Annoyance

I went to Chicago for the intensive at The Annoyance Theatre.  Here are my mostly uncensored notes.  One of the things I love about improv is that people are there from all walks of life.  Spent thirty hours with 12 wonderful fellow improvisers ( the thirteenth one was me guys).

Day 1 Susan Messing 9am to 12pm I just got back from Chicago.  I went there to do a one week improv intensive at The Annoyance Theatre.  The intensive consisted of a 3 hour class in the morning and then in the afternoon.  The teachers were: Susan Messing, Mark Sutton, Rich Sohn, Rebecca Sohn, Jason Grimm and Mick Napier.   People from different walks of life coalesced to learn how to be better improviser.  I met a magician and news guy, many talented actors and so many wonderful people.  

It’s the night before I go back to my daily life.  I’d like to share my notes from my week at this workshop.  Here they are:

Day 1 Susan Messing 9am to 12pm 

• props are a clue to who your character is

• don’t drop until you discover what’s up

• in comedy it’s a joy to lose

• rule is a suggestion that might get you off faster

• specificity kills ambiguity

• protect freak by enjoy hell e.g. suffer

• 3 ways to (protect freak?) 1) not ok suffer 2) geniuses (celebrate) 3) Join them

• Day 1 Jason Grimm 1:30 to 4:30 pm 

  Musical Improv; things to do at home: read rhyming dictionary; listen to instrumental and sing melody over top 

  i asked about how to learn how to do accompaniment for improv I wrote in my notes – look at jazz standards chord progressions

  Day 2 Rich Sohn morning then Rebecca Sohn afternoon

  Finding characters by: a) leading with a body part – apparently I liked this one b) acting like an animal c) adjectives

  Movement – exaggerated walks; vocal movement; make a noise that’s connected to how body feels before speaking or eye contact

  eye contact bringing it to the world (not sure what that means)

  keeping your power

  arc – difference btwn nerd/geek/dork – how? specificity

  what’s a geek like on worst day?

  Day 2 extra session with Mick Napier from 6:30 to 7:30

  personal notes for me: tendency to go negative when nervous; try to be positive in scene; speak in complete sentences.  Stay in scene by saying less

  general notes: don’t find wrongness in scene; confront status; initiate right away without any pauses; try characters other than yourself; content: leading with the head or body part; emotional association; detailed sentences; example of an aggressively nice person; start with ‘and that’s when…’ so that its in the middle of the scene; if you get lost in the middle harken back to something you first did

  Day 3 – Mark Sutton 

  present energery

  don’t have to let cat out of bag; produce info because you want it to be about info which leads to problem because you have to deal with all the info

  if too much info out there you are just maintaining and not discovering 

  difference between responding through truth of your character

  how are these 2 people affecting each other

  take care of knowing who you are in an improv scene

  what have I created for myself; say in a declaration only line of dialogue you can say

  if i am not sure the audience is also not sure

  variety in tone

• not a clue what I wrote here…looks like merely? 1) words 2) feel 3)

• but it ‘should’ be physical 15 seconds after (? no clue what I meant)

• Focus on what we had at 15 seconds instead of inventing after

• you can do whatever you want so the first choice is significant

• if your hand is in pocket at top of scene there must be a reason or somehow important detail to scene

• be ok with not talking; make time

• its ok not to know what’s going on as long as you are committed to relationship whatever that may be

• i’m pretty sure this next thing was just a funny line and not an actual note but it just says: unreliable asshole  — take it or leave it — what in the world??

• bail for no reason is bad; bail for a reason is good

• space of power fine line btwn justification and contextualizing

• plain location – what’s unusual about location

• accept the door (wtf does this mean again?); explain the door; yes and the door

  what’s happening right now and how does it make me feel

  projection – reacting based on assumptions

  here and now – how do i feel?

  take care of the moment as it comes

  make a move that supports how I’m feeling and what I am saying

  is it possible to leave?

  anything in the scene is an opportunity to go through a window (why were talking so much about windows and doors?)

  information is secondary to emotion ex. play loss to anything 

  is this a vehicle to playing compelling scenes?

  – structure to improvise within helps some people

  don’t get hung up on the form

  talk less, listen more

  Day 4: Susan Messing

  the audience either sympathizes, empathizes or is educated by what is being said

  committing to sharing

  not funny to make some else feel stupid in an scene…bitches (lol)

  Day 4 or 5? Jason Grimm

  musical improv; celebrity song; character asides; group numbers; overlapping opinions; 2 lines into a song emotionally charged; gibberish opera; 

  Day 5? Mick Napier stopped by to say a bunch of stuff but the thing I wrote down was him quoting Amy Sedaris ‘Bring a book to that scene’ – this is my new favorite quote

  And those are all of my notes.

  I also saw shows.  They were: The Armando Diaz Show, Second City Mainstage show called Panic on Cloud 9, Improvised Shakespeare and Messing with a TJ Jagadowski.  I tried to get out to see some musical improv but I was so tired.  We got to do a our own show on Friday at 6:30 on the mainstage of the Annoyance Theatre and there was an actual audience and everything.  It felt so friggin’ good to improvise again.  I hope I continue to do it.  I’m not exactly sure how or when but I hope I can get myself out there to jams since I spent all my money on this trip. 🙂