I'm in an internet cafe in Banff, Canada right now after spending 20 hours traveling by plane, greyhound and rental car.
On Friday and Saturday I'll see Maestro and Gorilla Theatre at the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, home base of Keith Johnstone.
On Sunday through Thursday I'm taking a Mask workshop with Steve Jarand at the Loose Moose (Keith is rumored to be there for at least one day of the workshop).
On Thursday afternoon I'll drive up to Edmonton and see a crap ton of improv and theater at their Fringe Festival (including improvised soap opera Die-Nasty that's been running for years now with the same characters, Scratch Theatre, and Chimprov)
Check here for improv bloggery. Right now I need a nap.
A Canadian Odyssey
Discussion of the art and craft of improvisation.
Moderators: arclight, happywaffle, bradisntclever
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- bradisntclever Offline
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Re: A Canadian Odyssey
If this is the same show Aden saw in Canada, it sounds like you are in for a real treat.acrouch wrote:including improvised soap opera Die-Nasty that's been running for years now with the same characters
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- improvstitute Offline
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- Justin D. Offline
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So last night I watched Micetro (Maestro) at the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary. It's the theater that Keith started 30 years ago and has been his base of operations for most of that time (even though he's not around that much any more). So it was Keith's format at Keith's theater.
A majority of the cast consisted of the students from the Loose Moose International Summer School that has been going on for the past 10 days (which would have cost me another couple grand to attend, hence my opting for just the Mask workshop). So it wasn't a typical Loose Moose Maestro, but it was still informative.
General show notes:
-They had big number buttons that kept falling off. Nice to know that's universal.
-They had an MC. He was fine.
-Their theater seats 200, so they had a giant Micetro board and a scorekeeper who had to use a pole to slide the names. I kept worrying that his pole was imprecise and he was getting the scores wrong.
-They had a really kick-ass guy on sound. Apparently he was working off an ipod and minidisc player, but he was on the ball with great music between scenes and sound effects during scenes -- cue gunfighter entrance riff, cue suspenseful music riff, cue the gunshot, etc.
-Last week's winner is guaranteed a spot in the show, and in fact is introduced at the top of the show as player number 0.
-They started with Speak in One Voice. Did they do that because it was kind of a workshop Maestro and they did that in the workshop, or is it par for the course?
-They didn't bring lights down before the scenes began. Not sure how I felt about that. Sometimes it was nice, sometimes I felt like it would have benefited from that more formal beginning.
-They had a massive back stage with tons of furniture, set pieces, props and costumes, and before pretty much every scene, without prompting from the directors or players, a group of support players called Scenographers (or snoggers) would run out and dress the set or the players. They got called back a lot, but it was a great thing to see a living room materialize before your eyes or someone get decked out with a wig and dress to play an old lady.
-They took an intermission.
-They did a lightening round where none of the scenes lasted for more than a minute (and they stuck to that time limit).
-They broke a tie at the end with the Hat Game.
-Notes afterward had the directors sitting on stage giving feedback to players sitting in the audience. They asked "How did you feel?" and then went bang into breaking down the scenes. It was all pretty straightforward constructive criticism.
Ultimately, it looked a lot like the Maestro that we do. And honestly, most of our Maestros are better and more entertaining than this one -- in part because this was in many ways a student show. I'd love to see their actual company do it. Maybe I'll stick around until this Friday to play in one of their regular Maestros.
After the show everybody went back to one of the director's houses and partied until the wee hours of the morning. I had to return a rental car early in the morning anyway, so I was up all night. Yay traveling!
A majority of the cast consisted of the students from the Loose Moose International Summer School that has been going on for the past 10 days (which would have cost me another couple grand to attend, hence my opting for just the Mask workshop). So it wasn't a typical Loose Moose Maestro, but it was still informative.
General show notes:
-They had big number buttons that kept falling off. Nice to know that's universal.
-They had an MC. He was fine.
-Their theater seats 200, so they had a giant Micetro board and a scorekeeper who had to use a pole to slide the names. I kept worrying that his pole was imprecise and he was getting the scores wrong.
-They had a really kick-ass guy on sound. Apparently he was working off an ipod and minidisc player, but he was on the ball with great music between scenes and sound effects during scenes -- cue gunfighter entrance riff, cue suspenseful music riff, cue the gunshot, etc.
-Last week's winner is guaranteed a spot in the show, and in fact is introduced at the top of the show as player number 0.
-They started with Speak in One Voice. Did they do that because it was kind of a workshop Maestro and they did that in the workshop, or is it par for the course?
-They didn't bring lights down before the scenes began. Not sure how I felt about that. Sometimes it was nice, sometimes I felt like it would have benefited from that more formal beginning.
-They had a massive back stage with tons of furniture, set pieces, props and costumes, and before pretty much every scene, without prompting from the directors or players, a group of support players called Scenographers (or snoggers) would run out and dress the set or the players. They got called back a lot, but it was a great thing to see a living room materialize before your eyes or someone get decked out with a wig and dress to play an old lady.
-They took an intermission.
-They did a lightening round where none of the scenes lasted for more than a minute (and they stuck to that time limit).
-They broke a tie at the end with the Hat Game.
-Notes afterward had the directors sitting on stage giving feedback to players sitting in the audience. They asked "How did you feel?" and then went bang into breaking down the scenes. It was all pretty straightforward constructive criticism.
Ultimately, it looked a lot like the Maestro that we do. And honestly, most of our Maestros are better and more entertaining than this one -- in part because this was in many ways a student show. I'd love to see their actual company do it. Maybe I'll stick around until this Friday to play in one of their regular Maestros.
After the show everybody went back to one of the director's houses and partied until the wee hours of the morning. I had to return a rental car early in the morning anyway, so I was up all night. Yay traveling!
Okay, so Saturday night I watched Gorilla Theatre at the Loose Moose. Some of you may have seen or performed in the handful of Gorilla shows we've done at the Hideout over the past few years. It may be my favorite improv format ever; it's easily my favorite short-form show.
Most of you probably haven't seen it.
A semi-accurate description can be found here: http://improvencyclopedia.org/games//Go ... eatre.html
The genius of Gorilla (and Maestro as well, but I don't think we hit it as hard as we could) is that the faux competition creates a second level of theatre for the audience to enjoy. In Maestro they're not just watching the improv scenes and games; they're investing in the players and the human drama of them winning and losing. In Gorilla it's even more immediate.
The players are encouraged to find a dynamic within that competitiveness that is fun for the audience to watch. Maybe it's a classic wrestling dynamic of good guy, bad guy and secondary characters; or one player who gets teased by all the other players, but comes out on top despite the odds; or a bunch of players with their own agendas come together by the end to help make something magical happen despite the fact that it means losing the game. Whatever. It can be anything, as long as a satisfying dynamic emerges, the show is extremely satisfying. And if good improv happens while you're at it, all the better.
The show I saw on Saturday was not amazing improv, but they found that delightful dynamic of playful competitiveness by the last fourth of the show and it made for some inspired theatre. And there was some extremely solid improv in there.
General notes/thoughts:
-They didn't have timers dictating how much time the individual directors had (which we've toyed with in the past). Seemed to work fine without them.
-They didn't have strong personae or themes as we often do. A persona is a character that you direct as; Jeremy Lamb used to direct in a white suit with a fake paunch and a southern accent. A theme is an idea or proposition that you link all of your scenes with; Andrea Young once stated that all improv can be broken down into simple mathematical equations and all of her scenes tried to show/prove that. Again, it seemed to work fine without these things.
-They took their time, didn't force anything, the audience enjoyed the improv and by the end, the audience was going nuts as the competitive dynamic came together both in scenes and between scenes.
After the show we went to the same guy's house as Friday night and played poker till two or so. I sadly did not represent the great state of Texas in Texas Hold Em' and went out early like a little bitch who doesn't know how to fold.
Most of you probably haven't seen it.
(isn't that cute how they spell "favor")the Loose Moose website wrote:Our best performers take turns directing improvised scenes to curry favour with the audience.
A semi-accurate description can be found here: http://improvencyclopedia.org/games//Go ... eatre.html
The genius of Gorilla (and Maestro as well, but I don't think we hit it as hard as we could) is that the faux competition creates a second level of theatre for the audience to enjoy. In Maestro they're not just watching the improv scenes and games; they're investing in the players and the human drama of them winning and losing. In Gorilla it's even more immediate.
The players are encouraged to find a dynamic within that competitiveness that is fun for the audience to watch. Maybe it's a classic wrestling dynamic of good guy, bad guy and secondary characters; or one player who gets teased by all the other players, but comes out on top despite the odds; or a bunch of players with their own agendas come together by the end to help make something magical happen despite the fact that it means losing the game. Whatever. It can be anything, as long as a satisfying dynamic emerges, the show is extremely satisfying. And if good improv happens while you're at it, all the better.
The show I saw on Saturday was not amazing improv, but they found that delightful dynamic of playful competitiveness by the last fourth of the show and it made for some inspired theatre. And there was some extremely solid improv in there.
General notes/thoughts:
-They didn't have timers dictating how much time the individual directors had (which we've toyed with in the past). Seemed to work fine without them.
-They didn't have strong personae or themes as we often do. A persona is a character that you direct as; Jeremy Lamb used to direct in a white suit with a fake paunch and a southern accent. A theme is an idea or proposition that you link all of your scenes with; Andrea Young once stated that all improv can be broken down into simple mathematical equations and all of her scenes tried to show/prove that. Again, it seemed to work fine without these things.
-They took their time, didn't force anything, the audience enjoyed the improv and by the end, the audience was going nuts as the competitive dynamic came together both in scenes and between scenes.
After the show we went to the same guy's house as Friday night and played poker till two or so. I sadly did not represent the great state of Texas in Texas Hold Em' and went out early like a little bitch who doesn't know how to fold.
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- kbadr Offline
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I loved watching, and then playing in, Gorilla when it was done at the Hideout. I think it's a fantastic format that just needs the right marketing behind it.
I think there's something to the "directors fucking with each other" aspect that might make for a good marketing angle.
I think there's something to the "directors fucking with each other" aspect that might make for a good marketing angle.
You work your life away and what do they give?
You're only killing yourself to live
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- Marc Majcher Offline
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Some catching up to do. On Monday night in Calgary I went to see a barprov show called the UIC: Ultimate Improv Championship at a bar called Broken City. It was put on by guys from the Loose Moose (which seems to be the only real improv in town) and billed as "an evening of Stand Up, Improv, Theatre Sports and more."
It was pretty standard barprov with some talented improvisers. Not much of a crowd (but more than they usually have, apparently). They started off with some pseudo-Theatresports with pairs of medium-experienced improvisers challenging each other to scenes and games. The winning pair then faced off against each other and one of them was declared the winner of the first half.
The second half started with a "Star Wars Forum" which was basically three guys on microphones riffing and bitching about the prequels in a mildly entertaining way. Then they brought out the big guns and played a few choice games like blind police interrogation, accent switch (where you have to change accents at the director's whim) and a 70s Cop show based on a day in the life of an audience member. They were pretty funny.
Improv in a bar is a completely different art form. People didn't necessarily show up for you and they've got several options of other things to do than watch you do improv, so you've got to grab them by the balls. It's a lot like street theater in that sense that you don't have time to futz around looking for the scene or the funny. Makes me sad that the Ego's Strip thing isn't happening any more. But glad that the Monday Night gig at Kick Butt Coffee is going on.
It was pretty standard barprov with some talented improvisers. Not much of a crowd (but more than they usually have, apparently). They started off with some pseudo-Theatresports with pairs of medium-experienced improvisers challenging each other to scenes and games. The winning pair then faced off against each other and one of them was declared the winner of the first half.
The second half started with a "Star Wars Forum" which was basically three guys on microphones riffing and bitching about the prequels in a mildly entertaining way. Then they brought out the big guns and played a few choice games like blind police interrogation, accent switch (where you have to change accents at the director's whim) and a 70s Cop show based on a day in the life of an audience member. They were pretty funny.
Improv in a bar is a completely different art form. People didn't necessarily show up for you and they've got several options of other things to do than watch you do improv, so you've got to grab them by the balls. It's a lot like street theater in that sense that you don't have time to futz around looking for the scene or the funny. Makes me sad that the Ego's Strip thing isn't happening any more. But glad that the Monday Night gig at Kick Butt Coffee is going on.
Let's pretend I'm still in Canada and keeping up with this record in a timely fashion.
Sunday through Thursday I did a Mask workshop at the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary with Steve Jarand. Keith Johnstone came by for the second day and did some work with us, and Dennis Cahill (the AD at the Loose Moose) came by on the third day.
About half the class every day was dedicated to making our own masks. Which I was uncertain about going into it because I've already made a few masks and got the basics down on my own, but in practice it was massively useful and I learned so many little tricks and ways of thinking about the mask-making process that will allow me to make more effective masks in the future.
This is the mask I made in the workshop:
I was trying to make a more feminine mask so that there's more variety in the masks that we have here in Austin to work with. I also added some stuff to the masks I've made over the last few months before the workshop.
Sunday through Thursday I did a Mask workshop at the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary with Steve Jarand. Keith Johnstone came by for the second day and did some work with us, and Dennis Cahill (the AD at the Loose Moose) came by on the third day.
About half the class every day was dedicated to making our own masks. Which I was uncertain about going into it because I've already made a few masks and got the basics down on my own, but in practice it was massively useful and I learned so many little tricks and ways of thinking about the mask-making process that will allow me to make more effective masks in the future.
This is the mask I made in the workshop:
I was trying to make a more feminine mask so that there's more variety in the masks that we have here in Austin to work with. I also added some stuff to the masks I've made over the last few months before the workshop.
These are my other masks. They still need some work, but we tried them in Canada, and some people had successes using them.
I on the other hand had a hard time getting into the trance state that you're looking for with masks. I had small glimmers of "turning on" in different masks, but my left brain quickly checks in and says "oh, that was it, you were in it for a second" and the moment that rational mind gets involved, the trance state is gone. That's what I like about the masks is that they promise a path away from that rational, thinking improv to a more in-the-moment, instinctual state of mind. But it's going to be a long hard path for me.
I'd like to continue trying to make Mask work happen in Austin though. Odds are there are some people out there that will take to it quite easily and lead the rest of us along with them.
If you're not sure what the hell I'm talking about, read the last chapter of Impro by Johnstone, or check out this short video online:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGpzYa9d-Hk