Austin School Styles

[Spots]

I put "comedy" in quotes because I don't think you can really teach anyone to be funny. You can only teach people to get out of their own way. And I think all the schools will do that, in different ways.

I think you are right. I'm starting to put my finger on "in different ways" and what it comes down to are the conventions which resonate within each community or theater. Some conventions are very detailed and some conventions are very simple.

But the simplicity of the convention (ie: Straight/Absurd) doesn't make the work any simpler.


I'm realizing I resonate with simpler conventions which lead to more detailed ones later on in training. That's why I feel that the approach to the work does matter. Juggling too many conventions at the top of schooling creates a bomb that later becomes too hard to piece back together for some. It's disorienting. Pairing down conventions or patterns helps. But that's my opinion alone.

[JediImprov]

Dang, Jesse, you're starting to give Ratliff a run for his money when it comes to transforming threads into Socratic dissertations! LOL

My experience thus far (which includes feedback from friends/clients that have gone through 2 of the 5)

*The Hideout - strong narrative base, somewhat structured, Johnstone influenced, GREAT intensives (take all of them!), strong theatrical performances/base
*The Institution - strong organic base, very helpful to finding and owning your POV, lots of opportunities to play, great Sunday jam
*Coldetowne - Never has taken classes, only performed, they very much were comedically driven in all the shows Ive attended, but they are branching out it seems
*Merlin Works - One of the AIC's most veteran players/teachers - Shana Merlin, structured with a set curriculum (college like), very playful, a good mix of all the above
*New Movement- No clue but they have a cool looking theatre

I would be careful about making any big assumptions. There are a few who take to improv right away and excel, but for many, its a process. I would hate to see you exclude one theatre based solely on exterior observations. For me, The Hideout and The Institution combo is really what established my foundation, wherein just attending one would not have done that. As well, typically, my breakthroughs, the big ones, happen in intensives not classes but without those classes, I simply would not have gotten as much from the intensives.

[Spots]

You're right. There was a much better way to say that, and a way which didn't exclude others. Sorry.


So addressing whether comedy can be taught or isolated:

Comedy is not without convention. I think the point I was making at the time was that-- because comedy is so elusive you REALLY have to boil it down to something simple. Tami Nelson to this day is who I consider the best teacher on the planet for her approach & insistence of this rather simple/complicated thing.

Straight / Absurd is a pivot.


A pivot. Or hinge.

The pivot only works if both parts of the device are in harmony.

Very simple convention. But then again incredibly complex and elusive when you realize what's required for the comprehensive whole.

Because it is so elusive, in my opinion, all other conventions must come second. Is this or that convention necessary? - For comedy strictly speaking? The only prerequisite I've found universally across platforms is this pivot I'm speaking of.

(I can make an argument for sales, screenplays, and standup regarding this pivot as well)

And my point was a student can be taught comedy strictly speaking because of shared understanding of this pivot. That teaching comedy is not somehow ethereal.

Sorry I was brash earlier. But yeah, my point was that comedy is not magically elusive. Elusiveness is the result of a desire or social dynamic to smooth tension that you can TRAIN people out of. And the easiest way to do that is with a convention that addresses the comprehensive wholeness of scene.

Am I open to other conventions being the driving force for comedy? Like having a killer line of dialogue or the right character or the right format structure? If it somehow gets at this comprehensive pivotal thing really. I just don't see it any other way.