Category: improv

Using Kickstarter to Fund Your Theater Project

Dear friend,

If you are producing a show and using Kickstarter to fund that show, please have at least one funding option that is a deal. If your show tickets are going to be $20, offer a $15 gift level where I get a ticket. Better yet, offer a $25 level where I get 2 tickets. Give me a bargain and I’ll jump on it.

Instead what I’m seeing is a lot of Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects that look more like plain fundraisers where you are soliciting donations and giving token gifts in return. This is ok, I’m sure some of them will get funded, especially in cases where the company has a track record and lots of loyal fans (or friends and family). You can still have gift levels which are essentially donations: $5 for a thank you or $300 for opening night tickets and an afterparty. $1000 to get a producing credit. But if you really want to exceed your expectations, offer a deal too.

Thank you,
Someone who wants to give you money

P.S. This is not about your project in particular.

Show names, group names and form names

Let’s say there is an improv group named Master Blaster and they decide to do a show called Inside the Thunderdome and for that show that create a new improv form that features stage combat that they call The Gibson.

Is it ok for you to do another improv show using stage combat? Yes, of course. It’s an idea. You can’t patent or copyright an idea. So of course it’s acceptable. It’s even better if you do three things:

  1. Add something to the form or transform it to make it your own,
  2. Give credit to the original group as the inspiration in the program and elsewhere,
  3. Name the show something unique so that there is no confusion with the original. Don’t call the show The Gibson, or Thunderdome or Master Blaster.

For instance, the Family did a form called The Movie in a show called Three Mad Rituals and also in Dynamite Fun Nest. When Besser taught the movie in NYC with a new cast, it became Feature Feature, and the next generation after that became Instant Cinema. He didn’t call the show Three Mad Rituals or even The Movie, they gave it a brand new name.

I’m not trying to call out anyone in particular. People do this over and over again, all over the place. And there are reasonable exceptions. This is more like a challenge to people to come up with their own titles for shows.

Behavior is a game

We work too hard at the top of the scene. We think we need to figure out everything in the first few lines. Are you my mother? Are you my boss? Are we on a bank heist? Are we on the playground? Is that a cane in your hand or a magical staff? Do we need to know everything?

We work too hard at the top of the scene. We think we need to figure out everything in the first few lines. Are you my mother? Are you my boss? Are we on a bank heist? Are we on the playground? Is that a cane in your hand or a magical staff? Do we need to know everything? No. We don’t. And the audience doesn’t care if we come up with some amazing back story.

The audience wants to see our behavior. They want to know how we relate to each other. That’s what a relationship is.
Continue reading “Behavior is a game”

Advanced Improv Intensive at UCBT in August

I’ll be teaching a week long intensive class at UCB Theatre in August. It’s going to be in the afternoons 1-5pm, August 6-10th. It will cover a variety of topics like improvising from the gut, la rondes, character wheels, weird Harolds and more. It’s going to be posted today on the UCB website and should be open for registration in about 20 minutes.

Applications for my class are due on Sunday

I’ll be teaching an improv performance class at Upstairs Gallery in June and July. This class is going to be awesome. I decided for this class that I should have an application process. I’m accepting applications until Sunday, then coming up with the roster by Tuesday.

Keep in mind that if I get enough people, I may open a second class on Sundays. So if you can’t make the Saturday class, but could make a Sunday one, please apply and note that in the application.

Feel free to send me a message via facebook or gmail (ircmullaney in both places) if you have a question.

Possible Second Performance Class

I’ve had a lot of applications so far for the performance class that I’m teaching at Upstairs Gallery in June and July. There is a possibility I could open up a second section for the class, but I would need some more applications to make a second class happen. The most likely time for the second class would be 11:30 to 2:30 on Sundays with a show on Sunday evening, probably around 9:30pm.

So if you are interested in taking the class but Saturday afternoons don’t work for you, and Sundays do, please apply and note that on the form.

Admit it. Then justify it with a philosophy.

I like this piece of advice for improv scenes from Will Hines.

Someone says you’re late for dinner —- admit it, then justify why you are late with a philosophy. Don’t blame it on traffic or your boss — that’s deflecting. Even if it’s a reasonable excuse, you are deflecting the gift. Don’t be surprised to learn you are late. Own it — it’s a gift. 

(via improvnonsense)

A: “You cheated on me!”

B: “I did. It’s the best way I know to test how strong our relationship is.”

or

A: “You praise your child too much.”

B: “You’re right. My child is stupid, so I praise him a lot because it would be too awful to be honest with him.”

or

A: “I saw you kill him.”

B: “I wanted you to see, so you would have no doubt what I’m capable of.”

A: “It had nothing to do with him?”

B: “It’s a more powerful statement when the victim is random.”

The Avengers as a Prototype for an Improv Team

I couldn’t resist.

The Hulk

The Hulk is an improvisor who is shy and quiet offstage, but when he is onstage, he becomes a rampaging uncontrollable force of comedy, smashing scenes with his unbridled joy. A team of hulks might be awful to watch, but a team with one Hulk and several other improvisors strong enough to play with him would be fun.

Thor

Thor is strong like the Hulk, but less impulsive. He is confident in his choices and capable of big booming characters, but he can also reign it in when necessary. He has a youthful exuberance, and sometimes makes choices that a wiser improvisor would avoid, but his perseverance and fortitude makes even terrible choices work.

Hawkeye

Hawkeye rarely takes center stage. He hangs back, letting the others make most of the initiations. He watches the whole show for an opening to contribute. He not only sees what is going on, but can anticipate what is about to happen. When he does contribute, it’s a precision shot, making the connection that brings the whole show together.

Captain America

The Captain is a soldier, always fearlessly doing what needs to be done. He is often the second person in the scene using Hulk’s crazy choices to make fun scenes. He is the voice of reason dealing with all the chaos being created around him.

Black Widow

With no obvious superpower, there are likely some in the back of the theatre watching the show who don’t understand why Black Widow is part of the team. But then the show starts, and she is fast and smart and makes it look easy to keep up with the boys. For every move, she has a counter move. But more than that, she has a way of bending situations to her advantage. You can’t box her into to stereotypical roles, she has a way breaking free and turning the tables. And watch out when she starts a scene weak, she is about to kick your ass.

Iron Man

Every team needs an Iron Man. Sure, he is smart and clever, but he also has lots of gadgets. No matter what the situation, he has just the right tool to make the scene work. He is the first out to initiate, pointing the way for the rest of the team. He is a great editor, cutting scenes just before they start to wear out their welcome and knows how to bring things together when the show is reaching it’s climax. Finally, he rarely takes things too seriously. When things aren’t going well offstage, he is quick to find the humor in the situation, popping stress balloons with well timed pin pricks of wit.

Who are the Avengers among the improvisors you know?

Putting The Pieces Together

Putting the Pieces Together
Photo by: Songster09 on flickr
Most improv training is focused on scenes. If you can do a good scene, you can do a good show, the thought goes. I’d like to suggest that the opposite is also true, or maybe more true, if you can do a good show, the scenes take care of themselves. When you learn how to take a character or an idea or a game and follow it through multiple scenes, you learn how better to play with characters, ideas and games within a scene.

This is how I’ll be approaching my upcoming performance workshop. We won’t start by working on openings, or breaking our form down into pieces. We will start by putting it all together. In the very first day, you will be doing 20-30 minute improvisations with your classmates. We will start with a narrow focus, a simple structure to be sure, but it will gradually expand over the weeks until we have a full form which follows games, explores themes, has group games and finds connections.

These won’t be Harolds. They won’t be that formal, but they will have many things in common with Harolds. And if you do this performance workshop, you will learn tools that will work in any kind of improv performance.

10 Reasons This Class Will Be Awesome

Yesterday I announced that I will be teaching a class at Upstairs Gallery in June and July. Here are 10 reasons why this class will be awesome.

  1. Kevin Mullaney (me) is one of the most experienced teachers in Chicago. He has been coaching long form improv since 1995 and teaching since 1997. He taught well over 100 classes in New York for the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater.
  2. Smaller class size: This class will have 14 people or less in it. I’ve seen classes in Chicago with more than 20 people in them. Honestly, that sucks for the student. Smaller class sizes mean more chances to try exercises and to learn by doing.
  3. Smaller team size: Team size will be limited to 7 people max for performances. New performers in Chicago are typically put on teams with 10 players, sometimes more. That’s too many people. 7 people per team means that each person will have plenty of room to contribute to the shows.
  4. Less expensive: $175, about half the cost of a regular improv class.
  5. 4 performances: Most improv classes only have 1 performance.
  6. Performances begin in the middle of the session, not after the class is over. This means we will be able to work in class on problems that arise in the shows.
  7. Shows are free! Invite your friends to come see you for free. Or if the class decides to, they can ask for donations and split the money.
  8. Shows are BYOB! Even more reason to invite your friends.
  9. Upstairs Gallery is a beautiful space to rehearse and perform in and the people that run it are super nice.
  10. After class, you get to hang out in Andersonville, a truly awesome neighborhood.