My friend Alex, who I met almost 12 years ago at Wittenberg University, drove all the way from Connecticut, Ohio to Chicago, to visit me for a long weekend. It was great to see him again, and to see that he's doing well! On Saturday we got up early and went downtown to the Field Museum, Aquarium and Planetarium. After that we took the elevator up to the 103th floor of the Sears Tower (Willis Tower officially). We walked for 10 hours and we saw all sorts of interesting stuff, like Dinosaur skeletons, Beluga whales, and the Chicago Skyline. It was a good day! Back in Andersonville we, my Intensive group, had a performance at the Upstairs Gallery. I was happy I could show him what I was doing in Chicago. He enjoyed it! After that he went to bed. I biked to Maggie Jo's and Andy's place, now known as the Boom Boom Shizzie. Almost our entire group was there. It was Rick's birthday! He turned 19. I brought him a present; it was an onion with a smiley face drawn on it. The party was very entertaining, so I got home at some late hour. I woke up just before 8 to have breakfast with Alex before he left. In the last three weeks most of my days were (almost) as intensive as that Saturday. You could say I lived in a Twilight Zone. It was a hack of a ride!
I wasn't alone. I had 14 others on the same trip. I can only summarize it with phrases like "a once in a lifetime experience", but that doesn't say much to anyone who wasn't a part of it. I'll try to explain it with a few more sentences. We were a very supportive group, who didn't judge whenever someone initiated something, whether it was in or outside a scene. So it felt very safe to follow your impulses all the time. And as we are crazy improvisers, we had some crazy magical moments. For example, in our warm-up before our final performance we all sang and danced to Rihanna's Stay. We were so dedicated that our week 5 teacher Bill Arnett left the room until we were done. He returned with a big smile and a "you guys are weird" look on his face. Furthermore, by playing every day so many different characters and emotions, it's very easy to be expressive all the time and not really worry about what others may think of it. It's a fun state to be in; especially if you have a bunch of wackos to back you up! So yeah, it was a once in a lifetime experience. And most of us want to move to Chicago now. A few are applying for jobs and started looking for places. Maggie Jo simply isn't leaving.
In week 3, before anything else, Jeff started with lunch advice. Every day we have a one hour break in our 11 to 5 class. And apparently Studio Be was close to good food. I directly got this easy-going-enjoying-life vibe from Jeff. His main job in the last seven years has been doing improv on cruise ships, so I guess that makes sense. He also told us, with his easy-going-enjoy-life vibe that Charna isn't too happy with him since he wrote a book about Del Close. Back in the days when he was a student at iO, he drove Del around town to do groceries and what not. Del was an eccentric man, to put it mildly, so he wrote a book about their encounters. I bought it, and it's a good read. It's called Guru, Jeff's last name is Griggs.
Week 3 is about characters and scene work. Jeff had some exercises, which I found nicely challenging. In one exercise, five people sat next to each other on stage. Jeff interviewed them. Person 1 had to give everyone's name and explain why they were together at this event (funeral, festival, etc.). Then Jeff asked person 1 some questions about person 2. After that Jeff asked person 2 questions about himself, and after that about person 3. Then it was person 3's turn, and so on. The fun part is that you really have to make things up on the spot. You can really surprise yourself! Our fivesome organized a festival. Beau answered some questions about my character, and it turned out I had two wives. Jeff started asking me questions about my first wive. She worked in a botanical garden. Then he asked me about my second wife, and if my first wife was okay with it. I said she was (impro brain saying Yes), and then I had to explain why she was okay with it (impro brain saying And). Apparently my brain connected the dots without me realizing it; it just came out of my mouth: "male plants have multiple plant wives, so she is used to the concept". It's fascinating what improv opens up and creates: it can extend yourself and reality at the same time!
Week 4 was the shitty week. In week 4 we focused on the basic Harold. The Harold is a form developed by Del Close and his disciples a few centuries ago. It's a great form in which all skills of the first three weeks can be applied. Nonetheless, it also has its limitations, simply because it is a fairly strict format (especially the standard Harold, which was our main focus in this week). Also, the opening of a Harold is more for the players to find inspiration than for the audience to watch. Okay, an opening can be really good. Those moments are rare though; I saw some shows with very experienced players doing an opening, and even they seemed somewhat hesitant. Brett Lyons, our teacher of week 4, said that for a few years all Harold teams basically exploded at the end of their opening, so they could safely and smoothly back away to the sides. The focus on the form decreased the level of our scenes too. Also, Brett had more negative notes, while our previous teachers chose for a more instructive approach of teaching.
In week 5 Bill Arnett made us smile right away. He's simply a very nice guy, and he has a lot of experience. I believe he's exceptionally good in the final week: the week in which the Intensive groups create their own format, which they will perform in the Del Close Theater. Through the years improv in Chicago has evolved - for our improv historians: you can still see the original Harold shine through these new forms though -. We tried out several forms and group games. Our performance would be on Wednesday, so we only had three days. Every group has 1 hour, so we had to decide whether we'd want to perform with all 15 of us or break up in 2 groups both performing for half an hour. Some of us wanted to split up, some of us wanted to play as one team. Bill came up with a Solomon Verdict, which was some Frankenstein format: one half would do the first two group scenes, the other half would do scenes in between; in the middle we'd have a group scene with everyone, and after that the group who did group scenes would now do scenes, and vice versa. At the end we'd finish with a run, which basically are free for all short scenes. It sounded crazy, so obviously we loved it!
Wednesday night was our show. We were the second group of the night at 8 PM. The theater was packed! It felt very powerful to be there with these people. Christine introduced us and asked for a suggestion. From that point on, we were just having fun. The energy never dropped! The first group scenes consisted of true personal memories and opinions, we let the first few scenes breath, so those were character scenes. The run at the end was very fast, reincorporating things of all the previous scenes. Altogether, I believe that we got a good mix between quick game scenes and the longer realistic scenes. Charna, co-founder and owner of iO, came up to us afterwards to compliment us with our show. That was kinda cool. Afterwards we had a big party in the Boom Boom Shizzie!!
After a few hours of sleep, we had our final day of class. We analyzed our show with Bill. Everyone, including Bill, had a good feeling about it. In the morning we all got our personal evaluation, and play two scenes with these notes. I got the note, again, to engage less with my scene partner. After lunch we tried some small people formats. Ryan, Beau and I did a three man show. I really liked that. A 2- or 3-man show is definitely something I'd like to do back home! It's a great challenge. I've seen quite many 2-man shows now at iO, so I've got an idea what will work and what will not. I also hope to find the opportunities to teach what I've learned, because it surely is worth sharing!!
Yesterday, I left the Chicago Twilight Zone, starring:
Andrew, Andy.
Alex, I go by my last name: Blum.
Jack, Ehmm.., they misprinted my name. It's Jake.
Eric, It's Rick.
Angela
Beau
Ryan
Kaitlyn
Caleb
Phoebe
Taylor
Colleen
Maggie Jo
Christine
Thank you! And see you soon!
In week 3, before anything else, Jeff started with lunch advice. Every day we have a one hour break in our 11 to 5 class. And apparently Studio Be was close to good food. I directly got this easy-going-enjoying-life vibe from Jeff. His main job in the last seven years has been doing improv on cruise ships, so I guess that makes sense. He also told us, with his easy-going-enjoy-life vibe that Charna isn't too happy with him since he wrote a book about Del Close. Back in the days when he was a student at iO, he drove Del around town to do groceries and what not. Del was an eccentric man, to put it mildly, so he wrote a book about their encounters. I bought it, and it's a good read. It's called Guru, Jeff's last name is Griggs.
Week 3 is about characters and scene work. Jeff had some exercises, which I found nicely challenging. In one exercise, five people sat next to each other on stage. Jeff interviewed them. Person 1 had to give everyone's name and explain why they were together at this event (funeral, festival, etc.). Then Jeff asked person 1 some questions about person 2. After that Jeff asked person 2 questions about himself, and after that about person 3. Then it was person 3's turn, and so on. The fun part is that you really have to make things up on the spot. You can really surprise yourself! Our fivesome organized a festival. Beau answered some questions about my character, and it turned out I had two wives. Jeff started asking me questions about my first wive. She worked in a botanical garden. Then he asked me about my second wife, and if my first wife was okay with it. I said she was (impro brain saying Yes), and then I had to explain why she was okay with it (impro brain saying And). Apparently my brain connected the dots without me realizing it; it just came out of my mouth: "male plants have multiple plant wives, so she is used to the concept". It's fascinating what improv opens up and creates: it can extend yourself and reality at the same time!
Week 4 was the shitty week. In week 4 we focused on the basic Harold. The Harold is a form developed by Del Close and his disciples a few centuries ago. It's a great form in which all skills of the first three weeks can be applied. Nonetheless, it also has its limitations, simply because it is a fairly strict format (especially the standard Harold, which was our main focus in this week). Also, the opening of a Harold is more for the players to find inspiration than for the audience to watch. Okay, an opening can be really good. Those moments are rare though; I saw some shows with very experienced players doing an opening, and even they seemed somewhat hesitant. Brett Lyons, our teacher of week 4, said that for a few years all Harold teams basically exploded at the end of their opening, so they could safely and smoothly back away to the sides. The focus on the form decreased the level of our scenes too. Also, Brett had more negative notes, while our previous teachers chose for a more instructive approach of teaching.
In week 5 Bill Arnett made us smile right away. He's simply a very nice guy, and he has a lot of experience. I believe he's exceptionally good in the final week: the week in which the Intensive groups create their own format, which they will perform in the Del Close Theater. Through the years improv in Chicago has evolved - for our improv historians: you can still see the original Harold shine through these new forms though -. We tried out several forms and group games. Our performance would be on Wednesday, so we only had three days. Every group has 1 hour, so we had to decide whether we'd want to perform with all 15 of us or break up in 2 groups both performing for half an hour. Some of us wanted to split up, some of us wanted to play as one team. Bill came up with a Solomon Verdict, which was some Frankenstein format: one half would do the first two group scenes, the other half would do scenes in between; in the middle we'd have a group scene with everyone, and after that the group who did group scenes would now do scenes, and vice versa. At the end we'd finish with a run, which basically are free for all short scenes. It sounded crazy, so obviously we loved it!
Wednesday night was our show. We were the second group of the night at 8 PM. The theater was packed! It felt very powerful to be there with these people. Christine introduced us and asked for a suggestion. From that point on, we were just having fun. The energy never dropped! The first group scenes consisted of true personal memories and opinions, we let the first few scenes breath, so those were character scenes. The run at the end was very fast, reincorporating things of all the previous scenes. Altogether, I believe that we got a good mix between quick game scenes and the longer realistic scenes. Charna, co-founder and owner of iO, came up to us afterwards to compliment us with our show. That was kinda cool. Afterwards we had a big party in the Boom Boom Shizzie!!
After a few hours of sleep, we had our final day of class. We analyzed our show with Bill. Everyone, including Bill, had a good feeling about it. In the morning we all got our personal evaluation, and play two scenes with these notes. I got the note, again, to engage less with my scene partner. After lunch we tried some small people formats. Ryan, Beau and I did a three man show. I really liked that. A 2- or 3-man show is definitely something I'd like to do back home! It's a great challenge. I've seen quite many 2-man shows now at iO, so I've got an idea what will work and what will not. I also hope to find the opportunities to teach what I've learned, because it surely is worth sharing!!
Yesterday, I left the Chicago Twilight Zone, starring:
Andrew, Andy.
Alex, I go by my last name: Blum.
Jack, Ehmm.., they misprinted my name. It's Jake.
Eric, It's Rick.
Angela
Beau
Ryan
Kaitlyn
Caleb
Phoebe
Taylor
Colleen
Maggie Jo
Christine
Thank you! And see you soon!
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