Saturday, April 18th. Maestro.

[Justin D.]

Stop, collaborate, and listen.

[troy]

(said a la Kirk in Star Trek 2)

SPENCE!!!!!!!

[hujhax]

Pictures from the show.



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[Justin D.]

Seriously, I make some goofy-ass faces.

[Jon Bolden]

Well, I missed Marc's spiel the other night, and I don't mean to intend to start a thread, but I do believe most improv folks would accept the fundamental notion expressed below (from wikkipedia):

I think this a small misunderstanding mostly.

I think Marc was really just trying to emphasize that this was a "show" and not a competition. And by saying it was a long form show, he was encouraging performers to be in the show at all times, not just while doing the short-form scenes. Encouraging supporting and interaction with the directors and all that goodness. At least that's what I got from the pep talk.

[troy]

That makes sense. Misbehavior is a fundamental tenet of Micetro. Players, like monkeys at the zoo, try to get out of their cages, while the zookeepers push them back in and occasionally throw them a banana. Jeez, I even thought that in the voice of Johnstone.

Nobody but improvisors care one iota about whether something is "long form" or "short form". But, within the community, folks may want to understand the distinction themselves as part of the lexicon we use with each other.

[Marc Majcher]

I think Marc was really just trying to emphasize that this was a "show" and not a competition. And by saying it was a long form show, he was encouraging performers to be in the show at all times, not just while doing the short-form scenes. Encouraging supporting and interaction with the directors and all that goodness.

Yep, that's essentially it. When I say that Maestro is long-form, I'm talking about looking at the show as a whole, one long "story" (the game) with a bunch of "characters" (the players) with a clear arc and whatnot. It's not just a collection of unconnected short-form games and scenes, but those games and scenes make up the bigger picture, which is much more engaging and fun (in my opinion) than if they were just a loose bunch of froo-frah.

I know that everyone's heard it before - like, directly above this - but I'm going to keep saying it: Maestro is not a competition, it's a show about this competition. It is a contest in the same way that Friday Night Lights is a football game. It is a show. Winning doesn't matter. Points don't matter. Hell, getting eliminated doesn't matter. Just because you're out of the "game" doesn't mean that you're out of the show. (See: Tom Booker.) Do whatever you can to have fun, and give the audience a good time. If it's too much, the directors will tell you.

So, to that end, part of the little schpiel I gave before the show this week was to try to get the players to focus more on the interactions between themselves, even (especially!) when they weren't in a scene. I asked the players to pick a couple of other people and form relationships with them during the show - you're flirting with this player, you're jealous because they won last time, you're trying to help them out, you hate them for some reason, etc. And, play that up a bit during the "down time" in the show - when numbers are called, during eliminations, when we're scoring, whatever. And voila, this week's show had some of the best mischief and playfulness in the cast I've seen in a good while. Kudos to the awesome players!

I want to add one more note, which doesn't necessarily apply to this week's show, or even most of the recent shows, but I want to put it out there now for future reference. Like I said, Maestro is a whole show - you're not out when you're eliminated - so please do stick around until the end if at all possible, even if you get knocked out early. Support from the audience. And, most importantly, it looks great if every single player is lined up there at the end when we announce the Maestro, and do meet'n'greet afterwards. Everyone's been really good about this lately, so yay us.

In short, sweet show! Plenty more to come.

[troy]

Aw, jeez. I really thought about not responding to this thread. It's not a huge deal either way. But Marc is looking at Micetro differently than I do. So I guess I'd like to express how I look at it. And maybe everyone looks at it differently. But, really, I'm not sure how many different ways one can look at it.

I think we have to recognize that the show is for the audience - not the players. This speaks to not getting so wrapped up in the competition aspect of the show that you "care" too much about winning. Micetro is a fickle mistress. You can win one week, and go out in round 2 the next. The less we, the players, care about the competition, the more invested we are in just doing good scene work.

So, the show is for the audience. The audience does not see it as a show about a competition - they experience it as a competition. That's why they care, get excited, and ultimately have a kick-ass time. I think if creating offstage rivalries, or romance, or some of these other things helps the players be more invested in the show, then fantastic. But, ultimately, the competition is the "story" - it essentially requires nothing else, no other layers, for it to work--for the audience to care--and that's why it works, nearly all the time.

So, play Micetro and have fun. Try not to care too much about winning; the reality is, you will. We all do. It's exciting to make it to the later rounds, and you feel some disappointment when you don't. It's natural. The key is to be good natured about it, either way.