Stashwick's Austin Praise/Jastroch's Austin Prediction

[jillybee72]

If I play like a trite chump, then who cares whether I'm playing improvised Perfect Strangers or some allegedly brain-shocking J.L. Borges-esque whatever? And if I play truly without fear and boundaries, then wouldn't you want to see me play regardless of whatever back-story or window-dressing my show comes packaged in?

Oh! I want to remember this thought!

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

god damn it, Alex...now i REALLY want to do improvised Perfect Strangers! (starring Brad Hawkins as Larry Appleton and John Buseman as Balki Bartokomous. just planting seeds, i'm planting seeds...)

i've been hearing a phrase in town a lot lately: "You can't break improv." Which i love. Though i'd offer this extension...

"You can't break improv. But try anyway."

[ratliff]

I think talking about whether Austin could be corrupted by a brass ring implies that the community has only one identity, which is clearly not the case. If UCB opened a theater here next week and Lorne Michaels flew in all the time to scout talent, would a lot of people play there? Of course they would. And a lot of people would also keep doing what they're doing now, because they love creating live improv and that's not what happens on SNL. Like Shannon says, a lot of improvisers got famous but none of them got famous doing improv.

[erikamay]

personally, i like doing improv in austin better than i did in chicago for this reason. i often found myself chasing brass rings out of my own competitive drive vs. wanting something for the artistic satisfaction of it. it altered the way i played, and not for the better IMO.

i like that austin doesn't have the commercial pressures that bigger cities do. i think performers that might be shyer, or less aggressive can find a voice in our environment.

[dirty baby]

Jet Eveleth (The Reckoning) shares a cool 'brass ring' story about being backstage at IO's 25th Anniversary and having a former-improviser-cum-television/movie celebrity tell her that what the Reckoning was doing --playing with friends, experimenting, having fun-- was "as good as it gets" in the performance world. "And that was so cool to hear because you think that when it's really good is when you're making money. And they were like, 'oh no: you guys all know each other and you love each other and you play with each other every week. this place right now where you're at ... i don't know if it gets any better than that.'"

I think Austin will always fly this flag; its music scene always has. Until relatively-recently super-famous musicians didn't hail from ATX. Nonetheless there were (and still are) hundreds of amazing house parties, live shows, and happenings around town and hundreds more tit-ripping, red-eyed, nut-crushing call-your-mama-a-whore rehearsals going on without a popcorn-fart of a chance of anybody getting famous ... and I happen to think that the universe is better for it.


The Q&A
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-4E4JAE34Q[/youtube]

which followed this cool "away game" show
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfmNm1IR ... re=related[/youtube]

[Roy Janik]

Here's a quote from the OOB podcast that Greg Proops did, that I think is relevant, and that I'm strangely proud of:

So here we are in Austin for a 5-day improv orgy, and improvisers, I forgot, are 1) so serious about improv. I forgot that improv was serious. I've only been doing it a million years as a fuckin' laugh with my drunken, alcoholic friends. Now I realize again that it's a craft. And I'm sorry if I was flip about it in any way earlier. Not only is it a craft, for the people who are improvisers here in the audience, it's a craft that you'll never make any money off of the rest of your lives, so hold that close to your heart if you're improvising.

Of course, the written transcript can't convey the patented Proops schmarm and sarcasm that accompanied those words. You can listen to the actual thing here: http://proopcast.com

[wiggies]

i like that austin doesn't have the commercial pressures that bigger cities do. i think performers that might be shyer, or less aggressive can find a voice in our environment.

That's me. If the scene was all about talent trying to get discovered, I'd be nowhere near it, and I doubt I'd be in the audience, either.

[HerrHerr]

Two Man Polanski explores the works of directors through persona prov and through live video.
So far we've channeled David Lynch, Werner Herzog and Roman Polanski. Looking to do others
down the road, Errol Morris as one possibility. Come "learn" about cinema!

[EmilyBee]

Just a couple of pennies here.

Having gone full-boar for 15 years into pursuing a career in the arts that required perfection:

1. I want to avoid that mindset as much as possible
2. After about 5 years of doing this, I'm only just getting to where I can really let go of wanting to do it right
3. This is JUST getting to be as fun as anything ever
4. The more I risk, the better the results, both for me and for my co-players. And the audience.

I'll never make any money at this, nor did I ever think I would. I COULD have made money in opera, and it would have tied me in knots.

I am ever more excited to push boundaries and play with likeminded people. And the times I'm truly excited are the times when I'm in the air, my parachute not open, and I'm unsure whether it'll function.

In yoga, in order to balance, you almost have to try to fall. I think it's the same, and just as amazing and counter-logical and beautiful in improv. I hope Austin remains a place where we can strive to fall... and fall into some truly amazing, fluid, fulfilling poses.

[hujhax]

Full-boar!





--
peter rogers @ work | http://hujhax.livejournal.com

Do you know what they call alternative medicine which has been proven to work?  "Medicine."
      -- Tim Minchin

[Ryan Hill]

I want to avoid that mindset as much as possible
...
as fun as anything ever
...
The more I risk, the better the results, both for me and for my co-players. And the audience.
...
I'll never make any money at this, nor did I ever think I would.
...
I am ever more excited to push boundaries and play with likeminded people. And the times I'm truly excited are the times when I'm in the air, my parachute not open, and I'm unsure whether it'll function.
...
In yoga, in order to balance, you almost have to try to fall. I think it's the same, and just as amazing and counter-logical and beautiful in improv. I hope Austin remains a place where we can strive to fall... and fall into some truly amazing, fluid, fulfilling poses.

Hells to the yeah, Emily.

[alexd231232]

In yoga, in order to balance, you almost have to try to fall. I think it's the same, and just as amazing and counter-logical and beautiful in improv. I hope Austin remains a place where we can strive to fall... and fall into some truly amazing, fluid, fulfilling poses.

Truth.

[York99]

I get frustrated by how some people define 'experimental.' I see people doing shows or moves within shows where they're trying to be experimental or avant garde and what it really is is self-satisfaction for the performer(s) and truly boring for experienced audience members.

The easiest example of this is going meta. 99 times out of 100 it's a fear-based choice and/or pandering. Rarely is it an intentional move that best serves the piece.

Just because a show has marketability doesn't mean the people involved are playing it safe.

[ratliff]

I get frustrated by how some people define 'experimental.' I see people doing shows or moves within shows where they're trying to be experimental or avant garde and what it really is is self-satisfaction for the performer(s) and truly boring for experienced audience members.

The easiest example of this is going meta. 99 times out of 100 it's a fear-based choice and/or pandering. Rarely is it an intentional move that best serves the piece.

Just because a show has marketability doesn't mean the people involved are playing i t safe.

No, but one definition of "experimental" is that you're trying something that hasn't been done enough to ensure its success.

Is it theoretically possible to do daring work in a slick, marketable format? Sure, almost anything's possible.

Does it happen very often? No, and for good reason.

If you've scheduled a show as a tentpole for your schedule, developed and executed an appealing marketing strategy, and are trying your level best to (a) fill the house and (b) get good reviews, how much sense does it make to do experimental work in that slot?

I think that if you have that much reputation and resources riding on a show you'd be a damned fool to do anything other than what you think is likely to work.

Saying experimental work is less likely to happen in Improvised Brontë Sisters than in No Shame Theater is not an insult to anyone involved. I'd go so far as to say that if you insist on making huge, experimental choices in a directed, closed-format show with a specific tone, you're demonstrating an indifference to context that is unbecoming in an improviser.

That said, I don't really see how it could be true that every show offers the same opportunities to play the full spectrum of possibilities. What make shows distinctive and marketable are the expectations -- also known as limitations -- associated with them. If you violate those expectations, you're reneging on the deal you've made with the audience, but if you honor the deal, you've (intentionally) limited what you can do in that show. You can't have it both ways.

[shando]

I get frustrated by how some people define 'experimental.' I see people doing shows or moves within shows where they're trying to be experimental or avant garde and what it really is is self-satisfaction for the performer(s) and truly boring for experienced audience members.

The easiest example of this is going meta. 99 times out of 100 it's a fear-based choice and/or pandering. Rarely is it an intentional move that best serves the piece.

Just because a show has marketability doesn't mean the people involved are playing i t safe.

No, but one definition of "experimental" is that you're trying something that hasn't been done enough to ensure its success.

Is it theoretically possible to do daring work in a slick, marketable format? Sure, almost anything's possible.

Does it happen very often? No, and for good reason.

As usual John, I'm with you on most of what you say, but this little assertion I think isn't borne out by some recent Austin programming. Off the top of my head, I think Austin Secrets, Live Nude Improv, Showdown, and False Matters were shows that had a marketable format but also were really "something that hasn't been done enough to ensure its success." Austin Secrets in its innovative way of including meaningful audience input; Showdown in that it was a serial and embraced ensemble-driven narrative rather than a hero-driven story; False Matters in that engaged a structure where the internal logic of the created worlds could shift repeatedly within the show and still hopefully cohere, LNI in that it embraced wildly unpredictable levels of audience participation and also boobies and dicks.

In other words, I think all these shows embraced the challenge of bringing heretofore unseen ways of making improv to audiences while still having some core hook that at least attracted audiences to come check out the potential trainwrecks in the first place. That's not too shabby a record for the past 9 months of Austin improv. And I can't speak for the Hideout cats, but I know with the Gnap! shows in question we didn't know if they would work but we were passionate to find out if they could and were willing to take a chance with the programming slot and our money to find out.