I am now a month into my trip. I have spent a week in New York and 3 weeks in Chicago. The 3rd week of my course at Improv Olympic (www.iochicago.net) was excellent. The teacher was Bill Arnett (if you go to the iO website you can read his blog). Level 3 is focused on scene work.
My class performed for the first time on Monday night at the Spot, basically an open mic night for improvisers. The group work was good and we supported each other, but we were like rabbits caught in headlights. There was a feeling of panic throughout the performance. We did another performance Thursday night again at the Spot this time as part of a competition. We were much better. The fear had lessened and we were significantly more patient with our scenes, allowing them to develop and grow. We also managed to tie several strands together in the final scene. We won the competition (all $22) by account of us having the largest number of people to cheer (though we did deserve it). The Thursday night performance showed that we had taken on board the lessons from the week with Bill. We also performed last night at the Playground. It was not a great atmosphere for improv (hot and sweaty, the MC dying on his arse and alienating the crowd) and our show suffered as a result. We still managed to put some good stuff out there. All in all getting the stage time as a group is great because it means the final performance at the end of our course should be much better.
I finally went to see TJ and Dave on Wednesday night at iO. They were superb. Two person real-time improv with multiple characters. They took their time over what they created and produced a masterpiece. Another great 2 person improv show is TJ Miller and Thomas Middleditch. Probably the most fun entertaining show that I have seen in Chicago. I have been really impressed by the two-person and real time improv I have seen in Chicago. There appears to be more room to breathe in these formats. What appears to be key is the chemistry between the players. In larger groups I think its more difficult to generate and maintain such chemistry.
I have seen a number of Harold's over the past 3 weeks. (The Harold is a long-form format created by Del Close. It is the trademark of iO and what we will be learning for Level 4. The idea of the Harold is to find the deeper meaning of the suggestion and play this out in the scenes. The scenes are revisited throughout the performance until they are hopefully interwoven at the end.) There are a couple experienced teams who I have seen perform and are known for being very good at performing the Harold - Karl and the Passions, the Reckoning. I have seen a number of new teams who in general produced poor performances. I really like the Washington Generals. Whilst they are maybe not as funny as Karl and the Passions or as clever as the Reckoning, they stick closer to the traditional structure of the Harold. I think for audiences that don't know the Harold this can be easier for them to follow and become involved in.
My class performed for the first time on Monday night at the Spot, basically an open mic night for improvisers. The group work was good and we supported each other, but we were like rabbits caught in headlights. There was a feeling of panic throughout the performance. We did another performance Thursday night again at the Spot this time as part of a competition. We were much better. The fear had lessened and we were significantly more patient with our scenes, allowing them to develop and grow. We also managed to tie several strands together in the final scene. We won the competition (all $22) by account of us having the largest number of people to cheer (though we did deserve it). The Thursday night performance showed that we had taken on board the lessons from the week with Bill. We also performed last night at the Playground. It was not a great atmosphere for improv (hot and sweaty, the MC dying on his arse and alienating the crowd) and our show suffered as a result. We still managed to put some good stuff out there. All in all getting the stage time as a group is great because it means the final performance at the end of our course should be much better.
I finally went to see TJ and Dave on Wednesday night at iO. They were superb. Two person real-time improv with multiple characters. They took their time over what they created and produced a masterpiece. Another great 2 person improv show is TJ Miller and Thomas Middleditch. Probably the most fun entertaining show that I have seen in Chicago. I have been really impressed by the two-person and real time improv I have seen in Chicago. There appears to be more room to breathe in these formats. What appears to be key is the chemistry between the players. In larger groups I think its more difficult to generate and maintain such chemistry.
I have seen a number of Harold's over the past 3 weeks. (The Harold is a long-form format created by Del Close. It is the trademark of iO and what we will be learning for Level 4. The idea of the Harold is to find the deeper meaning of the suggestion and play this out in the scenes. The scenes are revisited throughout the performance until they are hopefully interwoven at the end.) There are a couple experienced teams who I have seen perform and are known for being very good at performing the Harold - Karl and the Passions, the Reckoning. I have seen a number of new teams who in general produced poor performances. I really like the Washington Generals. Whilst they are maybe not as funny as Karl and the Passions or as clever as the Reckoning, they stick closer to the traditional structure of the Harold. I think for audiences that don't know the Harold this can be easier for them to follow and become involved in.
