Chicago Improv Summer: Lesbian Vampire Nazis (level 3, day 3)
Words of Wisdom from Bill:
We began this day focusing on opposite emotions. "You can 'yes' too much," Bill taught us. We should "allow the insane to shine."
The lesbian vampire Nazi point is pretty self-explanatory if you think about it. If you make everything weird, then nothing is weird and you have no contrast, no surprises and no heightening within a scene or piece.
Don't Talk about X
We did this exercise where there was a huge elephant in the room we couldn't mention by name, but our characters had to behave with the knowledge of the thing unmentionable. I was wrong in my post about Level 3, Day 2. It was day THREE where I did that abortion scene with Leanne (BTW, Bill has a nickname for abortions: "abobo"). We had to play the scene without mentioning the actual abortion, and not saying it directly really heightened the emotion.
Our class also did scenes involving two brothers who hadn't seen each other for 20 years but were reunited at a will reading for one of their dead parents, plus a scene in which someone had a terminal illness.
Intensity, Integrity, Intelligence
When playing, especially with emotions, be sure to base it on these three things.
More wisdom from Bill:
I don't even remember what that was referring too, but it seemed worth writing down.
Build a World, then Destroy It
Ok, now this was hella fun. Bill had us create a reality (including the emotion of the scene) and then absolutely tear it down with some incongruous statement. I came out as a happy clown. "Hello little girl" etc. etc. It was a birthday party. The kid was happy. I made balloons. Then I said:
"No go get me some pussy! That's right, bring your mama's fine ass over here and tell her to bend over!"
The little girl cried.
For those new to my blog, let me explain that it wasn't a real little girl, but an ACTOR in my IMPROV class. The point was to destroy this reality of a happy clown and happy little girl on her birthday. The thing that popped into my head was what I said, and it was absolutely wrong and damn hilarious!!! Wow, I'm laughing just remembering that joint.
Multi-person scenes
Oops that was the next day, to be posted soon!
"In a world of vampire Nazis, lesbian vampire Nazis are just lesbians."
We began this day focusing on opposite emotions. "You can 'yes' too much," Bill taught us. We should "allow the insane to shine."
The lesbian vampire Nazi point is pretty self-explanatory if you think about it. If you make everything weird, then nothing is weird and you have no contrast, no surprises and no heightening within a scene or piece.
Don't Talk about X
We did this exercise where there was a huge elephant in the room we couldn't mention by name, but our characters had to behave with the knowledge of the thing unmentionable. I was wrong in my post about Level 3, Day 2. It was day THREE where I did that abortion scene with Leanne (BTW, Bill has a nickname for abortions: "abobo"). We had to play the scene without mentioning the actual abortion, and not saying it directly really heightened the emotion.
Our class also did scenes involving two brothers who hadn't seen each other for 20 years but were reunited at a will reading for one of their dead parents, plus a scene in which someone had a terminal illness.
Intensity, Integrity, Intelligence
When playing, especially with emotions, be sure to base it on these three things.
More wisdom from Bill:
"The best part about heavy metal music is that it doesn't remind you of being dumped... because it's about dragons."
I don't even remember what that was referring too, but it seemed worth writing down.
Build a World, then Destroy It
Ok, now this was hella fun. Bill had us create a reality (including the emotion of the scene) and then absolutely tear it down with some incongruous statement. I came out as a happy clown. "Hello little girl" etc. etc. It was a birthday party. The kid was happy. I made balloons. Then I said:
"No go get me some pussy! That's right, bring your mama's fine ass over here and tell her to bend over!"
The little girl cried.
For those new to my blog, let me explain that it wasn't a real little girl, but an ACTOR in my IMPROV class. The point was to destroy this reality of a happy clown and happy little girl on her birthday. The thing that popped into my head was what I said, and it was absolutely wrong and damn hilarious!!! Wow, I'm laughing just remembering that joint.
Multi-person scenes
Oops that was the next day, to be posted soon!