Austin Improv

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:

Justin D. wrote:First, everyone should play to win. And by play to win, I mean play to the best of their abilities and have fun.

those are two very different ideas in most performers' heads, though...

a good mantra for Maestro, for me anyway, is "Don't win the game...win the show."

A very good mantra indeed. And a tough one to wrap your head around as a neophyte. Maestro is almost like a Zen koan... to win, you try not to win, but of course if you're trying not to win in order to win, you won't win...

This is why I say, as a player, ignore the scores. If you're like me, and the competitive aspect festers in your mind even when you know it's not supposed to, just don't look. People think I'm not competitive. I'm super competitive, just not competent at most things. When I paid attention to the scores, I noticed things like being cut when another player with the same total was allowed to stay. I don't know whether it was an oversight of a shape-of-show decision, but whichever it was, it festered in my mind. It wasn't until later that the superego kicked in and reminded me that it doesn't fucking matter. So now I just let it go from the start.

Brad Hawkins wrote:It wasn't until later that the superego kicked in and reminded me that it doesn't fucking matter. So now I just let it go from the start.

You'll find that this gets substantially easier to handle now that you've won a Maestro, too. The pressure to "win" the title, even if it was unconscious, fades away.

Brad Hawkins wrote:

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:

Justin D. wrote:First, everyone should play to win. And by play to win, I mean play to the best of their abilities and have fun.

those are two very different ideas in most performers' heads, though...

a good mantra for Maestro, for me anyway, is "Don't win the game...win the show."

A very good mantra indeed. And a tough one to wrap your head around as a neophyte. Maestro is almost like a Zen koan... to win, you try not to win, but of course if you're trying not to win in order to win, you won't win...

This is why I say, as a player, ignore the scores. If you're like me, and the competitive aspect festers in your mind even when you know it's not supposed to, just don't look. People think I'm not competitive. I'm super competitive, just not competent at most things. When I paid attention to the scores, I noticed things like being cut when another player with the same total was allowed to stay. I don't know whether it was an oversight of a shape-of-show decision, but whichever it was, it festered in my mind. It wasn't until later that the superego kicked in and reminded me that it doesn't fucking matter. So now I just let it go from the start.

when you can grab the grasshopper from my hand, you will be...HEY, wait until i'm done talking to grab the grasshopper, damn it!

bradisntclever wrote:

Brad Hawkins wrote:It wasn't until later that the superego kicked in and reminded me that it doesn't fucking matter. So now I just let it go from the start.

You'll find that this gets substantially easier to handle now that you've won a Maestro, too. The pressure to "win" the title, even if it was unconscious, fades away.

That's probably a big factor. I can't even pretend that pressure was all that unconscious.

Justin, Brad, and Jill seem to have an idea of where I'm going with this. I'll edit the initial post once more in a moment.

It seems I may have underestimated the power of this topic.

Spaztique wrote:Justin, Brad, and Jill seem to have an idea of where I'm going with this. I'll edit the initial post once more in a moment.

It seems I may have underestimated the power of this topic.

What are you, George Lucas? I think it's better to just append your new thoughts rather than revising the OP.

Well, I can't really say much more than what I've already said. I just wanna point out one more time that I think a situation like this should be viewed more as an opportunity (to be taken advantage of) than as a crisis (that needs to be fixed).

Brad Hawkins wrote:

Spaztique wrote:Justin, Brad, and Jill seem to have an idea of where I'm going with this. I'll edit the initial post once more in a moment.

It seems I may have underestimated the power of this topic.

What are you, George Lucas? I think it's better to just append your new thoughts rather than revising the OP.

But they're not new. I just didn't emphasize the original thought that this was for the audience, not the players. I thought everyone would've just picked up on that the first time around.

It's like stopping every car during rush hour to inform them of a new traffic law. The overall flow & momentum of cars is far more important.

we are getting dangerously close to analogy overload here, people! one more metaphor or simile and this whole thread's gonna collapse like an ice bridge with one too many frost giants trying to cross!

OH NO!!!

Spots wrote:It's like stopping every car during rush hour to inform them of a new traffic law. The overall flow & momentum of cars is far more important.

Actually, it's more like somebody had previously announced, "Try to use the far left lane for passing other cars instead of just staying there willy-nilly," and then every crams into the far right lanes because they believe it's illegal to go into the left lane, and then that guy comes back and says, "You can still use the other lanes. I only said try to use the left lane for passing."

*hears cracking underneath him*

I'm sure that wasn't one metaphor too *CRACK* maaaaannyyyy!
*splash*
Who put water down here?

Directors: Don't worry about it too much. We encourage players and tech to put themselves out there and make mistakes; this goes the same for directors, as well. Do what you feel is right in the moment, keep what you think is best in mind, and let whatever happens happen. Do it until it feels natural, and along the way, make a ton of mistakes. When you feel like you've got it totally down, make some more mistakes. If improv is ruined forever because you messed up the scoring, it's totally cool. We'll find something else to do. Eventually.