allegra and Andy are now the the puppets, and Angela and David have joined in as the puppeteers. I believe this scene was taking place in a smoking shop. For some reason, it looks like David was modeling the movements for Andy.

I like that the puppeteers were to the sides of the puppets in this scene. After the next few pictures, I'll comment on how the scene looks when the puppeteers stand behind the puppets.

A couple of rotations later, we now have Li-At as a puppet with Justine as her enthusiastic puppeter. Eric is the other puppet with Lorien as his puppeteer. The scene was taking place at a lingerie store, so that may explain why Lorien is having a hands-off moment. Justine, of course, has no such hesitation.

Still performing a Puppet scene, but now Justine and Lorien are the puppets with Mark and Ben as their puppeteers. This scene involved scrap-booking, and Justine seemed to be taking it all rather emotionally.

A few rotations later and we have Kelly, Justin, Sol, and Mark. Kelly and Sol are the puppets, and they are in a tool store. In these last few pictures, I've come to realize how often the puppeteers work from behind to manipulate the puppets. I'm sure it's to avoid getting in between the interactions, but I can see how awkward it looks. It's much more interesting to see the puppeteers manipulate from the sides of the puppets.

And now Justin and Mark are the puppets with Victoria and Mike as the puppeteers. I think this is a good example of how Mike working from Mark's side makes for a more interesting stage picture.

Okay, we've now switched to an Expert Panel scene with Angela, Allegra, Sol, and Ben as the panelists. Scott is the moderator. The panel is discussing Rainbows, with Ben as a collector, Sol a leprechaun, Allegra seeding clouds, and Angela some sort of a rainbow theft investigator. The interactions were very fun with Angela accusing Ben of stealing rainbows and Sol being rather inadequate as a guardian.

Another Expert Panel scene with Victoria, Mark, Justine, and Kelly as the experts. That's Lorien's foot, and she was the moderator. They were experts on swing sets, and there was a lot of discussion about the dangers of swings. Frankly, by the end swinging didn't sound like fun at all.

Ah, the Irish Drinking Song, with Victoria, Scott, Allegra, Lorien, Mark, and Ben. I don't remember the topic of this one, but I love the look on Victoria's face as she's belting out her part of the tune.

One more Irish Drinking Song, this time with Justin, Li-At, Allegra, Mark, and Mike. I've noticed how pictures from this game often seem to capture people in a pose where they look ready to belt each other. Here, Angela looks like she's going to take out the new guy, Mark. Li-At, of course, doesn't want to miss out on the violent confrontation. Justin is happy to not be the target of Angela's wrath, and Mike is oblivious. Or, did I just jab Li-At in the jugular?

Recital March 24, 2007

It's that time again! The Santa Barbara Improv Workshop is putting on a Recital this Saturday, March 24th 2007 starting at 8:00 pm. I'm often asked the difference between a recital and a Caught in the Act show. Structurally, there's not much difference. It's one and a half hours of short form improv. The difference is that for many of the performers, this is their first time performing improv in front of an audience, and for some the first time on stage. We don't advertise outside of our mailing list, and we encourage the players to invite those family and fiends that they'd like to have in the audience.

However, it's always a great improv show, and a lot of fun for the audience and the performers. Lately, our classes have been filled with wonderful performers and we have a great set of improv scenes lined up for the show. Come by and join in the fun!

Class March 14, 2007

A fine class that challenged everyone's ability to work in large groups. The final count for the night was 32 players, not including me. Luckily, one person left just as another arrived, so we never had more than 31 at a time (whew!). Folks also went crazy with the camera (which is a good thing) and I selected these photos from a batch of 72! Even though there will be a lot of group pictures, I'm going to start (and end) with shots of just two players in a scene. Both shots make me smile. In this wonderful moment, Becky is sticking her tongue out at Sharon. It wasn't part of the scene (air traffic controllers having a few drinks on the job to avoid dealing with a plane wreck), just a moment between my two favorite improvisers.

We did several rounds of Holiday. Here, David, Kathy, Allegra, Andy, and Kenna are celebrating Velcro Day! This scene had a fabulous opening with Kathy velcroed to the floor and everyone else working together to peel her off. What better way to celebrate!

This group was celebrating Plastic Cup Day with Lorien, Mark, Aydin, Angela, and Becky. At this point, they were trying to convince Lorien that she was to be the virgin sacrifice to the giant cup god. She wasn't having any of it, and apparently there weren't any other virgins.

Okay, this was Onesy Day. Apparently, onesies are those one piece outfits that babies wear. Eric, Robyn, Scott, Sharon, and Mike are giving their all, and there was even a little song to celebrate.

Kibble Day (yeah, we were running low on suggestions) had Chrisana, Melissa, Sol, Scott, and Jess doing some celebrating around a large bowl of Kibble. There was a lot of eating of Kibble, and Melissa was the lone dog in the scene. There seemed to be a lot of leg nuzzling.

One of the Irish Drinking Songs of the night. Lorien, Allegra, Becky, Andy, Karla, Ben, and Mike are in this piece, with Andy having his big moment.

Another Irish Drinking Song, this time with Marika, Eric, Sol, Sharon, Aydin, and CK. I like that in this moment it looks like several blows were going to be thrown. Marika is clearly hauling off to belt Eric (hey, we've all been there), and CK appears to be getting out before he becomes the next target of Sharon's sadistic blows after Aydin. Sol is ready to back her up.

Oh yeah, Tristan and Kathy in a Park Bench scene. Think Rosie Perez when you look at Tristan (he was an inmate at a prison) and Kathy was, uhm..., paying conjugal visits to all of the prisoners (and at least one guard) in 15 minute increments. Or at least all of those interested in a woman for their conjugal visit.

Same scene, but Tony was playing a prisoner who missed his parole hearing, and Marika was playing a guard (yes, that guard). One of my favorite bits of dialog of the night was Marika's "how could you miss your hearing? You're a prisoner. You don't have anything to do".

This scene between Melissa and Ben takes place on a Park Bench outside of a candy store. Melissa is trying to finagle some (or all) of Ben's candy. As you can see from Ben's expression, he was a willing victim. She got all of his candy.

As promised, the last picture is of another nice moment between two players. In this Park Bench scene, Sol is playing a beggar trying to convince Eric to give him some money. Just a couple of guys sitting on a Park Bench.

Class March 7, 2007

I'm not certain what it means when a "small" class consists of 22 people, but because it seemed like a small class, we spent some time working on 2 and 3 player scenes. Before we get to those pictures, above is a shot of an Irish Drinking Song with David, Mark, Scott, Ben, Jim, Kathy, and Colin.Whatever the topic, you can be sure the lyrics were filled with sexual innuendos. Teri, Eric, and Mark are in the middle of an ABC Scene set in a Gas Station. Teri played a piano instructor that was giving Eric's character a little something extra in his lesson. Mark played Eric's brother, who felt he also needed some of that additional instruction, and was trying to convince Teri to also take him on as a student.

In their ABC Scene, Lorien, Marika, and Jim are in a burger joint, supposedly preparing a huge backlog of orders. However, Jim was the only one working, since Marika and Lorien's characters were too busy dealing with their issues. I think this shot captures the characters' relationships pretty well.

Next, we went through a series of Pillars Scenes done in a rotation (two come up as pillars, and then they are the players in the next scene). Here, Marika and Terri are the players and Jim and Andy were the pillars in the scene. Marika played Teri's grandmother, and they were fighting during their Maui vacation.

Another Pillars Scene with David, Scott, Ben, and Tristan. Scott and and Tristan are pillars in the US Senate, and David and Ben are performing as Senators. I liked that all their conflicts were going to be settled by votes on the Senate floor. Or maybe that was too realistic.

In this scene, Tristan and Scott are the players on the outside, and CK and Kathy are the pillars on the inside. This one took place in a Turkish bath, although I think we all lost sight of the location while paying attention to their Yiddish accents. The scene had something to do with getting a spritz to get off the shmuz.

Now, in this scene with CK, Colin, Kathy, and Angela, the two players (CK and Kathy) are blacksmiths. They were making a variety of swords, and the one I most remember was purple and fuzzy. Colin and Angela were providing words, and one of my favorites of the night was Angela's Yttrium.

Li-At, Mark, Aydin, and Justin are in a recording studio for their round of Pillars. Mark and Justin are the pillars for Li-At, the singer, and Aydin, the producer/sound engineer. For some reason, I strongly remember that the scene ended with the two of them going for a burger. Maybe I'm hungry.

This is an Irish Drinking Song with Lorien, Justin, CK, Eric, and Marika. I included this shot because I like the way it captures everyone watching Marika's struggle to come up with a rhyme. And yes, that's my arm.

We played several rounds of Park Bench, and in this shot you see David and Mike discussing their plans to pick up another character, Samantha. As I recall, David was going to win her over with dancing (so he was looking for an instructor) and Mike was going to continue with his "try every line in the book" strategy. Each was a little creepy in his own way.

Li-At and Jim are in a Yoga studio, and Jim was playing a waaayyyy mellow yoga student. To make this a little clearer, Li-At was portraying a very relaxed, stereotypical Yoga student, but in contrast with Jim's character, she was harshing his mellow. I believe he only said about 5 words the whole time. It was all in the facial expressions and body language.

This took place in the same round of Park Bench, but several scenes later. At this point, Jim (playing the same Yoga character) entered the scene crying. Aydin was reaching to comfort him when Jim exclaimed that "everything is all so beautiful". At that point it was clear he was crying with joy - just about the beauty of life. I think that was my favorite moment of the night.

Class February 28, 2007

Doesn't that look like a typical workshop? I hadn't yet posted a group shot from the warm-up exercises, but this one is pretty typical. Pictured here are only two of the three groups telling one-word stories. The small circle in the background consists of (clockwise from left) Jim, Lorien, Sharon, Aydin, Justin, Justine, Carol, and Sol. The foreground circle has Scott, Allegra, Li-At, Tony, Ben (barely visible), Mike, Dustin, and Marika. Andy, Scott, and Mike are fishermen in a game of Coundown. They are first given a minute to create a scene, then they have to replay the scene in 30 seconds, then 15 seconds, 7 seconds, and finally 3 seconds. It's a great exercise for learning about the beats of a scene, and identifying the critical parts of a story. By the time the 3 second scene happens, you've pared the story down to the critical 3 beats. This scene also had my favorite quote of the night, Scott saying "those fucking poissons".

Here, Ben, Allegra, and Mike are superheroes in a Remote Control scene. This is another game that focuses on the beats of a scene. The director controls the scene with a 'remote control', calling out the commands reverse, fast-forward, slow, pause, etc. The players need to keep track of the beats so that they can go back through them on command.

Kathy, Marika, and Jim are playing another scene of Remote Control. Since I was directing with the remote, I didn't keep notes on the scenes, and I don't remember the setup for this one. If someone does remember, please add a comment.

This is another Remote Control scene with Tristan, Li-At, and Scott. I also don't remember the setup for this one, for the same reason. For everyone who has wondered why I take so many notes during the workshop, this is the reason.

Mark (kneeling), Andre, and David are also in a Remote Control scene. Mark was playing a horse, so I believe this scene was about veterinarians (?). I do remember that Andre had to slap Mark on the butt a lot. It's those physical beats which are nice to replay over and over again. Some strong lines (like Scott's "fucking poissons") also make for easily identified beats.

Another Remote Control scene with Aydin, Andy, and Angela and I don't remember the setup. So, why did all the reasonable pictures have to come from that exercise. Luckily everyone was brilliant.

Carol, Justin, and Lorien are in this (of course) Remote Control scene. This was Carol's first time at our workshop although she's done some improv in the past. Lorien has returned for her second class, which is a good sign, and Justin is returning after his triumphant first performance in a Stand Up comedy show.

Finally, a Remote Control scene where I remember the setup (because I'm in it). Justine, Alan (kneeling), and CJ are in a Remote Control scene about headhunters. At this moment, CJ is about to cut off my head in retribution for my cutting off his neighbor's head (nothing but high-concept comedy). Hey, this is the second shot of someone on their knees! Who's taking these pictures (or why do we feel the need to get on our knees in class)?

This is a basic Irish Drinking Song with Li-At being blocked by my arm, Kathy, Tristan, Ben, Allegra, Tony, and Sol singing their hearts out. Do I remember the topic? No. If you remember (or were in) any of these scenes, please leave comments!

There were some fine head shots taken just after the class ended. Andy had brought a set of wigs but they didn't get used during the class. On the left, Kathy and Andy in their best 60's rock album pose, and on the right, Mike is in his 80's, metal pose.

And pictured here, for the first time, the post workshop after-glow.

Class February 21, 2007

Another record breaking class with 27 people showing up to join in the barely organized chaos. Here, Andy is directing an emotional symphony with Lorien, Bob (not Jason), Kathy, David, Scott, Marika, and Allegra providing the sounds. Kathy, Allegra, Dusting, and Tony are all performing a scene where the activity has nothing to do with the dialog. They are buying skis while discussing an upcoming wedding.

Here we have Angela, David, Marika, and Tristan practicing their ballet while their dialog was about vengeance. This was a scene with Kenna, Li-at, Mark, and Sol who were making pizzas while discussing their impending bankruptcy. This was probably the most popular scene of the night or at least for the ladies. Here, Andy, Scott, Justin, and Patrick were all working at Chippendale's, but they were discussing their kids. So, you were seeing an amazing amount of bumping and grinding while poles were being greased (!), and at the same time the conversation was between fathers who were discussing their concerns about their kids. Good lord, you could hear the sighs from the audience.

In this last picture, Lorien, Allegra, Alan, and Mike are welding while discussing charities. I don't know exactly what we were welding, but I do know there were a lot of pieces.

Class February 14, 2007

Valentines day at the Santa Barbara Improv Workshop - it just sounds magical, doesn't it? And as you can see from these first few photos, the romantic tension added a bit more energy to every scene and everyone's performance. Or maybe it was the hats.

I decided to bring the bins of hats, wigs, and other costume props so that the players had a bit more inspiration for their character work, and I think the Expert Panel scenes best showed off the results. In the first photo, above, Li-At, Jim, Tony, Tristan, and Marika were working with the suggestion Frogs. Marika was the moderator. Tristan was Madam Deuchamp, a French frog importer who supplied customers like Jim, the French chef. Both had to deal with Li-At's animal rights character as well as Tony's Paleoanthropologist (yeah, I'm not clear on that last one, either).

This group had Bread as their suggestion for Expert Panel, and Angela played a health inspector (that huge, gloved hand was a help when inspecting for cleanliness). Allegra was an accountant (bread!). Ben was a rodeo clown trying to find bread for his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sol played a farmer advocating for stone ground bread, and Dustin was the Texas-cowboy moderator. I think Dustin was the most memorable of the moderators, doing a great job of being excited about everyone's answers. The explanation Ben gave about making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich had the audience rolling.

David, Kenna, Terri, and Sharon were Auction experts with Andy as their moderator. It may not be obvious in the picture, but Sharon has a hat over her knee, making it look like she was missing the lower part of her leg. She played the founder of the auction bidder's society I'd Give My Right Arm For That. Her rival was Terri, who usually auctioned off baked goods, but by the end of the piece we knew she had sold at least one child to Sharon's character. David bought Party goods and had the disposition to prove it, and Kenna was the money person at an auction house who typically slept through the bidding. Andy was, well, beautifully underspoken in his enthusiasm.

Now this was the group you wanted to party with on Valentine's Day. Snow was their field of expertise, and you are seeing Mark as the Abominable Snowman named Snorky Forky, Eric as Lockjaw the gold miner and Snorky's ride, Aydin played the Ukranian Anton Korostis, and Marika as Shelby McIntire, Policewoman and builder of the world's largest snowman. Not in the picture is Jim, who played an enlightened Yoga-Swami sort of moderator. I think my favorite moment from this group was when Snorky was asked how he felt about the term Yeti, and he said "Yeti is insulting and makes me sad".

This shot is from a Surprise Lines scene which used those little candy hearts with messages written on them for the lines. You can see Terri and Tristan are reading their hearts, and no, Tristan is not flipping off Ben. I found a huge bin of those candy hearts for $2 at Albertson's and they had a large number of messages - some of them odd as Valentine's messages ("Let's Read"). For some reason, Ben had a fascination with wearing wigs that evening.

This was another Surprise Lines scene using the candy hearts. A bank robery was taking place, but the lines from the hearts had Marika and Dustin's characters in the middle of a lover's quarrel. Allegra gamely kept her arms up as the bank teller/victim/other woman, giving them the space they needed to resolve their conflict during the robbery. Markia is sucking down one of those awful candy hearts.

And that's a pretty good overview of the special things we did on that special night. Thanks again to Andy, Kenna, and Allegra who took pictures (my apologies to any of the photographers I missed).

Class February 7, 2007

We were back in our regular classroom for the night, and thank goodness because we had 25 people attending the workshop. Two were new to improv as well as our workshop, and the rest were all returning. This is a record attendance for our Wednesday night sessions, but I think everyone kept the class going smoothly. Unfortunately, we went another week without photos (Andy, we miss you), which is too bad because there was a lot of good physical work. Considering the size of the class, there was a lot of stage time, and I think everyone got 4 or 5 scenes in.

Our next class is on St. Valentine's Day, so I've got a scene with a sweet twist planned. And, I think we'll throw in some hats and wigs to see how that opens up our character work for the night - and allows hidden passions to emerge (oh yeah, making improv sound sexy).

Class January 31, 2007

Well, we had an unfortunate conflict with this last class. Our usual room was double booked! When we arrived, another group had set up and was listed on the room reservation! Luckily, I still have a key to our old classroom. Unfortunately, the classroom is really small, and we've drastically outgrown the space (19 people showed up for class). Fortunately, everyone understood the circumstances and adapted beautifully (hey, it's an improv class).

Unfortunately, we don't have pictures from the class. Fortunately, we have some fine memories of what turned out to be a great class.

Class January 24, 2007

Once again we had a pretty big class (okay, when does a class with 20 people stop being big and become normal?) but this time, no one was brand new. That let us get into scene work pretty quickly, and everyone dove in enthusiastically. After warm-ups we started in with a Stinky, Sexy, Silly scene, and here Terri, Toni, Dustin, and Nate were conducting the scene in a dentist's office. Guess how Nate felt about Dustin.

Scott, Sharon, Andy, and Tristan in another Stinky, Sexy, Silly scene, this time they were camping. This was a wonderful scene with everyone endowing each other beautifully.

Mike, Scott, Justine, and Li-At in their scene which had some great physical moments. At one point Li-At and Mike were fighting for Scott's attention by pulling his wheelchair in different ways.

Here, Kenna, Nate, Alan, and Neil are in their version of the exercise, and again I think you can tell Neil's attitude towards me and probably Kenna's attitude towards Nate. As I recall, we were in a resort.

This is a 5-Letter scene with Scott, Melissa, and Sol. They were working with the word CLONE and the setting was a painting class where Sol was the nude model. I don't know that you need much more than that - the scene lived up to what you're imagining.

Unfortunately, it was about this time when the camera's battery died. So, no more images from all the other 5-Letter scenes, the Invent a Holiday scenes (and Insult Day was just about the most perfect scene I've scene in a long time), the songs, or the 3-Line Drills. Unfortunately I can't bring myself to type the words of the best opening line of the night, but let's just say that we all have a new picture of Melissa in our minds.

Improv Classes, Jan. 10 and 17, 2007

I wasn't in town to teach on the 10th of January, and Victoria was originally scheduled to take over. Unfortunately she got sick, so Jim took over as a last minute substitute, and from all accounts he did a fabulous job. Thanks to Jim for taking over and to Victoria for arranging the replacement while I was out of town. I never had to worry about it. It was a large class with several new players, all of whom I hope to meet in the next few classes. The following week, January 17, I was back to teach the class, but I was informed that no more pictures would be taken until I finally caught up on my blog postings. I appreciate a good class revolt (and an occasional kick in the pants), and so I'll accept my admonishment and briefly report that the class was a lot of fun, with 4 new players (or at least new to me), all of whom were enthusiastic and didn't hesitate to hop up on stage. We got in a few rounds of Tag Out Story, The [blank] Family, Human Props, a few Irish Drinking Songs, and Entrances and Exits. There was a lot of energy and some wonderful scenes.

Class January 3, 2007

The first workshop of 2007 was a big one with 18 people attending. There were a few who were brand new to improv and the rest were returning players. And, luckily, there were a few folks willing to snap photos along the way. We led off with a set of conducted stories, and by popular demand they were all in the competitive Story-Story-Die format (I was willing to go easy with a more forgiving structure, but the players were anxious for the challenge). I think Marika is the focus of my "director's point", but Neil Scott, Sol, and Ben were ready to pick up the story when directed.

We had a couple of new folks in this Story-Story-Die. Bob and Kenna were the two just learning the game, with Justin and Andy filling out the field at this point. I don't know who was "dead" in the background. Clearly, Andy knows my directing so well that he can do the piece with his eyes closed. One of the reasons that I like this shot is because Andy is usually taking the photos, so I don't get enough shots with him included.

This is a Counting-Words scene with Jim, Allegra, and Scott. The crowd went pretty easy on this group with Allegra having the most words at 4. I like this photo because everyone is at a different height. It was an interesting scene to watch.

Another counting words scene with Ian, Ben, and Mike. I like that Mike appears ready to burst out laughing.

Once again, I'm drawn to this picture because all the players are at different levels. This is yet another Counting Words scene with Eric (5 words), Scott (3 words), and Bob (1 word).

I'm using all these pictures from Counting-Words scenes because they came out so well. I've got lot's of pictures from other scenes, but these had the least amount of blur along with being interesting shots. Here, Robyn (3 words), Ana (2 words), and Kenna (4 words) are working on a scene which turned out to be quite physically expressive despite how new they are to improv.

Here, Bob, Tony, and I are in yet another Counting Words scene. I like this because it looks like I'm criticizing a new player, which makes me look tough.

Hmm, maybe Terri took the idea of criticizing the new players (here, Bob) a little too far (actually, I can't find any notes that would explain what this picture was about - maybe there are things I'm not aware of happening in the class).

Okay, I know a fight didn't actually break out between these two guys, but doesn't it just look natural. Okay, maybe not. Eric and Justin are a couple of sweet guys and that's what makes this an even funnier shot.

And that was a sampling of the first workshop from 2007.