Longterm goals as an improviser?

[booksherpa]

Time to resurrect this thread...

- Take a class beyond 101
- Learn and play some long form
- Form a practice group
- See some improv in NYC
- Stop fearing gibberish
- Be as confident being me in everyday life as I am when I'm being imaginary people in improv. Embrace every day with the same sense of enthusiasm and adventure that I embrace improv with.

Oh, wait, those are short term....

- Be on an amazing team with great chemistry that performs regularly
- Have improv be part of my every day life
- Perform in a Harold

It's a year later. This past year I:
- auditioned for the troupe I take short form classes with. Didn't get in, but got into their short-term longform project and got to learn, practice and perform a La Ronde variation. Twice.
- Taught(!) introductory improv at church and led folks in warmups and short form games.
- Went to the Del Close Marathon and was blown away
- actually made progress on forming a troupe
- preached a sermon on improv ("Improvisation: A Faith Journey" - http://uucsh.libsyn.com/improvisation-a ... ust-4-2013 for the podcast)
- took a 3 week intensive in NYC at the Magnet, went through 3 levels, and performed, yes, a Harold.
- saw tons of improv at the Magnet and some at UCB while I was there
- auditioned for the short form troupe's next short-term long form project, got in, and performed a montage masquerading as a Harold, with an invocation opening.
- made more progress on forming a troupe/practice group - we actually got a rehearsal in before schedules blew up. Still working on it.
- stopped fearing gibberish (mostly)

I'm still working on the improv everyday/confident being me stuff. But it's come a long way.

[happywaffle]

Nice! Congrats on that.

[Jer]

I am completely new to improv but my biggest goal at the moment is to learn improvised singing. I have done a lot of musical theater in my past (Lyric baritone is my voice type) but find that the form is too limiting. Well, you can't get any more anti-limiting than improv singing. So my main oa is to start doing that by the end of the year, but I feel that I need to learn improv basics first.

[Spots]

Time to resurrect this thread...

- stopped fearing gibberish (mostly)

Sweet! Plus all the other things you mentioned!

[booksherpa]

Time to resurrect this thread...
- stopped fearing gibberish (mostly)

Sweet! Plus all the other things you mentioned!

Thanks! It's interesting... the main local improv teacher I've had (who is great!) is dyslexic, and taught gibberish from that perspective. There was a lot of focus on gibberish as its own language, and less on emotions and actions. He and I had a long conversation about improv and gibberish and words and dyslexia one time, and he described gibberish as basically the language he grew up with. It was natural for him. The teacher I've had more recently (from the same troupe) is not dyslexic, and we focused way more on strong emotions in a gibberish scene, and using action to speak when our words can't. I feel much more comfortable with it now. It was an interesting experience having the same exercise from two such different perspectives.

I think sometimes it's hard to teach someone a skill if you never really had to learn it, or the learning came so long ago or so organically that you can't easily pinpoint the steps along the way.

In other news, I've since been invited to join the troupe I had classes with, and have made progress in forming my own troupe. I still can't believe that a two and a half years ago I was seeing the troupe perform for the first time, and signing up for a class just for fun.

[ProofRed]

I love this topic and am of the opinion that you take the following tracks:

1) Use improv to enhance acting skills towards approaching other mediums (film, TV, theatre).

2) Use improv to make you a better employee in a real world job

3) Use improv as an end. It's a touch choice because there's VERY little money in improv.
Note: I say "Little Money" and I'm one of those that chose this path.

Todd Rice
Director
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The Path Less Chosen

[happywaffle]

None of the above! I perform improv because I love it.