AIC General Body Meeting 2/26/06

[beardedlamb]

this sounds realistic to me and straight in the horses mouth.
i like a 1-5. i am behind this initiative.

[arclight]

Five is a nice round number, but IIRC my Level 3 class was doing scenework. I don't see long-form being beyond Level 4. Save Level 5 as a troupe generation class.

For us, Level 3 was invite only; you pretty much advanced automatically from L1 to L2 but only the potentially-stageworthy were invited to take L3. Somewhere along the way that filter was lost and we started passing everyone on to L3, cringeworthy or not. That's got to stop because the money isn't worth the damage you do to the students, instructors, and other performers.

I see L5 being a group of people that are comfortable together (sorry if someone gets voted off the island...) that gets coached rather than trained, gets a survey of formats, invents their own format & name and does a run of shows, maybe 2 shows a month in the 3fer. It's better than dumping them into Maestro with no guidance.

By L3 students should be ready for scenework provided their time wasn't burned on disorganized or redundant classes in L1 & L2. If we keep the classes tighter (not faster, not denser) they should be ready for longform by L4.

[nadine]

I like 1-5. (The more classes the better!)

I think level 3, people are starting to get the feel for scenework.. but it still takes time to get comfortable with the idea, especially if the hideout classes are your only outlet for improv.

I like a core curiculum of 1-4, and then a bunch of level 5's there are extracuriculur that you have to audition for.

[deroosisonfire]

this sounds like something we want to discuss in person! i'll put it on the agenda, and we can take 10-15 minutes to talk about it on sunday.

[Mo Daviau]

There really needs to be a point, between L2 and L3 or L3 and L4, where those who have the interest, desire, and promise to move on to a class to prepare them for stage performance are advanced and those who, for a lack of a better word, suck, are politely sent on their way. In my L2 class, there was an oafish loser who thought he was the funniest thing ever, but he was always in class stoned, was disruptive, sexist, and acted like a huge retard. Had Sean not gotten rid of him for L3, I don't think I would have taken it. Those of us who were promoted to L3 were all really happy that this guy would not be joining us. He sucked a lot of energy out of the group, no one liked playing with him, and he would not have been a successful addition to Micetro.

It's wrong to take sucky people's money, give them the false hope that they'll perform, and then have them get dissed by everyone. It is also wrong to make students who do have promise have to deal with folks who, though perfectly nice people, just aren't stageworthy. Rarely does anyone from the student ranks speak up to this because they don't want to seem mean, so it is the instructor's responsibility to make sure that at a certain point, advancing in classes is merit-based.

Also, if the students aren't ready for longform by L3 or L4, then there's something wrong with the teaching.

[mcnichol]

I'm a fan of 1-5 or even more.

Just as an example -- and I mention it because it's the only model i'm familiar with -- IO has levels 1-5, and then 5b which is the performance level. Basically, you are in classes for 10 months (levels 1 - 5) and then you go into level 5b, where you develop a form (aka style) as a class for two months. Then, as a class, you perform that show for an 8-week run after that. It's a nice carrot at the end of a, uh... long donkey, uh, ride.

The classes are 3-hours, weekly, for 8 weeks.

Now, we certainly don't have to structure it the same way, but I just wanted to mention it as an example of how other theaters do it.

Also, like Erika mentioned earlier, I'm also going to start teaching very soon. I would prefer to do it at the Hideout, but I know that the classes are technically Heroes of Comedy related and that Sean has a lot of say over who teaches and the content (or so I have been told). As an AIC member (and cheerleader) I'd like to teach at the Hideout under the AIC umbrella -- again, like Erika said, it doesn't make sense to start something new (and separate) elsewhere. Anyway, this is something I would have liked to have discussed had I been able to attend the meeting this weekend.

Also, I really don't see it as battling for stage time, but rather... wow, we're going to have a lot of talented people training and performing here, let make some room for them somehow. Whether that's adding some more shows (we had student shows on Sunday evenings) or deciding some other way to have newer teams get some stage time. Again, something else I would like to talk about were I not going to be absent.

Also, I certainly didn't go through Heroes classes, but I (and many others) was performing on an independent team (doing longform) before I even finished level 3. I don't think it's right to assume that, across the board, people simply won't be ready for longform by level 4. Rather than just rejecting that idea, how about thinking positively of ways to have people ready. It's quite possible.

[Evilpandabear]

It's wrong to take sucky people's money, give them the false hope that they'll perform, and then have them get dissed by everyone.

This is exacly why there needs to be 5 levels. It's very apparent that everyone who would take a L4 longform class would understand the concept, hell the consepts the easy part. I only think that in order to fully appreciate the class and longform in general, you need to have a solid grasp on scenework. Scenework is so important and vital for improv, and in many ways is way more important than longform. I don't know how anyone could not love the idea of a 6 week intensive scenework class, where you concentrate solely on scenes, building them, scene starts, finding the game within scenes, good buttons, mime technique, physicality, character work, etc. I think most L3 graduates would profit more from an intensive scenework class than an intensive longform class. And that's what I'm talking about, Willis.

[nadine]

It's wrong to take sucky people's money, give them the false hope that they'll perform, and then have them get dissed by everyone.

I don't think performing is a universal motivation for taking classes. I took Shana's 101 class because I thought it would be interesting and educational. And I wanted to take another improv class after that because I remembered how happy it made me feel. It's therapy. The idea of taking another class after 101 so that I could perform did not even cross my mind. Improv has so much benefits that everyone should take a class. And keep taking them as long as they enjoy and benefit from it.

[sara farr]

I totally agree with NADINE!!

I took Shana's 101 class because I wanted to take a fun acting class to boost my animation skills. And when the class ended, I HAD TO sign up for the next one because I remembered how happy it made me feel. YES! It *IS* therapy. The idea of taking another class after 101 or 201 so that I could perform??? unthinkable!!

Improv has changed my life and my work. The social foundation of improv benefits everyone. I think one of the main reasons people aren't interested in taking improv classes is the FEAR of performance. But the learning process -- if maintained as a SAFE and NURTURING environment -- may naturally lead some otherwise stage-frightened gems into our performance community.

Therefore, there needs to be OTHER types of classes just for PLAYING and PRACTICING improv skills in a safe, guided environment that is outside the mindset of a progressive set of ranked classes building towards performance.

[deroosisonfire]

all right, guys. here's the agenda. i found erika's agenda for the last meeting and used that as a template. it's pretty slim, looks like we'll be done before 3:00pm. there's still time for last minute additions if you wanna send them my way.

Austin Improv Collective Meeting Agenda
February 26, 2006
1:00pm – 4:00pm

I. Advertising Committee – 15 minutes 1:10 – 1:25
a. Meeting Minutes/Overview (Wes)
b. Next scheduled meeting

II. Education Committee – 45 minutes 1:25 – 2:10
a. Summer camp – 15 minutes
i. General (de Roos)
ii. Cost of camp (Val)
b. Classes at the Hideout (Andy C.) – 30 minutes
i. Current class structure
ii. AIC school
iii. Stage time for new student teams

III. AIC / Heroes relations – 20 minutes 2:10 – 2:30
a. What are the boundaries?
b. Where are things going?

IV. New business