Improvoker

I just wanted to take a minute out to congratulate the UCB Harold teams that performed last night. I was extremely impressed by the high quality of performance and energy all the players brought to the stage. In particular I wanted to spotlight the work of a few players that really made an impression on me.

Ben Rogers of 1985 did a scene with Sue Galloway about Valentines day and basically made the whole thing a dick joke. However, Ben committed so heavily to the performance that it was incredibly funny and not at all awkward to watch. Usually I am put off by juvenile humor, but hats off to Ben for pulling it off so effortlessly.

Another 1985 player of note is Gavin Speiller. From the early on Gavin has been one of my favorite players at UCB. He’s smart, funny, and can pull off a cute character at the drop of a hat, but it’s only in the last year I have noticed his ability to really selflessly support everything on stage. Last night he came into scenes repeatedly and added the perfect game move to the mix; the abusive hunter and his dog, the treasure thief, “there is only one burger left” brother. Repeatedly Gavin reminds me how good you can be at unabashed support.

Lastly, fwänd’s Gil Ozeri tried some pretty experimental transitions last night. Instead of a sweep edit, Gil said while editing the scene “we see this scene is part of a huge quilt” (to which Gabrus said one of the funniest lines of the night about lupus). While the edits didn’t quite congeal and were dropped on an edit or two, I really appreciated Gil’s attempt to blow out the suggestion of pincushion into something more. For a student grappling with broader ideas in performances, Gil’s example to experiment even at the possibility of failure is inspiring.

Thank you to all the Harold teams, you guys are all inspirations… alright, alright, maybe that was a bit much.