Notes from SF: BATS maestro with Keith Johnstone
Posted: August 14th, 2006, 11:40 am
I blog. So here's some of my verbose thoughts:
We went to see the Sunday Players do Maestro, which was co-directed by Keith and Casey (?). Andy says that the Sunday Players are rookie players at BATS, they're not in the BATS company.
Some things that were different about their Maestro:
- Their big score board (that also breaks down in pieces) has numbers and names. And they had 16 players play.
- They have a sofa (a trick sofa), and a bed (!) that they roll into the stage whenever the directors request it.
- Players wear a vest with their big numbers on it.
- They took a 10 minute break.
- They had 2 lightning rounds and the lightning round was really a lightning round. Super fast. Some scenes were ending in 5 or 10 mins.
- They have a saperate score keeper, an MC (who does the is this a 1, a 2?..) and 2 directors.
What I liked:
- There were 2 Japanese people who played. And the Japanese woman won, she was especially hillarious. They seemed to not speak English very well, the man spoke better. But at one point, they had to do a scene where they were San Franciscans who just discovered that their neighbour was a republican. And the woman totally seemed lost and at one point a director said: "Unleast a liberal tirade against your republican neighbour!"
The two Japanese looked at each other, then just committed and spread their arms wide and gave a big happy silly looking grin.
Anyways, the Japanese woman really made me laugh out loud throughout the show. It's awesome I think because they really have to improvise and commit to something, even though they don't understand it.
Keith Johnstone's notes on Meastro:
- He seems to like keeping scenes positive. When eliminating people, he told them to eliminate in groups because it gives them shelter. Also, in SF they push the eliminated folks to the left and keep their names there. He says to remove them, so they don't feel like losers. Andy noted later that in Austin, the names are pushed off the board roughly, and so he should remove them with more respect.
- Be simple in MC-ing. If you tell people to score a 1 if a scene made that vomit, or to score a 5 if a scene makes the angels sing, you're telling them not to score 1 or 5s. He says to just say: If you don't like a scene, give it a 1, if you like a scene, give it a 5.
He seems to like simple directions, not even mentioning that they take suggestions, because the audience will figure it out.
- He noted that there was several overdirecting. But it is hard to get the balance between overdirecting and underdirecting.
- Question game: He wanted the players to try to lose because that's what the audience wants. If you can't lose, fake to lose. Lose! Be more good natured.
- "Mime is intellectual". He wanted actual newspaper props and a messy stage.
- Be real. If you say something, justify it. Have a reason to say it instead of just being funny.
- And he told the Sunday players: I'm glad we had 2 lightning rounds. Because it showed your talents. You are very witty. But don't do well in extended scenes. (Ouch)
He told them that it was a tough meastro, both to direct and play. He wanted them to take more risks.
- He wanted their Canadian bill to be framed (which we do in Austin), it is used mainly to control the audience's applause. He told them to ask if anyone thinks that x shouldn't be Maestro, 1 or 2 asses might applaud, and then to ask, if you think that x should be Maestro? So that the applause will be more rousing.
- He said something about people are afraid to complete an action, or don't know what to do when they complete an action. He says have a second scene, but you can also give purpose to the action. So if you're scrubbing the floor, find a crack in it.
We went to see the Sunday Players do Maestro, which was co-directed by Keith and Casey (?). Andy says that the Sunday Players are rookie players at BATS, they're not in the BATS company.
Some things that were different about their Maestro:
- Their big score board (that also breaks down in pieces) has numbers and names. And they had 16 players play.
- They have a sofa (a trick sofa), and a bed (!) that they roll into the stage whenever the directors request it.
- Players wear a vest with their big numbers on it.
- They took a 10 minute break.
- They had 2 lightning rounds and the lightning round was really a lightning round. Super fast. Some scenes were ending in 5 or 10 mins.
- They have a saperate score keeper, an MC (who does the is this a 1, a 2?..) and 2 directors.
What I liked:
- There were 2 Japanese people who played. And the Japanese woman won, she was especially hillarious. They seemed to not speak English very well, the man spoke better. But at one point, they had to do a scene where they were San Franciscans who just discovered that their neighbour was a republican. And the woman totally seemed lost and at one point a director said: "Unleast a liberal tirade against your republican neighbour!"
The two Japanese looked at each other, then just committed and spread their arms wide and gave a big happy silly looking grin.
Anyways, the Japanese woman really made me laugh out loud throughout the show. It's awesome I think because they really have to improvise and commit to something, even though they don't understand it.
Keith Johnstone's notes on Meastro:
- He seems to like keeping scenes positive. When eliminating people, he told them to eliminate in groups because it gives them shelter. Also, in SF they push the eliminated folks to the left and keep their names there. He says to remove them, so they don't feel like losers. Andy noted later that in Austin, the names are pushed off the board roughly, and so he should remove them with more respect.
- Be simple in MC-ing. If you tell people to score a 1 if a scene made that vomit, or to score a 5 if a scene makes the angels sing, you're telling them not to score 1 or 5s. He says to just say: If you don't like a scene, give it a 1, if you like a scene, give it a 5.
He seems to like simple directions, not even mentioning that they take suggestions, because the audience will figure it out.
- He noted that there was several overdirecting. But it is hard to get the balance between overdirecting and underdirecting.
- Question game: He wanted the players to try to lose because that's what the audience wants. If you can't lose, fake to lose. Lose! Be more good natured.
- "Mime is intellectual". He wanted actual newspaper props and a messy stage.
- Be real. If you say something, justify it. Have a reason to say it instead of just being funny.
- And he told the Sunday players: I'm glad we had 2 lightning rounds. Because it showed your talents. You are very witty. But don't do well in extended scenes. (Ouch)
He told them that it was a tough meastro, both to direct and play. He wanted them to take more risks.
- He wanted their Canadian bill to be framed (which we do in Austin), it is used mainly to control the audience's applause. He told them to ask if anyone thinks that x shouldn't be Maestro, 1 or 2 asses might applaud, and then to ask, if you think that x should be Maestro? So that the applause will be more rousing.
- He said something about people are afraid to complete an action, or don't know what to do when they complete an action. He says have a second scene, but you can also give purpose to the action. So if you're scrubbing the floor, find a crack in it.