The next Improvisational Comedy Show from the Santa Barbara Improv Workshop will be:
Date: Saturday September 5, 2009
Time: 8:00 pm until about 9:30 pm
Location: Jefferson Hall, 1525 Santa Barbara Street (near Anapamu)
Price: $5 at the door
Here are Marley, Angela, Garret, Kathy, and Nancy from their Irish Drinking Song. We had several new players join us this night and you'll find more photos in our album.
Our warm ups included the 1 Word Story, and our scene work began with ABCs. We moved on to Switch Dubbing and everyone had a chance to create their foreign film.
As pictured above, we all had a chance to sing the Irish Drinking Song. And after that, we ended the night with Entrances and Exits.
Allegra, Patrick, and Ben are in an Opera scene with Allegra translating. I like Ben's high kick. There are more photos from the night in our album.
Our warm ups included Enemy Defender as well as the 1 Word Story. We started our scene work with the exercise Create Object to Speak. Then we did a set of Obsession scenes, which we've not done in quite awhile and needed to practice.
After the Irish Drinking Song we finished the night with Opera translation scenes.
My favorite (or at least the oddest) quote of the night:
You have peanuts all over this store.
Yeah, it gets lonely sometimes.
I was out of town (Comic-Con!) for this week's workshop, but the lovely and talented Victoria stepped in and inspired the class. It sounds like there was some amazing physical work done, and once again I'm sorry that I miss the classes where there's a substitute.
Thanks Victoria!
Despite appearances, I can assure you that Patrick did not eat Kathy while Mike watched. That's about all I can be confident about, so for the rest of the night you'll have to check out our album.
We started the night with warm ups including the 1 Word Story. Our stage work began with rounds of Mutant. We continued with Superhero and then 185. I'm glad we got a chance to work on 185, because it got better and better as the night went on.
After our sets of Irish Drinking Song, we moved on to Repeating Scene Changing Genre. We finished the night with rounds of Freeze Tag.
The next Improvisational Comedy Show from the Santa Barbara Improv Workshop will be:
Date: Saturday August 1, 2009
Time: 8:00 pm until about 9:30 pm
Location: Jefferson Hall, 1525 Santa Barbara Street (near Anapamu)
Price: $5 at the door
A fantastic picture of Scott and one of our new players (okay, I admit that I don't have her name anywhere) in a Pillars scene. That's actually my foot on the lower left corner of the picture. The rest of the workshop can be seen in our album for the week.
The night started with warm-ups, including Physical Offers and 1 Word Story. Then, we moved on to a Create and Use Environment exercise.
We did a complete rotation of Pillars followed by the Irish Drinking Song.
We ended the night with the 3 Line Drill.
My favorite quote from the night (and a great safety tip)
You can't walk on Mars with slippers.
This picture is from an Animal Transform exercise with Allegra, Patrick, Ben, Roberta, and Guy. I believe they were transforming from their animals into their characters. You'll find the rest of the pictures from this night in our album.
During our warm-ups, we did the Association Jump exercise for the first time in quite awhile. And we got in 1 Word Story.
For our scene work, we started with Class Photo. Then everyone got in a round of the Animal Transform exercise.
After the Irish Drinking Song, we finished our scene work with some Spoon River stories.
We ended the night with Freeze Tag, and since it was Roberta's last night with us, we came to an unspoken agreement to keep her in just about every scene. We worked her!
My favorite line of the night
Hey 'brain', can you raise the dead?
Ben, Brian, Guy, Katie, and Patrick are in a Panel of Experts scene, discussing Graphic Arts. I suppose it's obvious that I brought hats for the night. The rest of the (record number of) photos can be found in our album.
Yes, we did our usual 1 Word Story as part of our warm ups, and then we did a Reason For Being Late exercise.
For our short form work, we did Transfer Emotions scenes and then Panel of Experts. Next came the Irish Drinking Song scenes.
We ended the night with Switch Dubbing.
For my favorite line of the night, I had trouble picking between these three (for various reasons):
I'm not yelling, I'm just telling you what to do.
You get fucked less in graphic arts.
My suspenders are the foundation of my being.
Here are Justin and Lilia in an Alliteration scene. The rest of the photos from the night (and we're back to our usual number) can be found in our album.
After our usual warm ups, including the 1 Word Story, we started with our Yes And ... exercise. It's good that we revisit this from time to time, because the intent is to practice both the Yes (which was great) as well as the And (which needs work).
We moved on to Alliteration which went well and was fun. And then came our usual Irish Drinking Song.
We ended the night with a new piece, One Act Tag. This went better than I expected, and I plan on coming back to this as a long form (multi-scene) practice structure.
My favorite line of the night (it still makes me chuckle):
Maybe you're a foreigner, or maybe you're just poor.
Here we see Karla, Guy, Allegra, Ben, and Dana in their 1 Word Story group. This is one of only three pictures we have in our album from this class. For some reason not many pictures were taken.
We did the 1 Word Story at the end of our warm up work. We also did a complete set of It's Tuesday exercises.
Counting Words was our first scene work, and then we moved on to Swedish Scenes. And of course everyone did the Irish Drinking Song.
We ended the night with 3 Line Drills.
I was out of town this week, so the amazingly talented Victoria stepped in and covered the workshop for me. From all reports it was a fabulous class.
Thanks Victora!
Ben, Tom, and Robert are pretty focued on Tom's activity while in this Bus Stop scene. The album has more pictures from the night.
We began the night with warm-ups, including 1 Word Story. Then we started our scene work with 5 Letter Word. Next came a set of Rhyming Scenes.
We got in our standard Irish Drinking Song and ended with two Bus Stop scenes, which I think went very well.
My favorite quote of the night (not necessarily the funniest):
The life of this town gets lower and lower
As much as people groan about the Irish Drinking Song, that seems to be one everyone enjoys. Here are Lilia, Nancy, Mike, Brian, and Todd singing away. There are more pictures from the night at our album.
After our warmups (including 1 Word Story), we did a complete rotation of Gift Giving. Then everyone participated in a series of Growing and Shrinking scenes.
Next was Switch Characters which we haven't done in some time, and I think went pretty well. Then we moved on to the Irish Drinking Song.
We ended the night with Freeze Scene Swap, a new game. I think it ended well.
How could I not make this the cover shot for the class? They are doing the Macarena! It made perfect sense in the scene, but good lord, the MACARENA! Well, there are more pictures from the night in our album.
We started the night with warm-ups, and we got in a Story Intro and a Pattern Game as well as 1 Word Story. Next was Gibberish Switch, which worked pretty well. Then we got to a piece we haven't seen in a while, He Said She Said.
Everyone sang their hearts out for Irish Drinking Song, and then we ended the night with 3 Line Drills.
Mark's getting pummled in the scene In a BLANK, With a BLANK, While BLANK. Those are Patrick and Tom's hands doing the pummeling. You'll find quite a few more pictures (199) from this class in our album.
After our warm ups, we started the night with Machine scenes. We continued with In a BLANK, With a BLANK, While BLANK, and there were quite a few good scenes in that set, including my favorite line of the night (below).
Next came Repeating Scene Changing Emotion scenes, which was a nice variation on our usual form. Then everyone participated in an Irish Drinking Song, and since we were running late we finished with Line Freeze Tag.
My favorite line of the night:
I've never met a clergyman with special sauce!
The next Improvisational Comedy Show from the Santa Barbara Improv Workshop will be:
Date: Saturday June 6, 2009
Time: 8:00 pm until about 9:30 pm
Location: Jefferson Hall, 1525 Santa Barbara Street (near Anapamu)
Price: $5 at the door
Our classroom space is in the Evacuation Warning area for the Jesusita Fire, so I am cancelling the workshop for tonight. I'll try and stop by to put up signs, and let people know. We'll see if I can get into the area. It's better if everyone stays off the roads. Please be safe out there!
Alan
There are few people I know who can authoritatively write about the difference between improv and comedy. John Kinde has just the right skill set, and a great article to prove it.
John has an interesting background, and it includes teaching improv. Right now he's living in Las Vegas, but for several years he lived and taught in Santa Maria. One of his venues for learning was here at the Santa Barbara Improv Workshop. For several years he drove down every Wednesday night. He also put on amazing improv shows in Santa Maria and always invited the Santa Barbara players to participate. If you ever get the chance to take one of his workshops, I recommend it.
He's also a public speaker, gives workshops on using humor in public presentations, and writes the blog Humor Power where he shares his knowledge and experiences. I read his writings regularly. Today John posted an article discussing the differences between comedy and improv, and it's great read. I think he nailed the differences and also talked about what makes improv funny.
Guy, Allegra, and Kathy are in an ABC scene taking place in a recycling center. I choose this shot because it gives folks who are checking out the class a good sense of our size and setup. And you all look less intimidating from behind. Anywho, the rest of the pictures from the class can be found at the album.
We tried a new warm-up exercises in this class called Name Game. Of course we also got in the traditional 1 Word Story.
On stage, we started with Tag Out Story and then proceeded to ABCs. Then we worked on a new piece called Ratings Board. That one got better with each group.
Because the early scene work went long, we ended the night with the Irish Drinking Song.
My favorite line of the night came during one of the R rated scenes in Ratings Board:
Do you have no fucking morals?