UCB 101 Grad Show

So.... I did my first official little mini improv show this afternoon at the theatre on good old Franklin Ave. People were standing in line for our show, not vise versa, which was a change for sure... of course they were all our friends and family hehe. First of all, it was 39493479237498327 billion degrees outside, so it was hot! We were split into two teams and we went second. The shows weren't perfect, but they were fun. I have no problem stepping out onstage, but I also don't want to be a show hog. This is 101 and we are all just learning here. After all, I'm a little baby improver.

I think our class is soooo creative, so we are always throwing out these very intense strange scenarios instead of focusing on the first unusual thing. I guess that's a muscle that can be trained. I played a very hightened version of myself in all the scenes. I think I can learn to trust that small simple things are enough. The scenarios don't have to be outlandish and it's better to have the scene be actively engaged instead of just describing an event or what we would do. I was very focused on the what and need to establish location and relationship quickly and the what will form. Often in my scenes, the actual active, interesting game of the scene wouldn't come about until later because the relationship and location came later. UGH, it's just so hard to tame when you have a good idea burning inside of you. I guess 201 will work out a lot of the kinks. My goal in this next phase is to relax, to trust the simple things, to get location and relationship established early. A relationship makes the scene active and therefore fun to watch. Audiences are less favorable to narrations. I watched the videos that my friend took. I kind of cringe at parts, but I suppose that's part of the process of learning how you are perceived. Someone once told me that's 90 percent of communication.

The show part was great! The audience laughed a lot and that's the whole point in the first place, let's not forget. The portion that stressed me out was the afterwards. When you have so many different friend groups that converge, it's hard to make everything blend together. After notes, I met up with everyone and we couldn't decide where we wanted to go, which was complication number one. Number 2, all of us couldn't fit into one of these tiny chic little bar restaurant things along the row. We ended up at a bar top and I was trying to engage my friends from lend me a tenor at one end and debrief about the show with improvers at the other end and check in with my grandma. I'm not a very good hostess and it wasn't really smooth. I did get to meet this random attractive guy from Colorado, so that was fun. Hey, I can still be a girl hehe.

Performing and then watching yourself. VERY important. But, that's why we have directors, right? ;) I need to make more of that happen. Anyway, here's part of the crew: