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5B - Help me pick a format

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  • DollarBill Offline
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5B - Help me pick a format

Post by DollarBill »

So the class has come up with 3 formats. We have to narrow it down to 2 that we are gonna work on. Then I guess we'll each decide which one we like and that's how we'll be divided into teams.

I don't wanna make it a poll cuz I want to know what you really think. Thanks.

Anyway, the formats:
3 Joes (the sliding doors one):
The Opening - The suggestion taken is an everyday activity. One player (Joe 1) goes out and starts performing that activity up/center stage. Then two other players (Joes 2 and 3) come out (up/left and up/right) and mimic the first player. Then all three players freeze. A player comes from the wings and starts the first couple lines of a scene with Joe 1; then they refreeze. Another player comes out and starts the exact same couple lines of dialog with joe 2, but it can take a slightly divergent path after even one or two lines. Then they refreeze. So on and so forth in a split screen sorta way.

The Meat - So you got three people playing the same character. And you just see where their lives go after the slightly different change from that first scene.

Examples - The Joes can be on stage together later in the piece if they wanna do like a split screen monologue. And actually in the last one we did the Joes just straight up met and it was cool. No need to explain the dimensional rifts. That shit happens sometimes. Lots of cool stuff has happened already in the three that we practiced in class. Like one guy who went on as a "menopause therapist" for Joe 1, was a "marriage counselor" for Joe 2, and just an "all-around-fix-it-person" for Joe 3. Ok, enough.

Weird Monologue Flowy Thing:
The Opening - Tag team monologue as a character.

The Meat - Flowy or Montage or whatever you wanna call it. But SOME element of the previous scene inspires the next (theme, line of dialog, character, object, tone, etc.). Also you wanna try and recall shit and you wanna tie into the the main theme of the original monologue.

The Main Idea - The big deal is just that you are trying to find a shape for the show so it doesn't look like just random scenes. ex. Maybe it's a two-person relationship scenes then a 3-person relationship scene then a 8 person game-ish scene. Then repeat.
Point is to use connections and be vigilant to form the shape of the show on the fly.

Tableau Monologues Harold:
The Opening - Suggestion of a location. Everyone then takes on a person or object at that location. They do an action and they make a noise. Like at a baseball stadium you could be holding up peanuts and shout "PEANUTS!" Then one person steps out and does a monologue as that character.

The Meat - Three scenes affected by the theme of the monologue.

Return to group game - After the three scenes we return to the tableau and get a monologue from another character. Then we return to some element of the three scenes again, but this time they are affected by the new monologue.

So it's like Monologue A, Scenes 1A, 2A, 3A, Monologue B, Scenes 1B, 2B, 3B, Monologue C, Scenes 1C, 2C, 3C, Lights.
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  • Roy Janik Offline
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Post by Roy Janik »

3 Joes.

The 2nd one seems like sort of a non-format/cop-out. Not that there's anything wrong with doing that sort of show, but if you're going to pick a format for the purposes of learning to create and get good at formats, I'd pick something with a little more structure.

The 3rd one's fine, but just doesn't seem that intriguing/innovative, since I've seen a number of formats sort of like it... especially in light of the fact that you're in Chicago, surrounded by Harolds and Harold offshoots.

My inclination would be to do 3 Joes and Tableau Monologues, and then widdle down to just 3 Joes.
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Post by kbadr »

Weird Monologue Flowy Thing doesn't sound very innovative to me. It's fun, but I've done it before (in fact, it sounds like how I prefer to do montages.) So if I've done it, you certainly have done it 100 times more than I have.

3 Joes sounds the most interesting to me. Starting a show with those quick interactions is a really good way to ground the players in the reality of the characters. If the 3 Joes are cast ahead of time, it might be cool to have them wearing similar clothes, to visually connect them.

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Post by DollarBill »

Roy Janik wrote:The 3rd one's fine, but just doesn't seem that intriguing/innovative, since I've seen a number of formats sort of like it... especially in light of the fact that you're in Chicago, surrounded by Harolds and Harold offshoots.
Harold and Harold-like shows are considered a good thing, since that's what the iO curriculum is based on. 3 Joes loosely follows the harrold structure too.

Opening
joe 1, joe 2, joe 3
possible joes meeting group game
joe 1, joe 2, joe 3
etc.
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Post by Roy Janik »

DollarBill wrote:Harold and Harold-like shows are considered a good thing, since that's what the iO curriculum is based on. 3 Joes loosely follows the harrold structure too.

Opening
joe 1, joe 2, joe 3
possible joes meeting group game
joe 1, joe 2, joe 3
etc.
Cool. I wasn't sure what the goal was. I still like the 3 Joes one. I feel like I've seen shows like the 3rd format before, but nothing really close to the 3 Joes.
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Post by Jeff »

Bill, I like the Tres Josés and the Tableau one because, in the 3 Joes you used the term "menopause therapist" in your description, and in the Tableau one you used the exclamation, "PEANUTS!"
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