game -> plot

[kristin]

I rarely write notes in improv classes, but I found this little gem as I was going through collections of papers and stuff (packing up to head back to next weekend). I wonder what I was thinking at the time...

I've been reading the boards recently and there was that huge discussion about plot vs. character... so I was wondering, where does "game" fit into the Austin mix?

[acrouch]

We're woefully short on UCB influence in Austin right now. So we don't really talk about game that much. Every once in a while someone will make a passing reference to finding the game. Dave Buckman emphasized it in a workshop once. But it hasn't come up in the great debate yet. Try to trick some hardcore New York people into moving to Austin and we'll throw them into the mix.

[kbadr]

I've always felt like "the game" is an amazing tool to have as a longform improviser. If a show is dipping in energy a bit, a gamey scene is a great way to bring the audience back on your side. For me, the trick is to get in, find the game, and get out on a high note...then get back to the meat of the show.

[valetoile]

From what little I've learned, finding the game is a kind of hyper awareness of the elements of a scene. It's a fantastic way to bring things back later in a show without necessarily bringing back the exact same characters, plot, object, setting, whatever. Different people in a different place can play the same game idea with dfferent parts, and thte audience will get that and it will look so brilliant.

[ChrisTrew.Com]

Justin York and I took the ucb intensive in Toronto with Ari Voukydis, which was interesting because he knows nothing BUT ucb...we would discuss theories of other improv schools and he knew little about them. But we learned a lot from him and would love to share it with all.

Justin and I are going through our notes and putting together a workshop to teach UCB style. We are doing this as I speak. He's sitting right next to me.

We'll post time and date soon.

[ratliff]

righteous

[Mo Daviau]

http://www.improvresourcecenter.com/mb/ ... ostcount=8

What Dyna Moe has to say on the topic.

[nadine]

in dave buckman's level 4 class (which is awesome!), he taught us about finding to game. so we new mixed-breed students learnt it :-P
also, jastro taught it to us in one of his coaching sessions to ife.

[ratliff]

Yes! Nadine has it right! Austin improv is a mixed breed, soon to be well known for its unlikely distinguishing marks and scrappy hybrid vigor. Feel the power of miscegenation nation!

[Wesley]

Finding the game within the scene is a great tool I've found. It can infuse energy into a show, break up pace, give something to be called back later, and make things generally more playful for cast and audience. My only problem is when people find a game in an otherwise nice scene and then become so focused on the game that they let the meat of the scene evaporate. Personally, to what I want to do on stage (tell stories), the game is the tool to and end and not the end itself. In that capacity it is powerful and fun.

[DollarBill]

I think there's a little game in almost every scene. If the scene is only about the game then that's a cool little scene (and is often the one that I think is the most hillarious). But if the scene has a bunch of games that the characters keep using even though the scene appears normal, I like that scene a lot too.

I also think some people have a real instinct for latching on to patterns and hightening them into games. I don't, but it's a skill I developed by playing with people who can. If it's not instinct it is one of those things you can build up with practice.