Austin Improv

I'm a relatively new (1 year+) improviser from central NJ. Almost all my experience has been from taking an Improv Foundations (101) class several times with wonderful guys from a local troupe, with performances at the end. I'm starting to branch out a little, and hoping/planning/working to form a practice group that can become a performing troupe. Still occasionally surprised that a 40-mumble suburban chick like me has managed to stumble into improv, and enjoys it a crazy amount. My learning has almost all been about short form and games (as opposed to "the game"), but I've gotten to see a little long form and find it fascinating and scary and enticing. I'm sad that my schedule and finances don't let me get into the city (around here, "the city" is NYC) for classes and performances, but I'm trying to suck all the marrow I can out of the bones of the NJ improv scene for now.

Hi!

P.S. Oh! Almost forgot... so, yeah, I'm not in (or anywhere near) Austin, but y'all do improv and talk about improv and enjoy improv and obsess about improv and there's not a lot of places online to do that with an active userbase, and so here I am! Hope that's okay...

Totally okay! Welcome, and glad to meet you.

Welcome booksherpa! Stick around. You mentioned "finding the game" and that you're new to the idea. There's not an overwhelming discussion about finding the game here but I definitely love exploring the idea and how to take it further.

Comedy heads love finding the game. I do it while watching films now. Ugh!

I thought I'd throw this at you. When folks first explore long form (after some time with short form), the following definition can be helpful:

short form is finding the scene in the game

long form is finding the game in the scene

I wish I could credit the person who came up with this. While oversimplified, I feel it cuts to the heart of the sentiment rather than obsess over formats or length of show, etc.


Again, welcome!

welcome to the forums! hope you find it helpful.

Welcome, Yankee friend...

Welcome! It's super-cool and flattering that non-Austin improvisers get enjoyment out of these forums.

Thanks for the welcomes and reassurances!

short form is finding the scene in the game

long form is finding the game in the scene

That is an excellent shorthand for the foundations of and differences between long and short form. We've been working a bit on finding the game of the scene in class. I'm lucky to be in a small group of mostly repeat students this time around, so we've been able to move a little beyond 101. Some games have been easy to spot (one-upmanship, for example) but others are more subtle and harder to spot. We did a useful exercise where one pair did a scene, another pair did a scene based on the games they spotted in the first scene, and a third pair did a scene based on the games they spotted in the second scene. Fun and different and tricky. I'm used to going off a call-for, so jumping right into a scene is taking some getting used to.

booksherpa wrote:I'm used to going off a call-for, so jumping right into a scene is taking some getting used to.

A "call-for!" These northerners have all kinds of awesome new lingo.

happywaffle wrote:

booksherpa wrote:I'm used to going off a call-for, so jumping right into a scene is taking some getting used to.

A "call-for!" These northerners have all kinds of awesome new lingo.

WE DON'T SPEAK YOUR CRAZY MOON LANGUAGE!!!

Bless your heart, y'all! I'm fixin' to explain mahself right soon now...

booksherpa wrote:We did a useful exercise where one pair did a scene, another pair did a scene based on the games they spotted in the first scene, and a third pair did a scene based on the games they spotted in the second scene. Fun and different and tricky. I'm used to going off a call-for, so jumping right into a scene is taking some getting used to.

That almost sounds like a deconstruction. Hmm. Say, that's a pretty fun-sounding exercise.


I watched the Hobbit last night. When all the dwarves show up to his house we IMMEDIATELY spot the game. They are just going to burden ol' Bilbo more and more and more-- eating all his food stuffs and throwing around all his wares.

It just gets worse and worse and worse on Bilbo.


So far, Raiders & The Addams Family are my two favorite films to watch looking for games in every scene. They are each LOADED with games.

booksherpa wrote:I'm a relatively new (1 year+) improviser from central NJ. Almost all my experience has been from taking an Improv Foundations (101) class several times with wonderful guys from a local troupe, with performances at the end. I'm starting to branch out a little, and hoping/planning/working to form a practice group that can become a performing troupe. Still occasionally surprised that a 40-mumble suburban chick like me has managed to stumble into improv, and enjoys it a crazy amount. My learning has almost all been about short form and games (as opposed to "the game"), but I've gotten to see a little long form and find it fascinating and scary and enticing. I'm sad that my schedule and finances don't let me get into the city (around here, "the city" is NYC) for classes and performances, but I'm trying to suck all the marrow I can out of the bones of the NJ improv scene for now.

Hi!

P.S. Oh! Almost forgot... so, yeah, I'm not in (or anywhere near) Austin, but y'all do improv and talk about improv and enjoy improv and obsess about improv and there's not a lot of places online to do that with an active userbase, and so here I am! Hope that's okay...

Howdy! Welcome to the virtual home of the AIC!