News has it that tomorrow night, July 3rd at 8pm, will be Creep’s last show at Harold Night at the UCBNY. We urge you all to go and give them one last hurrah, before they all become so famous you can’t get near them with a 100 foot pole.* Creep is Eric Bernat, Eugene Cordero, Angeliki George, Birch Harms, Jeff Hiller, Ryan Karels, Megan Neuringer, and Amber Petty.
Just last week I had an alarming experience. My improv notebook went missing and I panicked. I started calling all the people I knew, to see if anyone had picked it up while we were out. No one knew where it was. I searched my overflowing backpack, my messy apartment, my paper filled office and still nothing. It turned out, I had written a few notes in it last Wednesday during group practice and had left it by the leg of my chair. Luckily for me, Roy Astorias Studio had it turned in and I retrieved it, but it was a harrowing experience. The history of the last year of my improv education is contained in that little notebook and If I were to loose it, I wouldn’t be able to reconstruct all the lessons, exercises, thoughts, or knowledge contained in it.
This, surprisingly, coincided with an article I have been writing, off and on, for the past 3 weeks about keeping an improv notebook. I considered it a sign that I should finish off the article and post it on the website. And so, without further ado…
Recently a UCB instructor asked me, while I was sitting in the UCB training center’s waiting room, writing in my improv notebook, whether I took class notes.
You now I never see many students taking notes in classes I teach. Back when I was in classes I took lots of notes and I still have all my notebooks. Yeah, I hardy ever see students taking notes in classes and it sees strange to me as well. I would never remember any of this if I didn’t take notes.
Strangely from that time I have taken 2 additional classes and I am consistently the only student who takes regular notes in my classes and the only student I know who keeps an active written journal (besides improvoker web journal). Of course, everyone is different and has different ways of keeping and recording information. Some people may have brains that can retain class information without the need of a notebook, but I am not one of those people and I would wager that the majority of you all are not those types of people.
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre is proud to announce the dates for the 9th Annual Del Close Marathon!
This year’s marathon will be the weekend of July 27–29, and will take place on three stages. We’ll also have awesome special shows during the week leading up to the marathon (July 23–27)
And all week long we’ll be offering special workshops. Details TBA.
If you’d like to submit your group to be a part of the DCM, please see our submission guidelines and complete an application at http://www.delclosemarathon.com.
Also — this year we’re looking for more out-of-town groups to submit late-night shows — shows like last year’s Emanciprov!, Warcraft-prov, Dicemen, etc. If you have a great idea for a late-night improv show you want to do — submit it!
And remember — if you’d like your show to be considered for a primetime slot, and we do not already know you or your show, you should send us a DVD or videotape of the show.
The deadline for submission is May 7.
Best,
Anthony King
Something tells me that this year UCB is going to be inundated with applications to perform, so get your application in early kids.
On starting my 401 class last Saturday, I thought it was a good time to take a look through my improv notebook and post a recap of some of the lessons learned in my 301. My 301 was taught by Chris Gethard, who changed the way I view improv. Some of the notes are from Chris, some are from practice with Anthony Atamanuik, some I picked up along the way. While I am writing from my notebook and trying diligently to maintain the accuracy of what was said, quotes may be paraphrased.
Playing
Trust in what’s already been established. It’s all there in the first 3 lines.
Keep it simple and trust in the details.
Explore, don’t invent.
Your characters must be real and truthful. Caricatures and cartoonish characters do not allow an audience to relate, therefore, empathize with you, removing the stakes for a scene.
It is not steamrolling to be specific in a scene and lay out your ideas. Steamrolling is not allowing your partner to contribute by adding information for them.
If you start straight and try to go funny, but fail — It’s much easier to go back to straight, than if you had started with funny, fail and try to go to straight. –Chris Gethard
Get to the action — Make this be the day something happens.
Your purpose on stage is to support your partner. Always put the weight on your shoulders to protect them from looking bad or taking responsibility. –Chris Gethard
Make a scene present by acknowledging your scene partner with “I, you, we” at the start.
React honestly, it’ll make your life easier. –Chris Gethard
Take your time to respond. Allow what has been said to effect you.
Don’t feel you always have to talk. Silence is a great stake raiser.
Have Fun, Have Fun, Have Fun. Stop thinking and play instead.
You got yourself into this mess and you are the only one who can get yourself out of it Gethard to a scene partner and I after a particularly difficult scene where we felt trapped.
You cannot have a great show without taking risks. The bigger the risks taken, the bigger the possibility for success. Failure because of taking risks are far more impressive than failure because of the fear of taking risks.
Play for the stage, not the audience. (Play for yourself, not to satisfy others.)
Group Games
If we talk 50% of the time in a two person scene, In a 6–8 person group game we should plan to talk 20–13% of the time.
In a group game agree with the scene’s reality and, most importantly, support you fellow players.
Group games that focus on the one odd man out, usually become a witch burning.
Everybody hates hotspot. The purpose is not to love singing goofy songs, but to support your fellow players even if it puts you in the firing lines. –Anthony Atamanuik
The Suggestion
Concept from Matt Walsh — Put a question mark after the suggestion. You should try to answer that question, for yourself, by the end of your harold.
Commit completely to your opening. This is when the audience decides if they are with you, or against you. If they feel you don’t believe it, they wont believe it.
Silvija Ozols, formerly of Creep, has joined the veteran ranks of UCBNY’s The Stepfathers. This is amazing news. I can’t wait to see how Sylvia effects the already boisterous energy of The Stepfathers. Her work in Creep has been fantastic, bringing her wonderful and quirky energy to scenes.
The Stepfathers are Michael Delaney, Christina Gausas, Chris Gethard, Billy Merritt, Bobby Moynihan, Silvija Ozols, and Zach Woods.
The house was packed at 7:50 and although there were a few open seats peppered throughout the theater, there were people sitting on stage and people standing in aisles. While past Harold nights have been growing in attendance, due in part to the huge influx of new students attending classes at the training center, the main draw on this snowy Tuesday night was the debut of the new Harold team Bastian 1.
