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Monday, June 25, 2012

A Little Photoshop Couldn't Hurt

Let's say, hypothetically speaking, your friend emails you and asks you to photoshop her ex-boyfriend out of a photo. You would, of course, oblige because you are, hypothetically speaking, a nice person. And then, voilá! Your friend would have a wonderful photo for her mantle.

Sweet baby Zeus, what is wrong with her today? No, don't deny it - I know that's what you're thinking.

I'm getting there. See, my point is just that there are many ways to fix a mistake, whether in improv or in life. In improv, things happen all the time that, strictly speaking, would be considered mistakes. Somebody will call somebody else the wrong name, or forget important facts, or accidentally throw out crazy-ass information, or whatever. But as long as all of the players remain calm and remember to stick together, you can explain, justify or correct just about anything.

In real life, I think we tend to forget that as well. Sometimes there are mistakes (or problems of whatever ilk) that seem catastrophic, at least to you personally. But if you can remember your improv skills and stay calm and don't bail on your teammates in the situation by starting to throw blame around or look for a scapegoat, there's an excellent chance you can explain, justify or correct just about anything. The trick is to stay in the moment and don't spin out into "what-if" world, which always makes things so much worse.

And if you can't fix a mistake, you can always Photoshop it away. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Your Shoes Are Ugly

One of the reasons I like improv is that everything is S-P-E-L-L-E-D     O-U-T. Nothing is left up to interpretation or guesswork. Subtleties and innuendoes aren't allowed. The facts are the facts, and the characters' feelings about the facts are their feelings, and that's that.

That's not the case in real life. In real life, everything is up for interpretation. Reading between the lines is necessary, and attempting to suss out what people really mean takes up a fair portion of every day.

There's something to be said for the honesty of improv. I don't mean going around making confessions and telling every person you meet exactly what you think of them, good OR bad. But it would be nice in real life if we didn't have to guess what was behind people's behavior all the time. I think it would eliminate a lot of misunderstandings. For example, instead of this:
Girl says, "So what do you think of my new shoes?" while secretly thinking, "I never know what to buy and I'm terrified of looking like a dork."

Girl's friend says, "Um, they are an interesting shade of mauve," while secretly thinking, "Even my grandma wouldn't buy something so friggin' hideous."
we could try the improv equivalent:
Girl says, "I got these shoes, but I'm not good with fashion so I was hoping you'd help me out," while not secretly thinking anything.

Girl's friend says, "Those suck. Let's go to the mall."
Now we're all on the same page, there's no guessing or manipulating and we can skip across the park holding hands and have a picnic.

After buying the shoes, of course. Priorities, people.

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

What DOES That Mean, Anyway?

There's an exercise we do in the Held2gether Level 1 Improv class that we call What That Means. I love this exercise, for a couple reasons:
  1. It's easy for me, and
  2. It helps students get to relationship faster
We'll focus on #2, since #1 is kind of obnoxious. There's a tendency, especially for people relatively new to improv ("new" = people who have been doing improv for less than 20 years or so), to make scenes about "stuff." To be clear, audiences aren't particularly interested in pancakes or lava lamps or carburetors. They are interested in what's happening between the characters. And yes, "stuff" is important, in terms of setting the scene and establishing a location and giving the characters a catalyst for what's happening between them today. But "stuff" should never have more than a supporting role. "Stuff" never gets to be the star.

So anyway, What That Means simply turns a series of statements into labels about one participant or the other. If I say, "You're wearing black," you might say, "I'm wearing black. What that means is, I'm depressed." Then I'd say, "You're depressed. What that means is, you're dissatisfied with our relationship." They you'd say, "I'm dissatisfied with our relationship. What that means is, you never make time for me." And I'd say, "I never make time for you. What that means is, I'm totally self-absorbed."

Based on a simple statement of fact (someone wears black), we get a series of labels that let everyone know one person is depressed and dissatisfied with the relationship and the other person is self-absorbed and doesn't value the partner. Tada! Now we're getting somewhere, and we can figure out why today's the big day in this couple's life. Maybe Self-absorbed gets her come-uppance. Maybe Depressed & Dissatisfied gets dumped on even more. Either way, we're not stuck talking about laundry or mowing the lawn or whatever.

The exercise is brilliant, but you can apply the principles in any improv scene. Just label personality traits or behaviors, as opposed to simply labeling looks or physicality. Saying someone is blonde doesn't tell us anything about your relationship. Saying someone thinks she's better than everyone else because she's blonde gives her - and the scene - a huge gift and gets the ball rolling on what the dynamic is between you.

And before I get tons of hate mail from brunettes, I don't think I'm better than everyone else because I'm blonde. That was just an example, people.

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Monday, June 18, 2012

Comparisons Are Dumb. Just Sayin'.

Lisa, et al went to see an improv show at The Groundlings on Saturday, while I was out of town for a wedding. I know, right? Of all the Saturdays they could see a show, they pick the ONE Saturday I'm out of town for a friggin' wedding.

Anyway, my friends' loyalty is the subject for a whole different kind of blog. The subject of this blog will simply be: don't compare yourself to others unless you want to quit everything you do and perhaps spend the rest of your days in the basement muttering to yourself.

Lisa mentioned how freaking amazing the sketches were at the show Saturday night, and went on to say that, while inspiring, the bar was set WAY too high for us to hope to hit in our upcoming sketch writing class.

That's kinda how we all felt after seeing the Crazy Uncle Joe show, too. But then I got to thinking - yeah, it happens once in awhile - that a) those people have literally decades more experience than we do, b) they've worked together as a group longer than we've even been around and c) they do several shows a week. Given that most of us at H2G have done improv around 2 - 4 hours a week for at most 3 years, it's amazing what we've accomplished through desire and sheer determination.

Of course, being as good as [insert favorite unrealistic goal here] is never a great objective anyway. It's a much healthier goal to strive to be as good as you can be, rather than striving to be the next Tina Fey, for example. There's already a pretty damn good Tina Fey out there, so I should stop beating my head against the wall and just try to be a pretty damn good Sonnjea Blackwell instead.

So yeah, Lisa's right - our very first sketch writing class ever is probably not going to turn out Groundlings-level material. Oh well. I hope we all just do the best we can and have a blast doing it. That would make it a huge success in my book.

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Friday, June 15, 2012

Fishbowl Magic

I noticed something interesting in justification night at H2G Level 2 class last night. Besides the fact that Sam is great at zip, zap, zop, I mean.

We were doing fishbowl when I had this epiphany. Fishbowl is a 2-person scene we do where we get a suggestion for a location and periodically throughout the scene, the improvisers pull from the fishbowl a sentence that audience members have written on slips of paper. They say this sentence as part of their dialogue, and then they have to justify why they said something like, "I'd like to put hot sauce on that."

Fishbowl is inherently funny, because seeing people in a situation suddenly say these random lines is funny. Once. But if you don't justify the lines, it just becomes crazy people spewing nonsense, which quickly loses its charm. Darren has emphasized over and over the importance of saying these random lines with emotion, as if the character is dying to tell the other "I love you" or "I hate you" or whatever, but substituting the fishbowl line for that big piece of emotionally-charged news.

When I watch these scenes, I can see that the ones where the improvisers remember that advice work much better. If the scene is too casual, then even though the justifications may happen, it seems like it's forced somehow.

So my epiphany last night was this: When the improvisers say ALL their lines like they matter, something happens so that the lines drawn from the fishbowl actually seem to make sense. It's not like the players magically start attracting just the right slips of paper to their fingers. But by having this emotional investment in everything that's said, any random line can be justified within the context of the scene so that it seems logical to have said that. Or, if not logical, at least believable and funny. Which is pretty much what we're going for. So the emotion takes the game from the level of simply justifying the lines to the level of truly integrating the lines. So when Walt and I are getting flirty at the prospect of his parents' visit ending soon, "I'd like to put hot sauce on that" totally fits as part of our sexy banter. But if we are just kinda okay with his parents' imminent departure, "I'd like to put hot sauce on that" is a weird line that, while justifiable, is never really going to feel like it was the line that was supposed to go there.

In real life, I'm pretty emotional about my justifications. For example, it's absolutely, perfectly legitimate to mow through two orders of In-N-Out fries if you order the double-double protein style (no bun). Not that I would personally do such a thing. But I am very emotional about your right to do so.

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Jester's Dead

Prolly my all-time favorite movie is Top Gun. Nope, it's not a Tom Cruise thing. I don't much like Tom Cruise, even with his shirt off in the volleyball scene. I just love the jets, and the music and the speed, and in my head I could fly like that even though I practically get motion sick in the bathtub. And now in retrospect I love it even more because it's not CGI.

For the love of ponies, what is she babbling about today?

See, there's a quote from the movie that applies to me on a semi-regular basis. "The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid."

Okay, I'm a girl so "daughter" would be more appropriate.

See, like Mav and Goose, I know the right things to do. And I even do about 90% of them. But if improv were a life-and-death endeavor like flying F-14s, I would be one of the casualties.

I'm not a show off like Maverick, which in improv I guess would equate to being selfish in scenes, going for the joke, that sort of thing. And I'm actually the opposite of a "maverick" in that I think playing by the rules is part of the fun, so I don't typically break them. Intentionally, that is.

See, having a big emotion/character is one of the rules. And I break that f*er all the time. Not because I want to, but because I can't seem to internalize that rule. I know why it's important, I see the difference in other peoples' scenes when there is big emotion/character vs. when there isn't, I go overboard making sure my students understand why it matters.

But it just doesn't stick. I'm all ready before a scene to have a character and an emotion... and then the scene starts, and I'm all about information and justification and logic. I guess to trot out another movie analogy, I'm the white swan in Black Swan. All intellect, no emotion. But less crazy. No, really.

Anyway, I have no idea how this post will help people with their own improv. But I know I'm not the only one who has a problem grasping certain concepts, so I guess I just wanted you to know we're all stupid when it comes to something. The good news is, in improv, being stupid doesn't result in death.

Yeehaw, Jester's dead. Just sayin'.

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Long & the Short of It

Somebody in one of my classes the other day asked me to explain the difference between long form improv and short form. Class was technically over, and people needed to leave, so I condensed my reply into a 20-second soundbite: "Long form starts with 3 opening scenes that are essentially short form scenes, then expands on them by going backward and forward in time to create a 30-minute, totally improvised play."

The students all stared at me like I was speaking Martian.

Improv, long form or short, kind of defies explanation. Until you've seen it, the explanations don't really make any sense. So it's good to see some improv now and then, peeps, just so you remember what it's s'posed to look like.

The good news is, we have shows all the time and most of them are free. The ones that aren't free are still cheap and often include alcohol, which I'm told some people enjoy.

The even better news is, we have a Held2gether YouTube Channel with a bunch of clips from different shows. There are short form clips and long form clips, so you can compare them for yourselves while keeping in mind that the long form audiences tend to be drunk. I'm just sayin'.

As far as shows go, we have a couple coming up in the very immediate future, as these posters prove.






Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Struggliness = Fun!

I know I'm always yammering about how awesome Held2gether improv is compared to, say, everything else in the known universe. But my angst today is a good example of why that's so, and I, of course, am happy to share. You should know by now, my friends: I never add any kind of information without justifying the hell out of it.

If you're going to say something like, "Held2gether is the best improv school EVER," then you have to justify it. Why is it the best improv school ever, and why are you telling us this today?

Today is week four of the Improv Comedy Level 1 class, which may mean nothing to you if you don't keep track of what we do in each class session. But to me it means Beginnings of Scenes. This is an awesome day, where students get to do Add Info Lineup for the first time, and actually start doing the beginnings of two-person improv scenes.

You're prolly rolling your eyes now and wondering how on earth I've managed to make this anything angsty. Hold on, I'ma tell you. See, at other improv schools, their sole goal is to teach improv... for improv (or acting.) At H2G, we are more concerned with teaching improv for life.

If I were teaching improv at some other place, my goal for tonight would be to teach people how to do Add Info, get out the foundations of the scene and make eye contact. But actually doing improv scenes is scarier than fighting zombies for many non-actor types, and those are the types we see the most of. So since I'm teaching improv at H2G, my goal is to do all those things AND make sure that people are having fun. Trust me when I tell you, plenty of improv instructors at plenty of other schools don't even remember the concept of fun.

If the students aren't having fun, they won't make the links between improv in the classroom and improv in real life. They'll just want to be done as quickly as possible and go home and wait for Wednesday to roll around. If they're having fun, they'll learn in spite of themselves and soon those skills of listening, agreeing, adding information and committing will start to trickle into their real lives.

Of course, we get actor types as well, and they get the benefit of learning improv for improv's sake AND having fun and learning improv for life as well.

So back to me - because it is, after all, all about me: I'm stressing as I always do in week 4 because this is the first class where people usually encounter the struggliness of improv. Struggling, in case you haven't noticed, can totally kill fun. But I am always ĂĽber-determined to make the struggle part of the fun, and I know Darren feels the same way about his class.

And that is why H2G is the best improv school EVER, and why I'm mentioning it today. You're welcome.

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Monday, June 11, 2012

Ego vs. Confidence

I had lunch with the bff the other day, just the two of us - which we have to do on occasion so that we can talk about improv incessantly without annoying the crap out of other people. We also ate big, juicy burgers and drank wine, cuz that's how we roll.

Anyway, in our incessant improv talk, we covered the topic of confidence vs. ego. Because we're deep, duh. Improv obviously requires a certain amount of confidence, even if it's just enough confidence to show up at class for the first time. With every exercise and every class, confidence grows and students get braver about trying new things and committing and saying "screw you" to the prospect of failure.

Confidence is your best friend in improv... and vice versa. If you don't have a lot of confidence, taking a Held2gether improv class can help you build it. At the same time, confidence will help you improve at improv. So really, they're a match made in heaven.

Ego, on the other hand, can only get you in trouble. Ego is the thing that makes you think your idea, character or agenda is better than the other guy's. It's the thing that makes you go for a joke in order to get a cheap laugh for yourself. It's the thing that makes you argue with your teacher, defend your mistakes and ignore critiques.

Don't get me wrong. We all have egos, and we all get to deal with their messes in different ways. But it's good to be aware of the difference so that when you find yourself engaging in ego-driven behavior, you can remind yourself that those behaviors are actually blocking you from improving and learning the skills that would build your confidence instead.

Ego is a thing that announces, "I'm already great. I don't need anybody else." Confidence is a thing that says, "I'm comfortable admitting I don't know everything, and I'm totally game to try somebody else's ideas and see how those pan out."

Not only will you learn a lot more and have more fun if you practice confidence instead of ego, but your classmates and scene partners will enjoy playing with you a helluva lot more as well.

Now, is it to early for a glass of lunch wine?

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Thursday, June 7, 2012

"Emotion and Commitment" Is a Weird Middle Name

Wow, this week has been nuts! Tonight is day three of my current 5-improv-classes-per-week schedule. Two of those are classes I'm teaching, and the other three are classes I'm taking. This schedule continues through June, at the end of which my head may explode, not from the improv but from trying to squeeze in all my other jobs around the improv.

This is emotion/commitment week - I taught it in Level 1 on Tuesday night, and I get to practice it some more in Level 2 tonight and tomorrow. Yay! If you've read this blog more than once, you know that emotion and commitment are not in my improv wheelhouse naturally. If you've seen any of the Held2gether performances that Sean Fannon has been in, you know that emotion and commitment are basically his middle name. Actually, his middle name is Patrick, but I think you get my point.

Anyway, sometimes I get tired, especially when I've been having a lot of work and crap going on in my life, and I feel like no matter what, I am never gonna get any better at this emotion/character/commitment thingy. I've worked for three years, and I've gotten LOADS better, but this is as good as it gets.

And then I hear Sean say that, after the wildly successful Don't Smite the Unicorns show last Friday night, he feels compelled to really up his game so he can contribute even more to the troupe and give the audience an even better show. Dude, way to make me look like a total jerk.

Sean has been a performer for years, as have Darren, Viet, Paul, and Nate, and they're still working and taking classes and pushing themselves... and I'm feeling like I might as well stop trying because I've tried for a couple years and I'm not perfect yet.

The truth is, I'll never stop trying because improv is just what I do. But I do get tired and frustrated when I hit these plateaus, and I have to remind myself that all these people that are amazing got that way because they worked their asses off - and continue to work their asses off. I'm happy that I have these plateaus to remind me what the frustration and angst feels like, so I can assure my students that, yes it may suck, but you'll get over it and be better afterwards... as long as you keep trying.

Um, pretty much like everything in life. Duh.

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Seven Improv Classes, Zero Inappropriate Uncles

I'm sitting here trying to think of what to write, and of course I'm tempted to overshare because that's just how I roll. But I shall endeavor to spare you. Let's just say that, for some reason that does not include vodka, I can't hold on to a coherent thought and I'll probably ramble all over the place. Sorry in advance if I make your head hurt.

Long Form Improv starts up tonight, and I couldn't be giddier! This is actually a performance class, just geared to getting everybody on track for our July 1st show, Fireworks, Funnel Cakes & the American Dream. We've all worked together before, so it'll be like a reunion of sorts, only with improv and without drunk, inappropriate uncles.

In addition to Long Form, we have a bunch of other classes happening this week. In fact, it's a banner week for H2G... we currently have SEVEN different classes in session. THREE Level 1 classes, TWO Level 2 classes, a Long Form Performance Class and a Short Form Performance Class. That's a lot of classes, peeps.

And they're mostly completely full, which has been the norm all year. So if you see a Held2gether improv class you've been dying to take, sign up now before it's all full up and you're left out in the cold.

Brrrrrrrr.

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Improv: Change Your Perspective

I was having a conversation with Lisa the other day, and the topic veered away from improv for a moment. Weird.

We started talking about how people see other people. Like, without even knowing a person very well, people will make assumptions like, "That person is smart or dumb or classy or weird or bff material or someone who would be fun at a party but whom you couldn't really trust," or whatever.

I don't know what these labels are based on, exactly. Not all of them can come from looks alone because, I don't care what Darren says, some dumb people stand the same as some smart people. So I believe it comes from some inner vibe that the person gives off.

What? I know you know what I mean. I'm sure you know some people who just seem to exude confidence, sure-of-themselves-ness and success, while you also know some people who, uh, don't.

Naturally, in improv, it doesn't matter what the person exudes, because we are going to label the character. Still, the person's natural go-to emotion or state of being or whatever you want to call it definitely comes through because when we do an against-type exercise, the class can easily identify what's against type - which means they have already identified the type.

Here's the amazing part... When you start doing against type exercises, or just taking on characters that aren't really you, and you learn you can do them, you realize you can also change that thing you exude. Maybe you've always seen yourself a certain way, but it's not the way you'd like to see yourself (or the way you'd like others to see you). When you get used to committing totally to labels that are different from your usual self, you develop confidence that you can be something different from your usual self.

I'm not in any way implying that your usual self is bad. First of all, we never imply anything in improv. So if I thought your usual self was bad, I'd just come right out and say so. But your usual self may be based on how you were growing up, or feelings left over from a less-than-ideal time of your life, or whatever. I'm not a therapist, people; I don't know where your usual self comes from exactly.

I'm just saying that people don't always see us the way we'd like to be seen. But once we change how we see ourselves, it's actually not difficult to change others' perspectives of ourselves, because their perspectives are largely based on our own perspectives.

Improv class is a great, fun, safe, encouraging place to try new perspectives on for size. FYI, drunk is not actually a perspective.

By Sonnjea Blackwell

Friday, June 1, 2012

Improv and Sex

What? I've been writing this blog for a couple years now... I can't believe it's taken this long to get around to this topic. After all, improv is for life, and last I checked, sex is part of life. So there must be some connection, yes?

I heard a theory some time back that hypothesizes that people who do improv have better sex. As far as I know, there have been no double-blind studies that either prove or disprove this theory, although now that I've put this out there, I'm sure many people will volunteer for such a study.

Anyway, I thought about the theory and concluded that there are definitely skills learned in improv that could help in the bedroom.
  1. First of all, just being in the moment would be good, rather than worrying about... well, whatever it is people worry about: maybe not looking as good as they'd like, or if they remembered to turn off the oven, or if the boss is going to give Janie the promotion instead of them.
  2. Listening, duh.
  3. Committing and making bold choices - wait! I'm not done. I don't mean making bold choices in terms of being weird and creepy; I just mean being confident. According to Cosmo (what? there was nothing else in the waiting room), people don't like people who are wishy-washy in bed. So, you know, commitment is good.
Improv classes improve those skills, and they carry over into real life. So it stands to reason, the more improv classes you take, the better you'll become at skills that apply in all areas of your life - including sex.

I, of course, take a lot of improv classes. I know, now it sounds like I'm bragging. Unfortunately, however, my forté in improv happens to be information and labeling.

No matter how I spin it (and, being the Queen of Information, I can spin it plenty of ways), I can't for the life of me find a way that spewing tons of information and labeling everything and everyone can in any way make you better in bed.

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure this theory is flawed. I'm just sayin'.

By Sonnjea Blackwell