November 2011
21 posts
4 tags
Improv Is Easy!: Improv is easy! →
I think we make it hard on ourselves because, somewhere along the line, we sort of lose our way. improv-is-easy: Friends, I swear to you, improv IS easy. It really is. “Then why is it so hard?” we ask ourselves after every difficult class, throughout Level 2, after tanking a scene or show. I think we make it hard on ourselves because, somewhere along the line, we sort of lose our way. This...
Nov 28th
2 notes
4 tags
Long Naps, Strudel, and Improvisation: An Object... →
I love object work. Sometimes, paying attention to object work is a piece of business that you can give your conscious mind to distract it, allowing your subconscious to bubble out more freely. And attention to detail helps build our world in a much more fun and theatrical way that words can sometimes just not express well enough. However, if you’re panicking in the middle of a scene that...
Nov 28th
18 notes
4 tags
Chris Reblogs: How Are You Supposed To Remember... →
curtisretherford: improvnonsense: Be smarter? Remember everything? Enjoy it so you remember it like you remember your favorite movie/tv show? I don’t know. Just do it. Remember stuff or don’t do improv. I love this. I think “Remember stuff or don’t do improv” is a better motto… It’s not my place to tell this hypothetical person whether or not to do improv, especially based...
Nov 28th
51 notes
4 tags
“[Michael Short] had never heard of improv before but was discovered while...”
– Via The Leader I find my Improv Origin Story all that more interesting now that I had been “discovered.”
Nov 27th
4 tags
On Directing and Patience
Choice-coaching is probably the worst way to direct improvisors. For the uninitiated; choice-coaching is the process of telling an improvisor exactly what choice to make in a scene as it progresses. While the choices may lead to well-structured scenes, they do nothing to broaden the improvisor’s ability. The improvisor has learned no widely applicable skill or behavior; they have only...
Nov 26th
1 note
4 tags
Love
I’ve been thinking about love lately, and the Muppets. The Muppets love performing. It’s so much fun and joyful when you get to go on stage to be weird and silly and sing and dance and make people happy. And ultimately the whole point of the new movie (which I just saw the other day, sparking this whole thought process) is about putting on a show and rekindling that joy. It made me...
Nov 25th
7 notes
4 tags
“I think the trouble was we never defined what ‘norphin’ was.”
– (via outofcontextimprov) My friend and talented improvisor and coach Lauren Hunter has started a Tumblr for out-of-context improv notes.
Nov 22nd
1 note
4 tags
My theater's got a brand new shiny website. →
Nov 18th
4 tags
Nov 16th
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Nov 16th
1 note
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The Era!: 25 Ways to Explain to Someone Whether... →
thecomedyoferas: After even my parents, the people who have the most invested in what I have to say, could not grasp the fact that an improv show Sarah and I were in was not written ahead of time, we decided that this list needed to be created. Thus and thus, 25 Ways to Explain to Someone Whether They’re Watching…
Nov 15th
19 notes
4 tags
Nov 15th
4 tags
Nov 14th
5 notes
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The Magnet Winter Intensive
magnettheater: Immerse yourself in improvisation for two weeks in Magnet Theater’s Improv Winter Intensive from January 9th - January 20th. Students will study improv 25 hours per week, completing 2 full levels of Magnet improv training in only two weeks. The intensive program concludes with a student graduation show. Students who complete the intensive will be eligible to start at Level 3...
Nov 10th
1 note
4 tags
WatchWatch
Jill Bernard of Huge Theater in Minneapolis talks about the power of agreement.
Nov 9th
4 tags
A Fun Blog!: Things From Improv Books I've Read →
margoret: DISCLAIMER: This could be so many things, improv is great & shows things that are true, but these words & phrases specifically make me feel like I am a tuning fork that has just been struck. The point of this post is not at all to be a dick/alienate my audience but rather to collect some words…
Nov 8th
7 notes
4 tags
“This is the most intellectual and sincere thing I’ll say: You can’t say ‘I want...”
– Jason Mantzoukis, via a roundtable discussion of New York’s comedy exodus to LA.
Nov 8th
6 notes
4 tags
Nov 4th
4 tags
Nov 4th
2 notes
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Musical Improv Notes →
From David Schmoll, the first guy to teach me about how to do musical improv. I still quote him today when I say “If you can count to 4, you can improv sing.” Worth a perusal.
Nov 3rd
4 tags
Kitchen Rules
improvnonsense: This past summer, Michael Delaney sent me an email decrying the state of improv. That in itself was not unusual (Hello, Delaney!). But in this particular email he outlined what I think is a brilliant way to measure whether someone has become an advanced improviser: 1) A good improviser habitually accepts the offers made to him. 2) A good improviser habitually makes active...
Nov 2nd
68 notes