Posts Tagged “Christina Gausas”
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.
Recently I had the oddest sensation about my improv — it just wasn’t working. Not working in the broader sense, that scenes were consistently turning problematic. I would go into scenes and for one reason or another they would fizzle out into a not so funny mess. My forward motion stalled and my scene partner and I would stare blankly at each other looking for another direction in the scene we might have missed. What had happened to my improv skills? Where did they go? And more importantly, could I get them back?
Truth be told, I have heard this from a lot of fellow students and I believe that everyone who improvises will feel this from time to time. The ol’ improv slump. What causes it? I do not know, perhaps it’s focusing on the other parts of improv like raising stakes, developing characters, or strengthening game. Perhaps it’s just the process of growing as an improviser. The good news is, that fixing it wasn’t really that difficult.
Read on…
Normally I wouldn’t be spotlighting to a class show on Improvoker. Class shows are usually a great place to watch students perfecting their craft, but are sometimes a little difficult to watch… but this isn’t an ordinary class show. This is the final performance of a 600 level class taught by instructor Christina Gausas.
Christina is first generation Del. She studied with Del Close, Charna Halpern, Mick Napier in Chicago, taught at IO Chicago, and is now teaching at UCB New York. Her current 600 level class, which is an advanced class, is performing two long form improvisational styles called JTS Brown and Cat’s Cradle. These two forms are by far the most interesting structures of improv I have ever seen. They border on the side of experimental theater, weaving abstract scenework into the long form structure.
Each form is very different from one another. JTS Brown begins with an improviser becoming a character and supporting improvisers becoming that character through a tag out like replacement. Cats cradle is an amorphous set of scenes, which morph from one scene to another through a series of almost dance-like montages.
I heavily recommend checking out this show if you are interested in seeing how improvisational forms can be used to create more complex performances. The ideas inherent in these structures beg the question, “what is possible in an improv performance?”
Del Close thought that improv should be more than just a quick joke. These forms really spotlight that improv can be more.
Reserve your tickets today!
