Austin Day 0: An Institution

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Before I get real improv-y, let me just say that people in Austin are the NICEST. Throughout the day, people just kept striking up conversations with me, just for being in the grocery line for example. How fun!

The Institution

Anyway, I signed up for Asaf Ronen's Drop In Diagnostics Class at The Institution. This was a great experience and such a cool idea. Students from Institution (or the 4 other schools) can drop in any week for some personal attention. It was intense. The class is designed to quickly find weaknesses and provide some practical tools. I left feeling energized but I get that it's not a "good" feeling.

Then was the Rubber Room. This is The Institution's weekly jam. When I told Asaf how well I enjoyed the format, he thanked me and told me a lot of thought went into it. Here were the main features I enjoyed: 

  • Big group warm up that was a) led by one of the teaching faculty b) quick c) involved most of the people most of the time (no small feat for a group this siz
  • Teams did sets. These had music and lights (mine even had bubbles drop). Really felt like a show.
  • Teams edited (tags, sweeps), but a teacher would clear for a whole new scene every so often (in a super fun way)
  • Then the teachers did a set together. It was informal and full of joy!
  • Then the lottery: each teacher drew a raffle ticket and the winner did a longer scene with them, they agreed on the format at the top.

A really fun night. Ok all for now.

One week in Austin: hopes and hideout

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I just arrived in Austin, 2 days early for my intensive at The New Movement. As I understand it, the intensive (called Training Camp) is a lot more like boot camp than improv class. It's a small class, we have 6 hours of class each day which focuses on reps, then a show each night for a paying crowd (the game in this analogy). 

Why am I here? I don't perform much anymore with groups that rehearse regularly with a coach. So I wanted to focus on my performance, even if for a week, with teachers who don't know me very well.

And why wait until Monday? Tonight I went to the Hideout Theater (which is right by TNM, easy for us improv tourists). It's got a cool vibe, store front, coffee shop out front (with a decent urbanspoon rating), and they have cocktails. 

The Hideout Theater (and coffee shop)

I saw a show called The International Improv Experience. There are 3 layers to this thing, all of them (in my opinion) delightful. 

  1. This idea that Roy Janik from came up with after doing a lot more international shows and workshops--how to bring more of that to Austin? The show features videos from improv troupes throughout the world. 
  2. A sort of technological whimsy that is loosely related to the theme (I'm told Kaci Beemer is responsible for the look of the show). The show features a talking computer (the person in the tech booth with an 1980s era animated computer head), a button that spins a slot machine-esque spinner to pick random cities, a giant lever that starts scene, and the best part: dozens of shapes that make up the "virtual reality" allowing the "computer" (improvisers) to create any location in the world. I cannot overstate how beautiful this was to watch. I tried to do it justice with the photo below. 
  3. The final is the show mechanic itself. The show was in two acts with a short intermission (for coffee and happy hour priced cocktails). The first half was ComedySportz-esque. There was only one team and the challenges came from the International improvisers. That's what all those videos are. Anything from "give examples of what this poorly translated English means" to "do a scene at tea about how to make cricket more interesting to Americans." The best scene by far (IMO) was in response to a Japanese video that was a scene in Japanese gibberish (it really was gibberish, not just my inability to speak Japanese). The second half was long form inspired by a story telling technique also provided by video prompt.

"Virtual Reality" mayhem is created during the International Improv Experience at the Hideout Theater.

Overall, totally aligns with my expectations of Austin! Creativity in droves, asking what have we not seen improv do yet?

DuoFest 2014

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Greg Gillotti and I have been performing as Iguanatron since 2009, and we were honored to be selected for Duofest in Philadelphia this year. So we packed up the car and drove east to the new home of the Philly Improv Theater: now on the 2nd floor of the Adrienne Theater. The space is an intimate, professional 65 seat theater with an enormous green room (separated by an honest-to-goodness wall) from which performers can see and hear the stage via video feed, a lighting grid to drool over with lots of different looks (expertly operated), and stadium style seating looking over a sizable stage.

Iguanatron was the first act on Saturday night. The house was a bit light but made up for their numbers with energy and enthusiasm. I was thrown a bit by a frenzied pace of editing early on in the show. We went through a lot of scenes fast, and I was also in my head as Greg and I stumbled in to a few scenes we had sort of played out before. After a weekend of overthinking, I was very pleased with our set. But I had to get over myself.

BUT we weren't really there for us! We saw some face-melting performances Saturday night (sadly that was really the only night we saw shows). Out of all of the great shows, here were the major stand-outs to me (in the order I saw them):

  • Two Gentlemen (Boston). These two classy gentleman (Greg and Ari) did a few things that really impressed me, some of which are still rattling around in my brain box.
    • They didn't take a suggestion (this has been comfortable for me lately) and their opening moment was very smooth. As Ari was doing the intro, Greg made a choice, set himself into a posture/position, then Ari immediately snapped into "character" and the show began. 
    • Their transitions were wonderful to watch. Reminded me of JTS Brown, though they didn't know of the group/philosophy. At any point, wherever they were whatever they were doing could become a new scene by changing attitude, a way of talking, something to indicate we had changed. It was subtle and fluid.
    • The show folded in on itself. It became very meta as Ari and Greg talked about the show Ari and Greg were doing which in and of itself isn't that interesting but apparently that's very common and sort of the point for them. It's a part of the work they find interesting since it's a form that opens itself to that possibility. For example, one of the meta themes was which improviser was responsible for creating one of the characters–that itself is an interesting idea.  
       
  • Matt& (Philly). Second time I saw this show and second time it completely blew me away. If there is some aspect of improvisation that involves the audience being with you and wanting you to succeed because they know you are making it up as you go, this show amplifies that to its logical extreme. Matt Holmes takes an audience member who is seeing improv for the first time and does a 25 minute set with them. And somehow, it is brilliant. You can see minute to minute how much of a craftsman he is at this. It is amazing to watch and even more so as the audience member (for this show an older guy who spoke broken English) begins to open up, eventually making bold choices, doing character voices, and more!
     
  • Ranger Danger and the Danger Ranger (Los Angeles). RDatDR belongs here and not because they happened to be staying at the same house with us (the kindness of our hosts could be a blog post of its own). This show felt like an 8 person team that somehow happened to be performed by 2 people. Drew and Luis have a name for their form (had to do with a flower) but it is essentially a monoscene with cutaways. In this show, it happened to culminate in a bit of a narrative thread. It started relaxed and patient with a 2 person scene based on a location suggestion, with cutaways adding in some details. Then one of the cutaways introduced an army of squirrels, and the show blossomed as the two portrayed this army–their leader, the various ranks and types of squirrels–as they cut back and forth, each moment building to a delightfully satisfying conclusion.

Not to mention, we really enjoyed our time in Philly. As mentioned, we had amazing hosts who kept us fed and engaged in fascinating conversation. They were also conveniently located such that we were able to walk everywhere save a couple taxis home at night. Greg and I toured East State Penitentiary (below left) and ate at a delicious old-timey restaurant called Farmer's Cabinet (below right).

East State Penitentiary, learned about the sad state of prisons centuries ago and today.

Finished a tray of meat, cheese and pickles at The Farmers' Cabinet.

Long story short: I recommend checking out the Philly improv scene, and particularly Duofest 2015! 

Exciting news about The Pittsburgh Comedy Festival

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As some of you know, a group of folks in Pittsburgh have been working hard to bring to fruition Pittsburgh's first festival of improvisation and stand-up comedy: Pittsburgh Comedy Festival.

These past few weeks have been an exciting time for us, and I want to tell you about some of the ways you can support the festival:

PCF Launch Party Poster

The Dusty Change Machine

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TheNewMovement.jpg

Back in May, I took a workshop at Arcade from the two founders of The New Movement Theater in Austin. If you don't know TNM (I didn't), you should really check them out. It's an amazing story that you can read more about in their book. 

The workshop was teaching this form they do at TNM called The Dusty and since the workshop, I've really come to love it! Kristy Nolen at Arcade approached me about putting together a team there to perform the Dusty. Smash cut to Change Machine, the newest house team debuting this weekend.

Which brings me to the most common question I hear, "What is the Dusty?"

TNM folks have the real answer. But I have a blog and like to type so I will give you my impression in about 1000 words. Then you can come see "the picture" this Friday and more often on Sundays in 2014!

The Dusty can be looked at simply: it's a form with no sweep edits. But it's so much more than that. Much like Harold has a structure (3 beats, group game, etc.) but becomes much more than its structure, the Dusty is Chris Trew (and company)'s philosophy of improv baked into a form. So it's hard to talk about one without the other.

Here are the major components I take out of it: there are no sweep edits (hence the name). But more important than what there is or is not is WHY. You never want to sweep away what was built in a previous scene and start from scratch. Much like a good scene takes an initial choice and grows everything from that seed, the Dusty takes each scene and builds a tree and then a forest, creating a world with many disparate characters and situations, each linked in a way the audience can see from what was there before.

So while we never sweep and start from scratch, we do want the tent poles to start far apart. When this form struggles, it is because we are not "expanding the world." We are falling into narrative holes, or rehashing what happened in previous scenes. So there are built-in (and new) devices to help us expand the world.

From David Kantrowitz's art blog

The most notable of those is the tag. Similar to tags you've used in other forms, but Chris is very particular about how tags work. We will use other tags, but these particular tags are important to understand. Take a 2 person scene–there is some pattern unfolding and done well the players are aware and playing that pattern. When a character is tagged out, the next players job is to play that same pattern, play the whole "invisible script" start to finish. Only once it is finished, can than the next tag happen, and it must then. We see this character in widely different situations–distancing us from the original "plot", expanding the world, but still holding that throughline. 

This pulls us into editing–editing can happen really any way you want. Say we get to that 3rd pattern. The "main characters" are still playing their pattern, but now they are in a park so there is an old couple feeding the birds on a park bench next to them and a boy flying a kite–just to fill in the scene. At this point, tags, exits, new interactions, or some other move might bring us into one of their stories. And the Dusty continues. There's a lot of freedom here. Group scenes come and go, small characters become main characters and vice versa...

A universe builds as we jump from scene to scene.

Come see the debut of Change Machine open for Dinner with the Nolens this Friday!

The End of the World Show: Rehearsal Process

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This post is part of a series about creating the End of the World Show. 

With a refresher read of Directing Improv by Asaf Ronen (contains a lot of useful tips about show process) and a re-listen to the Billy Merritt episode of the Improv Resource Center podcast, I was ready to undertake rehearsals for the show.

I decided to try something new with the process. Everyone in Pittsburgh is very busy, and often involved in a few projects. To get people to say "yes" to the time commitment of EotW, I settled on this rehearsal schedule:

  • 2 intense weeks of rehearsal, during which I ask you to make this show a priority. We'll rehearse ~3 days a week.
  • Then the show opens and we won't rehearse again

I got people to sign up with the promise of a fun, ambitious show in 2 weeks, but I did not have a lot of time. 

The rehearsals were a mix of:

  • Developing core skills: learning the short form games, learning the set list and the flow of the show, how to transition from one game to the next
  • Character work: actors would be playing the same characters for every show (in the "frame story," in the improv those characters could play anyone). We worked on playing ourselves but slightly exaggerating qualities based on how we would really react if our own world was ending.
  • Some exploration: continuing to evolve and improve the show format

Gray Matter: A new show series starting this Friday

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I am starting a new show series inspired by Messing with a Friend. 

In her show, Susan Messing performs each week with some of her famous and talented friends. 

In this show, I perform when I can with some people who are kind of well known in Pittsburgh improv circles. 

I think it's going to be really fun.

Here's my spiel:

Grey Matter is distributed throughout the brain, taking the lion's share of its oxygen and controlling muscles, sensory perception, memory, emotions and speech. Gray Matter features veteran improv performer, coach and teacher Brian Gray performing with a variety of top talent from all over Pittsburgh, using all of those key functions to breathe life into characters created before your very eyes. This month's guest is Woody Drennan! 

Come see Woody and I do some improv together this Friday at 10pm. We are opening for what promises to be a really amazing play staring Ayne Terceria that was featured in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival.

What?! Right, I know. 

End of the World Show: Exploratory Rehearsals

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This post is part of a series about creating the End of the World Show. 

With collaborators roughly in place, I needed to figure out what was actually going to happen on stage. I had a vague outline in my head, but these things never work how I think they will.

I emailed out to 22 people in the community who I thought could have the time and interest to help workshop the show. I got a pretty positive response -- a good chunk of them were willing to help. The idea was to help me when you have time to figure out what this show can be!  

What did these early rehearsals look like?

Much of what we did was workshop games. I've played a lot of shortform games, and I wanted to take a handful of them and figure out how they would or could work in this Alien Show concept. 

I don't have photos from the exploratory sessions, unfortunately. But here is the cast ironing out some kinks in 2 Min Challenge.

For example, on of the first games we looked at is 2 Minute Challenge , Challenge  or whatever your group calls it. Here's a great description from our friends over at Friday Night Improvs. I came to rehearsal with a few thoughts:

  • This game could be earlier in the show. The humans want to just tell some stories.
  • At various points, something goes wrong. Either the overlords intervene, or maybe they react and the humans intervene, or the humans always intervene as they learn each others' personalities and what the aliens respond to. These "interventions" are our challenges.
  • The game can still retain its fast pace, it's increasingly silly challenges and so forth.

We tried a lot of combinations, and ended up with something that didn't even look all that close to what I imagined. It was story based, but often the interjections were helpful. There was usually a mix of how the challenge was interjected. And the humans told their stories more collaboratively than competitively as is the point of the short form version.   

I loved this spirit of workshopping games for a different purpose. We had a little bit of time, and we worked together to create something once we saw what it looked like.  

We touched on some of the other major aspects of the show, but most of these early rehearsals were workshopping games.

House Teams

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Pittsburgh just got a new wave of house teams. Apparently New York did too.

Back when I was more involved choosing teams, I wish I had had the courage and clarity to post some of my thoughts publicly that I had shared privately with those who were concerned enough to ask. Not specifics of one person's auditions or another, but the kind of insights Will Hines shares in the posts below. They are reflective and offer his perspective from the other side of the desk. (I'm not saying Pittsburgh has the same issues, but I respect his candor).

Teams Are Valuable But Overrated

What does "there aren't enough spots" mean and why does that sound like a half-hearted way of cheering up people not selected? 

The End of the World Show: Early Days

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In the first post of this series, I looked at the seed of the idea for the End of the World Show. In this part, I move on to the next step. Specifically, how I began to organize my thoughts, book the venue, and find the cast and other collaborators.

I am an incessantly organized person who lives his life by Google Documents. When I first decided to actually pursue the idea, I spawned a bunch of docs:

  • A high-level doc to jot down thoughts. This included the premise, notes on the process, and notes on the show format. FWIW - this was the original premise:
An alien race has descended upon the Earth and decided to obliterate the race (enslave us?) and use the planet for its resources (destroy the planet?). One of the alien “teenagers” has fallen in love with an Earthling and has brought her friends to the alien council (presided by some cast members but essentially the audience) to prove the humanity of the human race. Unprepared, the humans play some short form games to entertain the aliens but also prove our human emotions and relationships are worth saving. In the end, the council takes a vote to decide the future of mankind.

This poor description changed over the life of the show, but it sold it to the theater, the cast, and many of the collaborators.

  • A cast / rehearsal spreadsheet. I sent an email out to about 20 improvisers I thought might be interested in taking this journey with me. The response was overwhelmingly positive, except for some who were busy. I credit my success for not asking for any commitment early on, and just wanting help figuring out if the show could work. I tracked responses and when people could be at what. 

  • Press. This was the first time I had done a lot of aggressive press, particularly "traditional" press. As we were starting to explore the form, I was already writing the first press release and Facebook copy. With advice from Abby Fudor, I started to put together a fun press packet.

Masha Fikhman did amazing face paint for the cast and audience. And she hung a few paintings at Arcade. Win win!

The rest of the early days were a whirlwind of collaboration. This was a passion project: no one was getting paid; everyone was volunteering time. Why? Often because I could include them in the marketing, sometimes because we could show their work (see photo right), and mostly because it sounded fun.

I first connected (through Scott Andrew) with Spencer Diaz and Nico Zevallos who would work on the animation for the project. They were excited to help out, we set some expectations and were off to the races. Next was figuring out music. I talked to Eric Singer -- friend and creator/player of musical robots -- who connected me to Herman Pearl. While neither could help with the show, Herman introduced me to QLab which was the life-blood of the tech and both led to leads on a theramin (that sadly never panned out). Finally I got Michelle Horsley on the hook for live music. 

Arcade Comedy Theater co-founders Michael Rubino, Randy Kirk, Abby Fudor, Jethro Nolen and Kristy Nolen. (Photo courtesy of David S. Rubin)

At some point, I decided I was ready to really put this up and approached Kristy Nolen, Creative Director and Programming Director of Arcade Comedy Theater about putting up the show. I said that I wanted to do a run of shows where people dress like aliens and care about each other and there's a lot of tech and press and Kristy said, "Yes! How can we help?" All 5 of the Arcade directors helped make the show a success with creative help, marketing, design, use of the space, and so on. 

We were now in motion! I have a list of 39 people who contributed to the project and I apologize that I don't have time to discuss all of their contributions here. I want this series to be a little bit about End of the World and a lot about what worked in case you want to create your own ambitious show. Suffice it to say I really could not have done it without those 39 people.