Mookie (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} mookieghana) wrote,@ 2008-10-18 21:31:00 |
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Thou art a Cooking of Book...
Alissa called me on her way home from school and explained that she needed to go out to Blaine to work tonight. So, I went to ComedySportz TC to finally check it out. After two years of being in this state and doing improv, I felt it was important to see one of their shows! Several of my students have also trained at Comedysportz or gone to see them perform. Since I came from a Theatresports background, I thought we'd have a lot in common - perhaps even more than I had with the crew at Stevie Ray's. After tonight, I don't know.
My comedy background is varied just because of the loose natures of of the groups I worked with for the first six years. In 2000, I started performing with University of Rochester's "In Between the Lines". The improv group had only been performing for about a year when I joined and it was a mashup of several people's theatre & improv backgrounds - with a heavy dose of Improv Boston. We performed short-form games, but would regularly scour the internet or copy formats of other troupes we met. One of those groups was actually the Buffalo ComedySportz Team who was doing a Business Improv show at RIT that someone we snuck into. It was there that IBTL learned games like 3 threes (tonight I saw them do ULTIMATE 5 things) and Chain Murder Mystery (which we mixed up and started to call Cheesewheel for some reason). After three years of rehearsing a lot and performing a fair amount, right as I was graduating in 2003, Geva Theatre decided to start an rockin' improv troupe. They basically flew in our mentors, Dad's Garage, and we would attend monthly workshops where they gave us a Keith Johnstone improv education including Theatresports and Theme Movies. During the second year, we really started to perform on our own and by Season 3, GCI (Geva Comedy Improv) really was it's own entity performing Weekly Soap Operas (Lakeboat), New Year's Murder Mystery Movies, Gorilla Theatre (complete with guy in a giant gorilla suit!), Theatresports (our bread & butter) and original formats like City Council. Then I moved out to Minnesota and started performing with Stevie Ray's. Gone was my intermission - now it's 90 minutes straight. We rarely had music in college but it was a staple of both Geva & Stevies. We had props at Geva but not at IBTL or since at Stevies. Gone were my beloved "teams" and judges - instead I went back to the UR style of mixing line structures and shortform games including guessing games. We rarely did those at Geva. Now, I'm teaching again (I've taught in all three troupes, but most extensively here at Stevie's where I actually get paid as well as have numerous students) and learning the material (much of it, Viola Spolin based). So far, my improv studies have evolved about every three years, so perhaps I'll add Brave New Workshop or such to the mix in another 10 months.
I didn't stay for the whole ComedySportz TC show. It was a packed show and the audience was having an awesome time. The referee was excellent at introducing all of the structures and keeping everything moving. The teams definately brought some nice energy to the stage and were especially good at the gibberish & mime work for Ultimate 5 things. However, it just wasn't clicking with me. I think it was the erraticness - the players didn't look like they were really having fun - instead they were acting the part. I didn't feel like they were put in a lot of danger and the listening was selective. The audience seemed more interested in popping at silly references and wackiness rather than any kind of a story. That's always going to be a kicker for me - what was the story? I guess that will be Sean Daniels' legacy on me forever. Jill wasn't playing tonight which was disappointing - I probably would have stuck around had she been on stage. I didn't recognize anyone else. Though I know realize that James did a killer set at Acme Comedy Club when I went to see Zach perform in Funniest Person contest. I prefer the "boo the ref/cheer the host" dynamic too.
Whenever I've tried to explain my background in improv, I've told people that I performed Theatresports and likened it to ComedySportz (the props, the games, the judges, the points). However, I know realize it's just not the same. I couldn't be transplanted into that environment without really gumming up the works of their well-oiled machine. However, I still am proud that Adam & I went down to Atlanta and were able to jump on stage to perform Theatresports with friends and teachers Matt Horgan & Tommy Fuchs without missing a beat. I went to Stevie's last night and had a great time - I think knowing people makes a big difference.
Alissa called me on her way home from school and explained that she needed to go out to Blaine to work tonight. So, I went to ComedySportz TC to finally check it out. After two years of being in this state and doing improv, I felt it was important to see one of their shows! Several of my students have also trained at Comedysportz or gone to see them perform. Since I came from a Theatresports background, I thought we'd have a lot in common - perhaps even more than I had with the crew at Stevie Ray's. After tonight, I don't know.
My comedy background is varied just because of the loose natures of of the groups I worked with for the first six years. In 2000, I started performing with University of Rochester's "In Between the Lines". The improv group had only been performing for about a year when I joined and it was a mashup of several people's theatre & improv backgrounds - with a heavy dose of Improv Boston. We performed short-form games, but would regularly scour the internet or copy formats of other troupes we met. One of those groups was actually the Buffalo ComedySportz Team who was doing a Business Improv show at RIT that someone we snuck into. It was there that IBTL learned games like 3 threes (tonight I saw them do ULTIMATE 5 things) and Chain Murder Mystery (which we mixed up and started to call Cheesewheel for some reason). After three years of rehearsing a lot and performing a fair amount, right as I was graduating in 2003, Geva Theatre decided to start an rockin' improv troupe. They basically flew in our mentors, Dad's Garage, and we would attend monthly workshops where they gave us a Keith Johnstone improv education including Theatresports and Theme Movies. During the second year, we really started to perform on our own and by Season 3, GCI (Geva Comedy Improv) really was it's own entity performing Weekly Soap Operas (Lakeboat), New Year's Murder Mystery Movies, Gorilla Theatre (complete with guy in a giant gorilla suit!), Theatresports (our bread & butter) and original formats like City Council. Then I moved out to Minnesota and started performing with Stevie Ray's. Gone was my intermission - now it's 90 minutes straight. We rarely had music in college but it was a staple of both Geva & Stevies. We had props at Geva but not at IBTL or since at Stevies. Gone were my beloved "teams" and judges - instead I went back to the UR style of mixing line structures and shortform games including guessing games. We rarely did those at Geva. Now, I'm teaching again (I've taught in all three troupes, but most extensively here at Stevie's where I actually get paid as well as have numerous students) and learning the material (much of it, Viola Spolin based). So far, my improv studies have evolved about every three years, so perhaps I'll add Brave New Workshop or such to the mix in another 10 months.
I didn't stay for the whole ComedySportz TC show. It was a packed show and the audience was having an awesome time. The referee was excellent at introducing all of the structures and keeping everything moving. The teams definately brought some nice energy to the stage and were especially good at the gibberish & mime work for Ultimate 5 things. However, it just wasn't clicking with me. I think it was the erraticness - the players didn't look like they were really having fun - instead they were acting the part. I didn't feel like they were put in a lot of danger and the listening was selective. The audience seemed more interested in popping at silly references and wackiness rather than any kind of a story. That's always going to be a kicker for me - what was the story? I guess that will be Sean Daniels' legacy on me forever. Jill wasn't playing tonight which was disappointing - I probably would have stuck around had she been on stage. I didn't recognize anyone else. Though I know realize that James did a killer set at Acme Comedy Club when I went to see Zach perform in Funniest Person contest. I prefer the "boo the ref/cheer the host" dynamic too.
Whenever I've tried to explain my background in improv, I've told people that I performed Theatresports and likened it to ComedySportz (the props, the games, the judges, the points). However, I know realize it's just not the same. I couldn't be transplanted into that environment without really gumming up the works of their well-oiled machine. However, I still am proud that Adam & I went down to Atlanta and were able to jump on stage to perform Theatresports with friends and teachers Matt Horgan & Tommy Fuchs without missing a beat. I went to Stevie's last night and had a great time - I think knowing people makes a big difference.
