Pain in the neck!

We want to thank everyone who came to our show on Saturday night. It was a great house...a lot of new faces...but some definite diehard fans. We were about 10 seats short of a sell-out (not that we're counting).

This is Travis...and I just want to share that I was grateful to be able to perform in the show. On the previous Sunday night, while in St. Louis, I injured my neck pretty seriously...so being able to perform was a blessing for me. During the show...we as a cast decided that if ever someone was hurting me in a scene...all i had to say was "limousine" (not sure why we chose that word). It only happened once...at that hands of James...but I can't get mad at the guy too much...it was his 29th B-day on the night of the show.

I also want to thank Craig and Kelly Wandoff for showing up to the show and bringing friends...as well as Kyle and Molly Smith. I had called the Wandoff's out in the most recent newsletter about not coming to a show...so what do you know...a little peer pressure helped ;)

Our next show is Saturday, May 20th...and it is called "Welcome to Whitey Town." I am sure it will be offensive...so get your tickets now :)

Travis

P.O.V. - Support Your Partner

Here's my two cents really quick on Improv. I've had a new thought recently. It's important to always go into a scene with a choice. Never go in without one because that's laziness!!! Here's my new thought.... Point of View is arrived at as a result of the choices that you make. This forms "the game" that we always talk about; or the relationship and the story. You don't have to always go into a scene with a P.O.V. but be patient and let the scene build and a Point of View should become evident if you guys are doing the work together. That's all for now. Just thought I'd share with cyberspace; the other two guys and JAEL! Thanks for blogging with us.
Frank
P.S. - Why does it always say that "TRAVIS" is the blogger??? Isn't that a little egotistical Trav? :-)

And I've Joined The Fray

Yes, this is the first blog that I've ever written. I suppose I should join my cohorts on this thing. Well, I just finished editing two videos for the Under Construction Show this Saturday. You know, those teenage comedians who noone ever seems to see on a monthly basis. They open up for us on Saturdays at 6:30pm. They're pretty good. Now, thanks to the magic of long hours spent at my computer, there are two new videos for their show this weekend (and yes, the audio is still an abomination... but as T said, we're working on it!) So, we're gearing up for the show this weekend with little rehearsal as we've all had things going on these past few weeks. It's funny, I am lucky enough to do what I love for a living with the school, the theater and the improv troupe... but somehow it always seems like I don't have enough time to do what I love. Does that make sense? It doesn't to me. Everything I am doing I love to do but... there are things that I love more. For instance, I wish that I could constantly create, rehearse and perform (like I used to). However, I have to actually run a business which sometimes seems like work even though it is surrounded by things that I love to do. Hhhmmm. It's quite a dilemma. I know... boo hoo hoo... at least I'm not working a day job that I don't like, right? I love the work, I love my employees, I love the guys (GC). It's all good. By the way, I'm getting married to a wonderful woman. That's coming up soon. So, all you GC Improv groupies only have a few more months left of the Italian Maple being single. Get in line fellas!!! Seriously though, that's all I have right now. Come see the show this weekend. The videos are very funny! We've got some new stuff for ya.
Frank

Feeling Creative

it is with great pride that i find the creative bug in Improvisation. Often times i feel like i am not creative enough in other areas of my life. i wish that sometimes you could make the creative twists and turns in life that you have the freeedom to do onstage, "interrupt the routine". In life if you get lemons you can make lemonade, but in improv you can make linguine! i found myself saying no in my head in a meeting today, and i asked myself if i were to say yes to everything in life, no matter the offer and justify it how cool would life be. Officer- do you know how fast you were going? Driver - yes i am trying to go back in time to rescue my brother who the dragon slayed. Too bad not enough people would go along with you. .......... i want to type until it stops raining...........i plan writing a sketch tonight on why my scenes never work. it is to be called "Jesse's Scenes that Don't Work" I woke up with the idea that what if Keyser Soze had to punish his kids? (he eventually killed them) but what were those were those first punishments like........telemarketer call...............When did he finally say thats it, i am killing all you bastards. In my head at 5:22 in the morning it was funny, at the creative meeting not so funny, so i am going to make linguine out of it! It has stopped raining.................
Jesse

We slave for you people!!!

My wife came into my office last night complaining about the amount of time I was spending editing a video project. It's the next video (actually 3) for the next show...and let's just say that video editing is a time consuming hobby. I do not claim to be a pro...but I enjoy it...and I think we have done some pretty good videos. Audio is always a concern...and we are working on it ;)

Anyway, it made me think how hard we work for each show. Really...I am not asking for sympathy...but we really work hard to put a funny and unique product on stage. We could do a fully-improvised show...which would require only rehearsals to stay fresh and workshop new scenes. But, we continue to write sketches, song parodies, video sketches, etc. so that we can offer a show unlike any other in Florida. Really...that is our goal.

If we were in a major metropolitan area...we could run the same sketches for a couple of months...and that would be fine because there is a large enough audience to support it. But, in our humble little community...we push to give people a new show everytime...even when our spouses get impatient.

Don't get me wrong...there is nothing more I like doing...but good comedy is hard work ;)

BTW...the videos are done...and they're funny...so we better see you at the show on April 22nd!

--Travis

IMPROV PRINCIPLE OF THE MONTH: LISTENING

IMPROV PRINCIPLE OF THE MONTH: Listening! Have I used this one yet? Anyway, listening is such an important quality in improvisation. We do corporate training workshops on this skill alone. In improv (like most things in life)...you kind of miss a lot when you don't listen. If you are in a scene with another actor...you really need to be able to key in on what they are communicating and sharing (offers), or the scene will go nowhere. This is the biggest challenge with new improvisors...because when you are uncomfortable on stage...your brain kicks into overdrive...therefore you might hear your partner...but you are not listening or understanding the information they are giving you. Come to our next show...make a mental note of how well we are listening...then let us know after the show!

--Travis

Hit or miss!

When it comes to improvisation...there are a lot of hits and misses. Granted...you hope that your misses are much fewer than your hits...and that is where the skill of the art of improvisation comes in. Hey...anyone can get lucky and be funny once...but it is more difficult to be consistently good. Not that we are...but we strive ;)

Last night we had our adult improvisation class...(of which I highly recommend to anyone and everyone. Click here for more info!) and then rehearsal. Our 5-week summer class is a great introduction to improv, and you get a feel of what the principles are all about. I didn't take my first class until my mid-20's in Boston, but it changed my life. It changed my approach to my career, my relationships, and many other aspects of my life. I was fortunate enough to continue training and finally become part of a professional theater, but the principles are applicable whether you are an aspiring actor, or someone looking to become a better listener (one of the many skills).

But, last night, it definitely felt like a "miss" rehearsal. It's tough...because I had been teaching for 3 straight hours...and my energy was pretty weak...and I just didn't seem to make good choices. But, like any good golfer...in improvisation...you have to have a short memory. You realize why the last scene didn't work, and then don't repeat it. For some reason...we had scenes incorporating the Black Panthers, KKK, and chiropractic rock-n-rollers. It wasn't enjoyable for anyone. Thank God it was just rehearsal :)

Usually some of your best work comes out during rehearsal...this wasn't one of them.

Travis

hello blog world! As someone who never understood just what these things are or were, I am now typing one. Hopefully these will be read, I guess the worst case scenario is that it is a record of thoughts, a diary of happenings. Since this is an improv blog I should probably talk about improv.................. Well as Travis spoke of in a previous blog, we got upstaged by a bunch of soap stars at an event that we were at this weekend at the Palm Beach Convention Center, to promote the troupe and 3 minutes into a pretty good scene we got booted off the stage by the uptight coordinator of the event, wherein they played the theme music to "All My Children" and then the two "stars" failed to show up for the next ten minutes, we could have at least finished the scene! The crowd was into it, as we found it appropriate to fill those few minutes with a soap opera scene involving a man being shipped of to war, and being lured to stay by his girlfriend who continuously beautified herself to make him stay, it was much funnier than my description of it. Our suggestion was haircut. Oh well. Our mission is to educate the masses in the joy/s of improv, and hopefully those 150 people enjoyed that 3 minute harold. Until next time - Jesse

Blog Prov!

Apparently all the cool kids are blogging...so we've given into peer pressure once again and started our own Gated Community blog. I can't really tell you what we will blog about...but isn't that the nature of the blog...just to sort of ramble...and tell you useless information that spews from our consciousness. Maybe not?

So, for this monumental first blog. I'll start by saying that we are in the midst of preparing for our next show which is Saturday, April 22nd. The title of the show is "Extraneous Makeover." At this point, we are brainstorming about sketches and song parodies...and just trying to get an overall feel of what we might have in the show. We will be poking fun at the makover shows...reality shows...and just being in Palm Beach...this county takes makeovers to the extreme (not always good).

This past weekend we performed at the Lifestyles Conference in Palm Beach. Since blogs are supposed to be real honest...let me just tell you that we got yanked off of the stage because we were butting into the timeslot for two stars from ABC's "All My Children." I think the "actors" present were Cameron and Rachel (??)...and based on the turnout in attendance...screams...and shreeks...they were pretty big stars. It was a real unbelievable event. They spent an hour answering questions about "whose baby belongs to who," ..."Who will hook up with who?"...and of course..."How do you prepare for your character?" Trust me...real enlightening stuff! Hey, the audience was thrilled (which was even scarier)...so no use crying over spilled milk.

Later that evening...Frank, James, and I (Travis) helped out one of our junior acting company students by performing at a benefit for her high school. We did about a 30 minute set and had a great time.

That's all for now...I think that's enough for our first blog :)

Travis