improv

Jeremy
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I can do this.

I’ve been thinking “I can do this” more than I ever have previously in my life. I mean it in the sense of, “If I devote enough time and energy to this, I can accomplish this and accomplish it well.” Cases in point:

-Roller derby: possibly the jumping off point for all this positivity. I started working with the league a year ago, barely being able to skate on quads, not knowing the rules, etc. Now I skate better than 99% of the population (although still one of the worst in the league) and ref with one of the most respected leagues in the country. One year.

-Novel: Although my progress has slackened significantly, I started working on a novel earlier this year independent of NaNoWriMo and was pretty confident it was write something worthwhile. I’m a little stalled on it, mostly due to time, but I won’t give it up. The 80 pages I have still make me laugh, and I easily rate in the best work I’ve done.

-Playing bass for real: I launched myself into playing bass for the Apple Sisters with as much gusto as my four completely unfocused years of playing would let me, and what do you know? It turned out pretty well. I was rarely note perfect in the first few weeks, but I did learn a lot, have fun, and meet some great people. By the second half of our run, the Stems were sounding pretty tight as well.

And so on. I’m approaching a state where my intimidation factor for attaining almost any new skill is zero. I don’t know where my DIY spirit has been hiding my whole life, but it’s finally starting to get me to ignore the fact that I grew up as essentially a talentless child. Now if only I can find a job as a roller-skating comedy bass player. That’s got to exist, right?

Jeremy
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Shakes-prov

Chris Scott saw the Improvised Shakespeare Co. on Monday at the Del Close Marathon. He urged me to see it on Tuesday after they had done an amazing show off of his suggestion of The Three Laws of Asimov. By Wednesday, during the Walsh workshop, I resolved to wait in the stand-by line for their next sold-out show. And on Thursday, I saw them perform, and got to give a review of my own: utter genius. Friday saw us both signing up for the workshop taught by the originator of the form, and Saturday brought possibly the finest three hour span of instruction I’ve had. Then came Sunday, with the realization, “I really, really want to try to do this.”

Jeremy
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Workin’ With Walsh

I took a four-hour improv workshop with UCB founder Matt Walsh last night. I didn’t really know what to expect, because you hear a lot of stories about the old-schoolers and what they’re like, but who knows whether the stories are true, or whether they’re still true about them now. I’m happy to say I enjoyed it, and felt like I definitely took some nice lessons out of it. He was clear and direct and seemed like he was pleased with the general level of skill that’s coming up through the theater. I don’t know that you can ask for much more from a single day workshop, so I’m pleased. My two big realizations I hope to assimilate into my playing are:

The first insight was that you can have game going in a completely simple, unforced way inside of 30 seconds if you’re playing well. I’m defining playing well here as listening to your partner, being clear, and assuming a point of view that you stick to. It doesn’t have to be complex, it doesn’t have to blow anybody’s mind, but if you find that game early, you can start to build your relationship and the rest of the scene much faster. There’s something to be said for a slow-burn kind of scene, but there’s also a lot to be said for not wasting your time. Get out there, get that game, and start building the world through the game.

The second insight was elegantly phrased as “Create less, explore more.” I know I’m guilty of pulling out a ton of references or new additions to no avail if a scene isn’t going much of anywhere. Walsh urged us to treat each new “creation” in a scene as something significant that should be explored and examined before we move on to create something new. It’s easier and more satisfying for the improvisers, and it’s clearer and almost certainly funnier for the audience. That makes for better scenes.

There were some other minor tips I picked up as well, but those were my two big takeaways from the workshop. Both are things I would say I’d heard before, but they were illustrated well or spoken to in a very direct way. DCM has been extremely satisfying for me so far, and we’re not even into the Marathon proper yet. I’m really looking forward to it now; my shows, others’ shows, and the workshop I have on Saturday. Renewed vigor!