It was one of those days. One of those days where you're thinking about other things when you should be thinking about you're doing. So, my scenework was basically for shit today. Well, it happens.
We began by listing some current events topics at the beginning of class. Topics such as the teachers' strike here in Chicago, the nutcase-dipshit who made the anti-Islam movie that has pissed off the nutcase-dipshit faction of the Islamic world, the brouhaha over the princess's boobs (is that France's revenge for Waterloo?), and Romney's "Obama supports the Islamic radicals" quip. The point of this exercise was to get us thinking about how our improvised characters might mention these events during a scene to add depth to our characters and the scenes themselves. I like that idea because it takes the action on stage out of a vacuum.
We spent a good chunk of our time on theoretical stuff. Part of that discussion was the notion that being trained to create shows that are sold to an audience somehow compromises the content or the integrity of the show. Gellman was adamant that being able to learn this craft to communicate and connect with a broad audience is more sophisticated than just doing it for the amusement of your friends and their friends. He uses IO as an example. He says that when you go to a show at IO, chances are the audience consists of other improv students or other improvisers you've seen around town. (True enough, I guess.) His point was that communicating with a broader audience is more difficult, and it is not necessarily dumbing down your material. If you just make other people in your improv group laugh, and nobody ever pays to see you perform that material, then your just having a circle jerk.
In our scenework, we spent an extensive amount of time on montages -- which will be a huge focus of our audition to be allowed to complete the conservatory. As a preface to that work, Gellman shared a piece of advice that stuck with me: as an actor, your line is not over until your scene partner reacts/responds to your line.
In montages, the idea is to come out, take a few seconds with an action on stage, and check in with your partners before delivering lines. Leading off with a line without seeing what's happening, who's on stage with you, and what they are doing can lead to some very bad beginnings to your scene. For example, you say "Dad, I'm not going to college" but you're onstage with two female actors. Or you start working with a wrench and say something about the car you're working on when the people behind you are bowling. This goes against what many people are taught in their beginning classes -- to just say something as you are walking out. Also, we were bluntly told that montages do not have call backs (or reincorporation) of previous scenes or characters.
We began class on hour early this week, which was kind of cool because we had our usual room for an hour after class ended. We used that time to jam and practice our montages.
Damn, is that all I have to say about this week? Fuck, I need to take better notes.
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