Improvoker

If you’ve not been in the loop or if you haven’t received an e-mail from me in the past few days labeling you as a pussy, tonight at midnight is the first Jammin’ With Ralph at UCB NY.

The UCB Theatre’s monthly improv jam!

Think you have the improv chops to jam with Ralph? Prove it!

Hosted by fwänd!

The basic gist, as I understand it, is you put your name in a hat. If you get picked, you go on stage and improv with some strangers. While the PIT has improdome, which are three person groups, this is a little different in that everybody is flung together by fate… curious ironic fate.

Although I have been in the worst improv slump of my life recently, I’m going to give it a shot. Every time I say this to someone in one of my classes, however, they universally say “You?! You are going to put your name in?!” This isn’t really filling me with overwhelming sense of confidence… ah well, I guess that’s what the PBR is for.

And the verdict

fwänd opened up for Jammin’ With Ralph with a really hilarious 10 minute set to warm up the crowd. They then brought out the bucket of truth, which had people’s submitted names written on small white pieces of paper. One of the nice parts of Jammin’ With Ralph was anyone could put their name in the bucket at any point through the show. 8 players were selected at random from the bucket and paired with 2 fwänd team members. Each group had 10 minutes to do whatever they wanted on stage, timed by the the clock.

I was part of the second group to go up and although I didn’t initiate any scenes, I supported scenes to the best of my ability.

If you weren’t there, here are a few initial impressions I had from participating.

• Putting your name in a bucket takes a lot of courage
• Improv is harder than it looks
• Improv is not as hard as you thought it is
• 10 people are a lot of people on stage
• To initiate you have to be fast and you better be clear
• Chairs can be your best friend/worst enemy
• Having an idea to go out on, is a luxury
• You can’t make a mistake, so stop worrying about it
• Keep it simple
• 10 minutes is not very many scenes
• If you’re used to group games, lets say from 201 and 301, you may find jumping into scenes a little abrupt
• Trust your instincts
• Seriously, trust your instincts
• You are not supposed to “get” what’s going on - everybody is making it up as they go along
• Del is completely right, improv is like building a plane in the air
• If your feet move, follow them out there
• Group games are a really good idea with 10 people. Everyone will come out to support.
• Keep your eye on the clock

The final 10 minutes are a free for all, filled with every improviser in the house. Surprisingly everyone shared the space amicably, sharing focus when focus was taken.

In conclusion, as my high school papers used to say, I think that Jammin’ With Ralph should be mandatory for all Improv students. It opened my eyes to a great deal of things. Being present, being focused, not being scared to make a mistake, trusting your fellow players to catch you when you fall, and most importantly not judging your move before you make it… or more likely don’t make, because someone has already moved. It was a great night and I can’t wait to take a few more slugs at it next month.

God I love improv.