My Theory About Improv and Everything

I'm in a train the trainer type class at the moment. It's being run for those of us in the improv company who share an interest in one day teaching classes. Currently, I don't think I would be chosen to lead public classes because I feel like my improv in general has been a bit off lately, but this is free instruction, and being taught by a teacher I haven't had in a while. Imma take this goddamn class. The omnipresent "they" say that teaching is a great way to learn. I'm in it for me, not to bring the love of improv to orphans and stop war. The class, which at the outset was to be 2 or 3 sessions has morphed into a biweekly series with no clear ending. I love it. We are forced to spend more money on babysitters, as it falls in the same time slot as my husb's improv class, but it's worth it.

A couple of classes ago the teacher mentioned that your personal school/theory of improv is revealed in what you teach. We take turns running exercises; so far I've done a higher energy circle warm-up game and a 2-person directed scene (with me as the director). Pulling from the objectives of the exercises I chose, my personal theory of improv includes:

-an ability to be silly or a large character in front of others

-an ability to develop, build and sustain a rhythmic flow with others

-teamwork: everybody adding equally

-expanding "yes and" to also mean "react then act"

-honing the ability to read other people and discovering the subtext

There are many more in my personal collection of improv theory bullet points, of course, but I'm focusing on the reasons behind those two exercises.

The class is also working on:

-be concise

As for the Everything part, I find that these bullet points are all things I'm always trying to work on in my real, non-improv-but-just-as-improvised life. I'm a shy person. Yes. I'm a shy person and I have real shy-shame about it. I often feel that I'm the gear that isn't quite in sync with the rest of the machine. I have difficulty finding the correct balance point between give and take; it's always to much of one of the other. I believe other team members constantly think that the team would be stronger without me. I say yes more than I and.

In text I often backtrack to remove unnecessary words and distractions. In person, I need to cut the shit. All of it. From every place that shit has gathered. There's too much. Out of the shit-wagon and dumped on to the ground, its energy broken down into fertilizer for what needs to grow. Yeah, metaphor.

I've been taking in a lot of Dave Razowsky lately, in the form of his podcast and his two classes available at iActing Studios. I purchased an e-version of The Viewpoints Book. It's already one of those books that feel like home. I want to learn and experience the shit out of all of that.

Muzak

Here's a song I made in sound class. Composed. That's a fancier way of saying it.

Anyways, it's digital but it's not apple loops. It's all my finger pushes on a midi keyboard. Layered tracks.

I turfed my other blogs (well, just hid my main one for the time being, but deleted my exercise one forever) so I'll put it here. I'm just a bit of an online hermit lately. Getting older. More paranoid. Shhhh, they're listening.

Mask Me No More Questions - a cross post. It's kind of arty so I'm putting it here too. Okay? What else you need explained?

I was trying to think up a good mask pun. Mask not what your country can do for you...

Last week I took a mask intensive. We wore masks and made a mask and wore the mask we made. I have to say that I LOVE taking courses that happen over a series of consecutive days. I like to be immersed in a concentrated way, rather than learning something piecemeal over a long time.

We used full masks and half masks. The full masks remain silent, allowing the body to tell the story, while the half masks can be very very loud. Full masks allow you to think; half masks are meant to remove your thinking mind from the equation. You "talk" in a full mask, but words have to be learned after starting with a fundamental sound. The sound is discovered at the moment you are shocked by the appearance of your mask face in the mirror, after emptying your mind. If it doesn't work, then it's on to the next mask until you find something so shocking you temporarily lose your conscious thought.

My own results were mixed. I don't know if I connected fully with any mask, though I didn't feel like it was a waste of time at all. I know that it's a trick, that these masks aren't really inhabiting me. Okay skeptics? But while knowing that, I'm trying to forget. I see it working for other people. It's a real result, even if there isn't a real cause. Let me define real: woo.  Supernatural forces from the outside. There isn't real woo because woo doesn't exist. What there is, though, and what I would like to keep trying to do, is fucking with your brain. My brain. A real mindfuck to trick out some real results.

My mask.

I took notes, but nothing that is worthwhile transcribing here. You really have to be there. Check out www.trancemasks.com to find out what I'm talking about. I most likely have gotten it wrong, so it's best to go right to the source.

Back in class

New semester of drawing class - first assignment, a bird. Won't have time to finish by tomorrow.

He has a very puffy chest, but it'll probs look better after more shading.

Teller Told

Done, and tweeted! Penn's next!

Currently Working On: Teller!

Trying out the grid system for a portrait. My class is over, but I missed this one. My printer is running out of ink, thus the pink hue to the original photo!

I am always scared to add the pastels. I'm not sure if I like using them yet... I'm debating between colours all within the yellow to red part of the spectrum, or bolder complementary primary colours. Hmmm.

Girl With Pearl Earring

Assignment: Crop the original painting in a new way, then copy by hand