3 Years of Del Closses

This was my third year of Del Close Marathons and from the 3 I have attended, this year seemed the most sober. Perhaps it was the deaths of both Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes, or the missing energy of Amy Poehler, or the introspective press conference, or the vastness of the Marathon now filling 4 theaters, but I got a definite sense of a community looking in on itself. Of course being that the marathon is now 4 theaters wide, I may have only seen one impression of a now huge pool of performances.

UCB is in a strange place at the moment. Their success as both a theater where the best and brightest comedians are trained, with Bobby Moynahan moving to SNL, and also the most successful improv training center in New York, if not the country, has left UCB trying to figure out how to deal with it’s unparalled popularity. This showed itself during the Friday press conference as the UCB3 - Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, and Matt Besser - took the stage outlining the UCBs revamped improv curriculum:

1. “Game is fundamentally important and central to comedic improvisation”
2. “There is nothing intrinsically better about doing a time-dash to the second beat of your game over analogous beats for your game”
3. Organically derived scenes are no better than premise based scenes initiations
4. Having your own “signature” opening is not important - “Bring back the organic opening”
5. Dress Appropriately for the stage - not too sloppy, too sexy/aristocratic
6. It screws up people to think about raising stakes when entering second beats - Think equally. “I want to find another scenario equally as funny or funnier than the first one. Thinking funnier will naturally raise the stakes. This will naturally create scenes with both heightening and exploration.”

These should be no shock to anyone who has spent time at the UCB training center. Most of these have been on the lips of instructors since I first started training, but the fact that the UCB is now defining it’s perspective publicly, on long form improvisation, is sign of their newfound leadership roll in the improv community. Although, Matt Besser did make it quite clear that these may not be true of all schools, but they are what is true for the UCB.

Lessons Learned this Year

As most of you know each year I try to take away a few things which become apparent after watching hours and hours of improv. I trite them down in a notebook in the dark. I try not to edit them and write them down as I wrote them.

• Respond to what is happening now
• Repeating patterns is not game, just a piece of behavior
• Start in the middle - Make assumptions about who, what, and where you are
• Remember - not really sure what this meant, but I wrote it down so it’s got to be important
• Relax - Try not to let your fear as a performer manifest itself in your character and initiations
• Characters are important and should be used in service of the game - not for a cheap laugh
• Gay characters don’t have to have campy cliche accents
• Gay improvisers don’t always have to be a 1950’s housewife
• Breaking your character to laugh, giggle, or remark about your performance is a cheap trick
• The most important thing in the scene is your partner - try not to get sidetracked by inanimate objects, because they aren’t going to respond to you in the scene
• Work with what you have, it’s brilliant - Let’s not add new information half way through
• Fuck the form - do whatever honors the suggestion
• Del close doesn’t look like that
• Respect your audience - Don’t pimp your audience, because when they turn on you, you have nothing
• Saying funny things will eventually fail you
• It’s about what’s happening - not the details of what’s happening
• There are still 10 minutes and 19 seconds - It’s never too late do do something
• Look calm on the back line - the people on stage need you to yield focus
• Confidence makes the audience feel like you know what you’re doing - lack of confidence makes the audience panic
• Do NOT hang off the pipes - Fucking ever!

Performance Highlight

Out of all the performances of the marathon, I think the highlight was Code Duello’s saturday night performance off of the suggestion of “rabies.” The performance was based on Aaron Burr killing Hamelton’s cat and having to replace it with a sabertooth tiger. This however was nothing to the incredible playing of both Neil Reynolds and Matt Tucker, whose moves grounded the scenework so much that the idea of entire premise of a dead cat being replaced with a sabertooth tiger seemed totally justified. Out of the 4 times I’ve seen Code Duello, this was by far their most impressive show, so much so that they proved something that I had never seen prior.

We all Know how to get laughs from an audience. It isn’t hard. But I want us to get cheers.
- Del Close

They had cheers, laughs, and a standing ovation at the end of their set.

Other highlights

WeirDass at the FIT auditorium. As usual Stefanie Wier and Bob Dassie produced a show that was incredible to watch. Full of rich characters and incredible scenework their set again reminded me how important listening and responding is to improvisation. They have a bond that one can only imagine can only be made possible by being married to your scene partner. It was so inspiring to see the two of them on stage that the day after the marathon, I formed a 2 person improv group based very roughly on the Weirdass form. If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, WeirDass is reeeeeeeeally good.

The always impeccable Baby Wants Candy, performed an incredible set about a speakeasy that had points of shockingly sublime songwork that really highlighted what committing to every part of performance can do.

And so, that’s the wrap up. If you have any questions, or comments feel free to drop a line. I’ll be sure to respond to you early February.

Saturday night was Mothers last show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York. The 9 year run of the group at the theater is the longest a house team has performed at UCB. It was a great show to boot.

During the show, I thought about what made Mother such an amazing experience to watch in all the years they have played. A group of performers that had grown together, like a vine wrapping around itself, to become one seamless entity. A group of performers who were taught in the earlier incarnations of the UCB training center. What about this group can we, as improvisers, learn from? What can we steal?

Commitment

Anyone who has ever seen Mother knows that they committed to realities and characters unabashedly. Never were initiations judged and never did anyone on the group bail on an idea. Everything was embraced and everything nurtured in their scenes. I always felt that Mother’s scenes were like seeds planted in the ground and everyone watered each idea until they grew.

Emotion

What I always loved about Mother was their embrace of emotion in scenes. Love, hate, lust, happiness, sadness; Mother ran the gambit committing to these emotions truthfully and realizing their extraordinary power in scenes. These organic choices led to scenes with decidedly more intimate content which the cast never shied away from.

Physicality

Mother would often would start scenes touching, holding, or embracing one another. This is one of those decidedly Mother traits in that they were not shy about using their bodies with each other. They were as comfortable making out on stage as they were brawling into the audience or pirouetting around the stage. This is one thing that I have been thinking much more about in my performances, and something I definitely need to steal.

Love & Trust

Here is where Mother really stood apart. Sure groups love their parts, but Mother’s time together really cemented their incredible trust with one another. You could see the intense love and trust pouring out of their playing. All scenes were pushed that much farther because each cast member knew that behind them were a group of performers that would do anything for them. With that support, your risks in scenes can be limitless and they were.

And so ends almost a decade of performance, it has been fun watching. What’s next? Something amazing I’m sure. But for now, Bye Mother.

What are the lessons you pulled away from Mother?

Will Hines talks about his impressions of Mother

So it’s been entirely too long and I haven’t updated improvoker. This is due to one unfortunate problem, those damn Del Close Marathon notes. See the thing is, I took notes in a dark theater in a little notebook and when I looked again at my notes, well, nothing made any sense. it was all scribbly “numer 4.5 - don’t wear slutty cloths on stag.”

Luckily I recorded the whole press conference on my iPhone, but I haven’t been able to copy the audio files over to listen to the pieces I need to finally post those notes. I feel terrible about this and I apologize profusely and hope we can still go to the sock-hop together.

Come on baby, where you going?

The good news I have not given up and will try, to make sense of what the UCB 3 said on that stage in the dark. Thanks for bearing with me while I flake a little - I’ll try to be better in future.

If you make a mistake, do it twice.

Jazz Saying

This is one of those truths that finds it’s way into every art form. It’s true for Jazz and it’s true for improvisation.

One of the many words of wisdom I got from Bobby was back in my UCB 401 improv class, Bobby was subbing for Billy Merritt, and he spoke about this face he does which always gets a laugh. He did the face, which is a magical shrug, and we all laughed. I then decided to create my own face which I could do and always get a laugh. Unfortunately Bobby was unavailable to coach me on the face and had to cobble together my own face from various sources, but at the end of a year — I had a face. It’s not Bobby’s face, by any stretch, but it’s good enough for government work.

All that is totally true.

Bobby is one of the nicest, most supportive, super talented people I have ever met. He’s been a staple at UCB since I started and I’m really sad to see him go, but at least it will give America a chance to see that lovely man’s face. (Oh, and America, I just danced with Bobby the other night and let me tell you, Bobby can dance too.)

Also totally true.

• Upright Citizens Brigade’s Bobby Moynihan to Join Saturday Night Live/SNL
• Hopeful Sinks, Doesn’t Think
• I didn’t blow ‘SNL’ tryout

Roberts, Walsh, and Besser laid out the UCBs “theses” on improvisation. Who h ranged from the expected “Game is fundamental” to more subtle “having your own opening isn’t important.” I will be sure to post my full notes once I’m near an accrual keyboard.

The UCB3 then played a few of Del’s earlier, less known recordings.

Shows

MySpace was as usual incredible, with some hilarious scenes about what sounded like the most bizzare workout system spx90, of something in that vain. Bassprov was as wonderful as I remember it and Horatio Sans, who has lost a considerable amount of weight, approached the stage with a poise I have not seen. The Stepfathers was by far the most stressful improv set with Shannon O’Neil and Chris Gethard getting into a slapping brawl on stage. For anyone at the theater, it was like watching your mom and dad start to fight - although very funny once everyone decided not to kill each other.

The highlight of the night, however, was Directors commentary live. The film was Universal Soldier and the commentary was by far the most inventive and hilarious I have seen to date. “I call ziss a Van Damn”, “no sleeves means you don’t have to pay for sleeves” and “That’s me, that’s not me” had people litterally rolling in the isles.

I’ll be updating throughout the DCM10, so that I’m not overwhelming your browsers and RSS readers, I’ll try to keep updates as concise as possible.

I’m headed into the city now after taking off Friday to prep. And by prep I mean sleep. I’ve got a shopping list of trail mix, water, energy bars, and perhaps a few tissues. It gets rough down in the trenches.

See you down there soldier..

Last year I gave you a few tips on how to survive the DCM marathon and some marathon suggested viewing, this year I thought I would give you a few updates, although I still stand by those two previous lists.

Additional Del Close Marathon Tips

• Drink more water - Considder this a plane flight. Drink more water than you normally would. Seriously, I would suggest Airborne as well, because
• Bring Snacks! - Although the UCB does not normally allow food into the theater, during the DCM it is allowed. Avoid salty snacks, they dehydrate and raise your blood pressure leading to hypertension after 3 days. I suggest nuts, trail mix, energy bars, and of course going out for a few meal occasionally. Don’t be the dick with the Halal platter - you will be asked to leave.
• Have a marathon buddy - going to the marathon alone is fine and dandy, but it’s always better to have a friend to bounce criticisms, laugh together, and hold during those awkward silences. Also, just like weight lifting, sometimes you need someone to push you one more hour.
• See Wicked Fuckin’ Queeyah at UCB Sat 02:00 am and WeirDass at FIT Kate Murphy Ampitheatre Sat 07:00 pm - I know I say it every year, but every year I am proven right. These two shows define the DCM for me.
• Find Me - I’m there most of the marathon. Make sure to say hello if you see me, I also accept hugs.

DCM10 Suggested Viewing

• ASSSSCAT 3000 at FIT Haft Auditorium at Sun 08:00 pm
• Baby Wants Candy at FIT Kate Murphy Ampitheatre at Fri 07:00 pm (60)\
• Baby Wants Candy at UCB Theatre at Sun 06:00 pm (45)
• Code Duello: Hamilton & Burr at UCB Theatre at Sat 10:00 pm
• Death By Roo Roo at UCB Theatre at Fri 10:30 pm
• Delta Force 2 - Operation Stranglehold at UCB Theatre at Sun 04:00 pm
• Director’s Commentary LIVE at UCB Theatre at Sat 01:30 am
• Galapagos at UCB Theatre at Sun 12:00 pm
• I Eat Pandas at UCB Theatre at Sat 08:00 pm
• Improvised Shakespeare at UCB Theatre at Sat 07:00 pm
• Mailer Daemon: Our Nuts Are Full at Urban Stages at Sat 01:45 am
• Monkeydick at Hudson Guild Theatre at Sun 06:30 pm
• Omelette Vision at UCB Theatre at Fri 07:00 pm
• Scheer-McBrayer at FIT Kate Murphy Ampitheatre at Sat 10:00 p
• Scheer-McBrayer at UCB Theatre at Sun 05:30 pm
• Thank You, Robot in: Laser Beams! Laser Beams! at UCB Theatre at Sat 08:00
• The Satellites at UCB Theatre at Fri 08:00 pm
• The Upright Citizens Brigade at UCB Theatre at Sat 06:00 pm
• WeirDass at FIT Kate Murphy Ampitheatre at Sat 07:00 pm
• Wicked Fuckin’ Queeyah at UCB Theatre at Sat 02:00 am

This was also true of my first 501 a year ago with Chris Gethard for another reason. Chris had really let us devise our own path with our improvisation and was pushing us to own our philosophies. By the end of 8 weeks we had just scratched the surface of what was possible. After our final performance we all wanted more.

So when news that UCB had decided to start offering classes for August with a 12 week class schedule, I have to admit, I was excited. I think the major reason I was excited was because I have a problem in letting my inhabitions go around performers I don’t know. It takes me at least 4 weeks to feel comfortable enough to let loose in class and by week 8 I am finally feeling totally comfortable (this is one of those ongoing things I battle with in my improvisation).

I’m also a firm believer, due in large part to the teachings of Chris Gethard, that group mind in one of the pillars of longform improvisation. It’s that magic glue that binds performers on stage to one another and let’s them seemingly read each other’s minds. If you are really working on forming group mind, it may be possible by 8 weeks, but again it’s another reason why 12 weeks appeals to me. That’s good group mind territory.

Unfortunately all this extra class time doesn’t come without a price. A 12 week 501 class is now $475 up from an 8 week class of $350. If you do the math, UCB has not raised the price per class, about $40, but for students looking at their scant checking accounts it may be a deterrent. However, I think it’s a move in right direction and as always, UCB still offers other 8 week classes at lower levels.

UCB also let us know that they have no plans at the moment to discontinue 8 week 501’s. So everybody gets the best of both worlds.

So, is 12 weeks the right time, or was 8 great? Speak up.

UCB has been the center of my education (14 Classes) for the last 2 years and I still count myself as lucky to be part of such a warm and open community. No school is going to give you the golden key to improvisation and make every student into the next Bill Murray, but UCB is a place where if you want to make something of yourself, you can. It’s been frustrating, sometimes humiliating, and occasionally overwhelming, but it’s also been the most educational endeavor I have ever undertaken.

And so I thought I would write down, for posterity, the lessons that are currently bouncing through my mind after 2 years of clases. Hopefully next year I will look back and think “Oh, that’s what I was thinking last year?! Wow, that seems like second nature now”

State-of-My-Union

• I’m not sure if I’m a slow exception, but almost 2 yeas to the day of starting classes, and taking them consistently, I finally understand game. That’s a huge thing in my improvisational career.
• I’ve also started to feel like my work outside of classes in practice and performance is really starting to shine. I am consistently asked after shows where I trained and who I’ve trained with, which I take as a compliment.
• My 4 person improv group is flourishing. We’ve played enough shows that I feel super relaxed on stage and truly feel that no one’s skills outshine any others. We need to write more sketch.
• My performance in class still suffers from being too polite and shy to people I don’t know well. I sometimes feel like sociopaths would have a much easier time performing than I do, but feel lucky I’m not a sociopath.
• The indie improv community is the healthiest I have ever seen it. New groups are starting to once again surface, which is reassuring that it wasn’t just my generation that had a group boom. I feel very lucky to be part of the indie improv community.
• Longform Musical Improvisation is one of the best trainings for all of your improv skills and from reading Funniest One In The Room, Del knew it too. It has taught me more about the themes in life than any other class. Eliza Skinner elevates the craft to an art form. (She’s teaching two DCM workshops - take them! Sunday 2-5pm & Wednesday 6-9pm)

Current circulating ideas

• Be truthful always — never go for the joke. Truth in Comedy is good, but Comedy in Truth is better.
• Game is not about the unusual things, but rather your relationships to them. (relationship - noun - the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected). If this is true (about my character/behavior/relationship/environment/etc.), what else (about my behavior) is true?
• Game is celebrating/exploring/wallowing in situations/problems/fun, rather than trying to invent/solve/move past them.
• Never take any lesson from any instructor at face value — you must own it before it can be true for you. Discover why the rules are true.
• Support everything, in improv, unconditionally always. Everything you or your partner say is brilliant - listen to that subconscious brilliance and figure out what it means.
• “Yes And = Yes Why” -Anthony King
• Always make your partner look better. You are always on stage to protect your partner, always take the bullet.
• Game is usually in the first 3 lines of dialog, so pay special attention up top to everything you and your partners say.
• Listen to yourself as much as you listen to your partner — you may not be aware of the games you are setting up.
• Trust your opinions — your opinions make your improv different from everyone elses.
• And! - Anding is how you make your mark on a scene.
• “Perform each scene like it will be your last.” -Amey Goerlich
• Never be polite — take, give, demand, and never apologize.
• Tell your scene partner what you are feeling, don’t assume they are on the same page.
• Take your time — perform in the same tempo as you live your life, anything else will feel foreign.
• Make this be the day something happens — something happening doesn’t always mean something external.
• Allow your characters to have wants for themselves — this can flesh out a character better than anything.
• Always warm-up before a class or performance - remember exercises warm up different parts of your brain and body. Try to do a left brain exercise (7 things, Hot Spot), right brain exercise (3 characteristics, character wheel, made-up hot spot) and an energy exercise (Crazy 8’s, knife throw, moving in space)
• Group mind, group mind, group mind.
• You are brave for trying this — most people go through their lives never living to their potential, feel comforted that even if you fail you are still one of the few who are trying.

Writing about game is trickier than I thought.

2 months and counting on just one article about game. The depressing part about the article is, I realized half way through, that an article about game is pretty useless. I’m still writing it, and you will all see what I’m saying, but at the end of the day game is only a small (yet important) part of scenework.

So, that’s just an update of things over here in improvoker land. I’m still very much alive and kicking. I feel better about improvisation than I ever have and I’ll be sure to write things that don’t require months of editing more often.

Much like this. Thanks for continued support.
-Ben

Nothing we say to each other is innocent of emotional manipulation. Everything that we do on stage, is to effect each other, in some way and if we notice, very carefully, how those swine we are working with are trying to get to us and get at us — Sometimes I suggest we perform on stage as though we are a whole bunch or raving paranoids, that these paranoids adjust nothing I hear is going to be simple. Nothing you say to me is going to be accepted at face value. Ohh? It always means something else.
–Del Close

So I read this post the other day on Anthony King’s Tumblr and realized that I had the video of Del’s Death Party. However, it’s taken me a few weeks to figure out how to post the huge video file to the site. The video starts with the Upright Citizen’s brigade phone call and features Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, Charna Halpern talking to the one and only Del Close.

And I gotta say, this excerpt from the chapter about Del’s “death party” makes me feel very proud to be the Artistic Director of the UCB Theatre:

“His wheelchair was rolled to a telephone in one corner, where he spoke to the Upright Citizens Brigade (who were shooting in New York); the camera rolled as Del issued the final instructions to the UCB via telephone.

“Del told Matt Besser that they did it: they were spreading improvisation and the love of improvisation, creating Theater of the Heart. Del said he wanted everyone to know the tenets of improvisation, how to listen, and how to work with a group. He knew the world would be a better place when people cherished one another, treating others like poets, like geniuses.”

We heart you Del.

Hi Improvoker folks-I was just wondering if you could enlighten me on something. With so many improv schools available, it’s hard to decide which one is the best, or if there even is a best. There’s PIT, UCB, Magnet Theater, National Improv Theater, etc., etc. I’ve already taken a level 1 class at UCB. Do you recommend that I stick with them and go up the ranks or is there one school that is better than the other?

Sometimes I get intimidated by all the glitz and glamour attached to UCB and it makes me want to go somewhere that is not as high profile. Of course, then I become concerned that I won’t be getting as good an education from a less high-profile school or that agents tend to frequent one school more than the other yada yada yada. Any words of encouragement for a new improv-er?

I really appreciate it!

-TC

Well TC, as you can imagine this is some pretty subjective and delicate territory. What works for some people doesn’t work for others and people can get very defensive about their chosen school. You will undoubtedly meet people who will slag a school because “they suck,” but at the end of the day, every person’s sense of what is funny is different. I can only talk from personal experience and my involvement in the New York improv community, but I’ll try to give you as objective an opinion as possible

I’m not sure there is one best or worst in terms of improv schools, but rather what do you want to accomplish with your improv and which school is going provide you with the tools to attain those goals? All improv schools have a philosophy behind them that in some way is reflected in their training centers. Whenever I look to take classes, I always see my future instructor’s show beforehand to see if they are someone I identify with. Do I want this person teaching me? What will I learn from them? Do they jive with my improv beliefs? (I neglected do this one time and it remains one of the worst mistakes of my improv career)

You are a reader before you are a writer.

-J.D. Salinger

What I mean by “improv beliefs” is at a certain point you will develop your own philosophy behind your performance. You will decide, from watching others perform, what you think is funny, how you want to perform, and who your heroes are. For instance, I know when I started performing I wanted to perform dynamic scenes that didn’t necessarily stick to everyday reality — whimsical scenes where reality was heightened. When I started looking for instructors, I looked for performers who matched my philosophy and subsequently took my level 101 with Shannon O’Neill who is wonderful at exactly that. You might also want to go out and see some independent improv around town. These are shows where groups are not affiliated with any particular theater’s house teams. See which groups you like and ask the performers, after the show, where they trained — I’ve been asked loads of times where I trained by audience members.

Each school also has a particular philosophy behind it’s instruction. I’ve met countless people who are turned off by UCB’s training center, although I have been there for 2 years and have found it a very supportive environment. This is a harder concept to judge from the outside without taking multiple classes at a school. I know I have met individual instructors that I haven’t connected with or disagreed with — but from class to class, does the school make you feel encouraged or discouraged? Trust your instincts. If you don’t feel at home at one school, try another.

Lastly, define what it is you want to get out of improv. Do you want to be an actor? a writer? a director? where do you see yourself in 5 years? If you’re only goal is to be on a house team, you might want to choose schools with a smaller student population. If you’re interested in television, UCB has a reputation for being the place to find new talent. If you want to learn from direct descendants of Del Close, Armando Diaz of Magnet is a wonderful teacher and has a wonderful teaching style. Whatever your wants, try to remember why you’re doing this. Students often get lured into setting their sites of joining a house team, if this is what you want to do, wonderful — but remember why you got into improv. It probably wasn’t to be on a house team, it was probably to rule the world.

A Grain of Salt

I’ve been taking classes at UCB for about 2 years, and have also taken a sketch class at Magnet. I started taking classes at UCB because an ex-improv teammate of mine Bob Acevedo was taking classes there (Bob now teaches an awesome Slow Improv class at Magnet, I highly recommend it). I’ve never doubted my decision to take classes at UCB and continue to count myself as lucky to be part of such an incredible community. Regardless of where you study, I have found the New York improv community to be a warm and friendly place to perform. I believe firmly that you have to create the community in which you want to be a part of. Don’t get too bogged down with theater-vs-theater comparisons and instead cross-pollinate whenever possible.

Hope that helped, see you around town.

As summer makes it’s ways into our collective hearts and armpits, so do the rise of special classes taught at the Upright Citizens Brigade Training Center. One instructor to always keep an eye out for is the unparalleled Christina Gausas. If I were a bit more pretentious I might even venture to say that Christina is the closest thing to my improv guru I have ever come across.

One of the classes I took with Cristina which changed my perspective was her Openings & Group Games class. I had thought it would be a throw away class, I was bored and wanted to take a summer class after my Billy Merritt 401 to pass the time until my Gethard 501 started up. Group games and openings? That’s like a cooking class on boiling water, right? Fortunately for me, I was completely wrong. Christina opened my eyes to the science of group games. She worked with us on matching energy, unconditional support, devising form out of pattern, listening, using openings more effectively to begin scenes, and showed me how to accurately perform my favorite opening of all time… the true Del Close Invocation.

“An opening is like an artist’s palette — it is the foundation for all your scenes.”

– Christina Gausas

The class was different than any I had ever taken before. Christina’s “from the horses mouth” experience makes her an instructor who can lay ideas out in ways you may never have heard before. I found her teaching style super supportive, extra caring, and unlike anything I had experienced before.

Lucky for you, she’s teaching her Openings & Group Games class Thursdays 7-10pm starting Jun 26, 2008. Get thee registered. Nice work yall, it’s sold out! Hope you enjoy it.

Found this today and have to say, It’s pretty brilliant. Sorry was not the most fun game because it relied too heavily on that big plastic half dome thing. The game itself was boring as shit.

Monopoly is a game.

We use the pattern of moving pieces around the board to play that game.

That pattern in and of itself is not very interesting.

But the pattern serves the game. It moves it forward. It lets us find more fun.

The fun is in what we DO in that game. It’s WHY we’re playing it.

You can play it fast. Or slow. You can spend time in jail. Or you can work as hard as you can to buy up all the railroads.

That’s your choice.

Because monopoly is a game.

Game is what we play.

If something is funny, it has a game.

Pattern is how we play it.

We use patterns to explore and heighten the game.

Choice is up to the individual player.

At UCBT we teach people to make strong choices at the top of their intelligence and then to commit to those choices.

Strong, committed choices show off your sense of play and sense of humor. They bring your ideas to the group mind.

Then everyone gets to play and enjoy and support each others ideas.

You can make a pattern out of anything. But if it’s not a pattern serving a strong game - it’ll be boring.

Just like Sorry.

That’s a terrible game.

– Anthony King

The biggest news is the reshuffling of 1985 and the remaining members of fwänd into two separate groups - The Law Firm and Amazon Tusk. I think it also bears pointing out that UCB has granted one of our biggest requests of a mostly female group Sensual Ha, which from outward appearances looks pretty incredible. Sensual Ha also features Pat Baer, the longtime tech and dude in charge for keeping things running at the Theater. Returning faces of Eddie Dunn, Nate Lang, Brian Berrebbi, and the incomparable Jeff Hiller are a welcome addition back. Bastian and Decoster are the only two teams unaffected by the reshuffling.

Congratulations to all the new performers making their Harold debuts. We can’t wait to see what they bring to the Harold Night.

Lastly, our condolences to the talented performers who were not added onto the teams this round — you guys rock.

ALIEN MELODY (starter name)

• EMILY AXFORD
• PATRICK CLAIR
• ERIK DIES
• JILL DONNELLY
• BRIAN GLIDEWELL
• MORGAN JARRETT
• WINSTON NOEL
• BEN RAMEAKA

AMAZON TUSK (starter name)

• EDDIE DUNN
• Birch Harms
• Jeff Hiller
• Kevin Hines
• Porter Mason
• Risa Sang-urai
• Betsy Stover
• Erik Tanouye

BASTIAN

• Brian Barrett
• Maggie Carey
• Adam Frucci
• Brandon Gardner
• Lydia Hensler
• Molly Lloyd
• Oscar Magallanes
• John Murray

DECOSTER

• Eric Bernat
• Kirk Damato
• Matt DeCoster
• Ryan Karels
• Pam Murphy
• Megan Neuringer
• DC Pierson
• Ari Voukydis

HUNKY RABIES (starter name)

• BRIAN BERREBBI
• Sean Clements
• Devlyn Corrigan
• Brian Faas
• John Frusciante
• Jon Gutierrez
• Ben Schwartz
• Nate Smith

THE LAW FIRM

• Dominic Dierkes
• Jon Gabrus
• Sue Galloway
• NATE LANG
• Gil Ozeri
• Adam Pally
• Ben Rodgers
• Gavin Speiller

SENSUAL HA (starter name)

• Jenn Bartels
• PAT BAER
• Chelsea Clarke
• Fran Gillespie
• Tricia McAlpin
• Amber Petty
• Craig Rowin
• Mike Still

SIR THERMOS (starter name)

• COREY BROWN
• PAUL DOWNS
• Matt Fisher
• DAN GUREWITCH
• Violet Krumbein
• Aubrey Plaza
• Dave Siegel
• Achilles Stamatelaky

So, it’s been a rough week with UCB Harold auditions consuming most of my attention this week, but I thought I would point out that UCB Theatre New York has announced this years Del Close Marathon on August 8-10. For anyone who’s never attended or knows nothing about the DCM marathon, it’s the 3 day improv festival dedicated to the memory of Del Close and longform improvisation. It happens across multiple theaters in New York, with most of the action happening at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

The event is huge. There are special shows leading up to the marathon by groups like Baby Wants Candy and Weirdass, special intensive improv classes both for resident and visiting improvisers, as well as special ASSSSCATs on the last day of the marathon

by gaelenh

It’s sick.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

1. You are all supporting actors
2. Always check your impulses
3. Never enter a scene unless you are needed
4. Save your fellow actor, don’t worry about the piece
5. Your prime responsibility is to support
6. Work at the top of your brains at all times
7. Never underestimate or condescend to your audience
8. No jokes (unless it is tipped in front that it is a joke.)
9. Trust. trust your fellow actors to support you; trust them to come through if you lay something heavy on them; trust yourself
10. Avoid judging what is going down in terms of whether it needs help (either by entering or cutting), what can best follow, or how you can support it imaginatively if your support is called for
11. LISTEN

• IF THE WHOLE IS TO BE ART, THE PARTS MUST NOT TRY TO BE
• HAROLD IS LIKE A DOCUMENTARY FILM- PART AUTOBIOGRAPHY, PART BIOGRAPHY, PART SIMPLE FACT
• THE TOTAL MAY RESEMBLE A “PLAY” (a dramatic work of fiction) BUT IT ISN’T FICTION ANY MORE THAN A THEORETICAL SCIENCE PAPER IS FICTION
• NOTICE HOW “YOU” ARE A PART OF A HAROLD. HOW YOU FIT. THEN SIMPLY ENTER-JOIN
• HAROLD IS GREATER THAN ALL OF YOUR ABILITIES-OR YOUR INTELLIGENCE
• HAROLD NEEDS ALL OF YOU-YOUR BEHAVIOR, NOT YOUR DESCRIPTION OF YOUR BEHAVIOR