Archive for the 'Improv' Category

Improv Decompression

Published at July 1, 2008 in Improv. 1 Comment

The 2nd Annual Twin Cities Improv Festival is over. It was a wonderful time and I’m overjoyed that I was allowed to be a part of it. I took Friday off of work to properly celebrate improv from Thursday night to Sunday, which ended up feeling like a week long vacation. There were performances and hugs and late nights and drinking. It was a very good time.

I performed with the Neutrino Video Project: Twin Cities and the Mustache Rangers, and felt the performances went well. At least, I didn’t feel crappy about them afterwards. The audience seemed to clap with enjoyment during the improv sets. So, take that as you will.

My favorite set of the festival involved the squishing together of Chicago’s Joe Bill and Jill Bernard from our own Twin Cities. Their temporary group, named SCRAM, was technically interesting from an improv form standpoint. But it was the deep characters and the improvisers commitment that drew the audience into the performance. It was improv perfectly executed by skilled performers.

Another bonus of the improv festival was a determination to conquer my deep seeded fear of crowded social situations. There was a 30 minute intermission between each show, and the improvisers and audience alike crowded onto the sidewalk outside the Brave New Workshop. I floated from group to group, having conversations with improvisers from all around the country. Okay, okay. I didn’t talk to Joe Bill. I was needlessly self-intimidated. So, I didn’t conquer everything. But it was a fine start.

After the last show on Saturday, the crowd of festival goers headed down (East, rather) to the CC Club for cheap drinks and shop talk. It took me back to the days when I practiced improv 2 to 3 nights a week, and then went out to the bar to discuss improv afterward. Those were great times. This night, and the whole festival, had me feeling rather nostalgic.

To wrap the weekend up perfectly, I performed in the Improv a Go-Go time slot of the festival. I was prepared to have one final late night, but opted to find my way home after the performance. I was completely exhausted, and felt a bit melancholy now that everything was over.

I felt the intensity and excitement that is improvisation all weekend long. It made me miss the old days, but made me excited for the new. It’s time to produce another improv show. It’s time to start or find a second improv group. It’s time to start going to Improv a Go-Go again on Sundays.

They have had their backs slapped quite a bit already, but many thanks to Five Man Job, the Brave New Workshop, and everyone else involved with the festival. I feel like the duck in the Little Red Hen. Not that these people ate the “cake” themselves. The lovingly shared it with the world. But it feels like the time for me to give some more back to the improv community. And it is exciting.

Rambling complete.

Lots of Aric

Published at May 19, 2008 in Improv, In General and Minnesota. 0 Comments

Pay attention! Here are the things that are happening, and their order.

First! The Mustache Rangers will performing at the Brave New Workshop this Friday as part of the Punch Out! show. We will be battling improvisational group Family Night for the title. Come watch the funnies. Here is the information.

When: May 23rd, 2008, 11PM CST
Where: Punch Out! at the Brave New Workshop
2605 Hennepin Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408
Cost: $10.00

Second! Least Dangerous Game returns this Saturday! The Twin Cities wide game of hide and seek is exactly what you need to get yourself out and about in the location you have chosen to live. Go to the website to sign up and get more information.

Third! I am working on a new comic strip, that will be found right here. Don’t go there now! There is nothing! But come June 3rd, believe you me, a new comic strip will start. Will it be the best thing ever? I don’t want to over hype it, so the answer is “no.” But another answer might be “yes.”

For the Love of Improv

Published at April 7, 2008 in Improv. 1 Comment

Improvisation is a lot like life, and that is why I love it so much. It burns into existence for such a short time and then it is gone. It is something very special for those who observe it, and has little to no impact on those who weren’t part of the experience.

Last night, the Mustache Rangers had a pretty amazing set at Improv a Go-Go. The Mustache Rangers are two space adventurers from the 1920s that Corey Anderson and I created to play improv with. We’ve been playing these bumbling and immature characters on stage for a few years in the context of an ongoing serial space adventure. But we shook that up a bit last night.

At a very special Improv a Go-Go, we decided to do an improv set as our characters doing an improv set. We had not idea how it would go, and I was actually jittery as we were getting ready to take the stage. I haven’t felt nerves like these for quite a while.

It is no use describing the funny things that happened in the set. Unintentionally and spontaneously, we stripped the skin off the structure of improvisation and lovingly poured lemon juice on it. Our intention was only to do bad improv as our characters, but it came off as so much more.

The consensus of the crowd seemed to be that our improv set was fantastic. And certainly that was the reaction of the audience. But I don’t want this post to be about a pompous prick slapping himself on the back, so let me continue.

Improv last night was a wonderful personal experience. Corey and I went onto the stage with an idea that could have been a terrible disaster. We were on stage with nothing and created something. And now it’s lost with time. It is art that can’t be hung on a gallery wall, but it is warming my heart right now. It’s making me smile and it makes me happy.

Improv has rarely felt this free to me. While we bared ourselves up to a crowd, it felt like we were wrapped in a warm blanket and no harm could come to us. We were safe. We could let all of our worries go and have fun. Which is what we did.

It was a great experience that won’t ever be reproduced. We might have more fantastic improv sets, but none will be the same as this. While each improv set is unique, this particular set of “doing bad improv to expose improv to show that we love it” is an idea we can’t even attempt to repeat. It isn’t going to be fun or funny or spontaneous for a second time. The very concept and its success showed, in a very exaggerate way, why improv is unique and special to when it happens.

These are awfully high and heavy feelings to come out of the idea of going on stage and doing improv badly. And I’m don’t want you to think that I’ve exposed some great improv truths. I haven’t. These are all truths that are out there. I had just forgot them. And it feels great to find my way back through a most unexpected way. Isn’t improv, and life, great?

Cigarettes and Neutrinos

Published at April 3, 2008 in Improv and Minnesota. 0 Comments

It doesn’t matter if you walk into a creepy alleyway, homeless people will follow you down there asking for cigarettes. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

I’m involved in an improv group called the Neutrino Video Project: Twin Cities. With three cameras, three directors, three brave “runners,” and lots of improvisers, we create instant movies for audiences. On the last of Friday of every month at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, we take off from a packed theater to hit the streets and film a movie that will be run back to the packed theater for the audience to watch.

It is almost live, always frantic, and lots of fun. There is no time for edits or retakes. There are no controlled environments. There are no scripts. Whatever makes it into the lens of the camera makes it on to the screen at the Bryant-Lake Bowl.

Which brings us back to our alleyway. Actually, let’s back up again. It was a chilly January 25th, and our filming group had just left the warm theater to start filming our first scene. We ran a short two blocks to Milio’s Sandwiches on Lake and Lyndale. A toasty indoor location sounded like a great place to start our movie.

Moments after “action” was yelled and our first scene was under way, a loony fresh off the Lyndale bus stepped into Milio’s and into our scene. With a rats nest on her head, a shiny jacket, stretch pants, and a mouth full of barely distinguishable obscenities, this coked up crazy became part of our improv scene. She had a few very loud words to say about men. Of course, being professionals, all her rantings were incorporated into our scene.

After capturing three minutes of footage, our first video tape was sent back to the Bryant-Lake Bowl. We decided to change locations for our second scene. You know, someplace a little bit further from crazy. Enter our alleyway.

The alleyway we filmed was surprisingly well lit. It is the perfect place for a confrontation. We ran down the alleyway, set ourselves up, and started filming. Little did we know that a tall older gentlemen with a cane would follow three young men into an alley to accost them for cigarettes.

While we were still filming, the homeless fellow started talking to us very loudly about cigarettes. So, in character, I decided to panic and run past him. This frustrated him greatly. As a sign of his great frustration, he twirled his cane a few times and then threw it into the air while rambling. Once in the air, the cane did what all objects in the air eventually do and came down. Specifically, it came down on his head. This was all caught on camera and all became part of our movie.

But our tall cigarette seeking friend wasn’t done yet. In our third and final scene, and in a different location, he was hiding in a doorway we passed. Our director had the foresight to turn on the camera and capture him. What was captured as we walked by him? The phrase “the cold makes my balls hard” was captured, of course.

So what is the point of my story? There are two, I guess. One is that people will risk unknown and possibly dangerous situations to ask for a cigarette. Two is that you should come see the Neutrino Video Project: Twin Cities because this crazy crap seems to happen to us all the time. It’s an exciting show and it would be a shame to miss.