Funny Funny
I find it impressive how some people can constantly update their blog several times a day or even once a day. It really does take a lot of energy and thought and time to write down your thoughts and expound on the origins or the greater meanings of those thoughts. SO... until I have more time, mostly after my wedding, you will only see one post a week or so. Except during my honeymoon, where you will see none.
This week has been an improv week. Tuesday I had my first show of my Level 3A class and it turned out ok. Not as funny as my Level 1 or Level 2 class shows - there was something in the air this Tuesday that was holding people back. It might have been the lack of any cold air - AC was busted and it was so friggin hot. It may have been just a pure lack of energy - I could feel it warming up doing "Hotspot" - a game where a player jumps in the middle of the circle, sings a song, and other players just need to tag them out with whatever song they think of next. It was slow, and people were slow to tag out - myself included - so I think the brains were just not functioning.
I was in the first group and we warmed up a little more beforehand. That had me feeling better, plus we had a decent size crowd so that always brings some energy. We had a good start with our initiations, really good monologues with some interesting facts. My first scene turned out to be a execution-gone-wrong scene. I was being electrocuted, but not successfully, by this inept officer who was having "moral issues". It turned out to be a decent game - one problem was I was failing to listen to him to pick up on other stuff he was saying. I know he was having deeper issues than just "moral issues" but I blanked out and went into my head so all I heard was my blabbering. I think it worked out ok and we basically had a decent game going.
Second scene came back and we replayed the same game really - death and all. This time, it was an assisted suicide - he wasn't killing me as quickly as I wanted him too. Game was brought back but according to my teacher, delivery just flopped. Which I felt. Group games were lacking some punch too. The first one turned out to be a servants in hell thing that morphed into a union/strike line seeking better benefits in hell. And then we just started shouting and the other people in the scene couldn't be heard. That was bad. Again, just a problem with listening. The other group game was Fantasy Baseball camp, which was pretty funny to watch - since these people were "fake baseball playing" which I thought was clever - get it, Fantasy Baseball?! And then it just ended with not punch, more like just fizzled out.
That was Tuesday, last night was class. Which turned out to be a great class. We worked all night on just commiting in our scenes. Being emotional and using that in a scene. Immediately forming an opinion as soon as the scene starts - whether you are angry, sad, fearful, lustful, or happy. That helped a lot of people get out of thinking and just listening to the other person and reacting. Everyone did a really great job and that was the first Level 3A class I walked out of satisfied - knowing that I didn't have to think too hard and people were laughing.
So that's that. Improv class is almost over. It's a lot of fun - I implore you to take a class and see how you like it. It's just fun to get the dialogue going and create something out of thin air. Ok, my blog writing is fading. On to another topic!