April 5, 2002
Chicago Improv Festival Showcase
"A Retirement Party"
We were up at the CIF on the "Showcase" stage on Friday at 10:30, sandwiched between The Knock Your Socks Off Players (Salt Lake City) and The Impatients (Toronto, Canada). Shaun and I had just performed with The Impatients in Orlando, so it was nice to be doing a show with them again.
The Showcase stage was upstairs at the Athenaeum, so I went downstairs and caught Noble Fool and Annoyance on the Main Stage at 8 before I started my pre-show "where is everybody?, can we warm up?, what's going on?" jitters. Adding, a little, to the jitters was the fact that Armando was in town and would be seeing the show for the first time.
When we were doing the run, we had people write down their suggestions on slips of paper before the show, so that Greg could quickly scan them and toss out any crazy ones. (Is that cheating? I don't care -- I'll cheat if that's what it takes to put on a good show. Anyway, this cast would have still improvised if I'd handed them a script, so I'm not really worried about the artistic implications of slightly restricting the randomness of the suggestion.) We hadn't gotten organized to do that at this show, so I put Armando on the spot at the top of our set to give us a suggestion. "A Retirement Party."
The show turned out... pretty good, I think. Not our most-bestest show ever (we rushed a little since we only had 30 minutes) but a good representation of what the cast could do.
And... that's it. We don't have any plans to ever do this show again, ever. I think Armando is working on remounting it in New York (where he had originally produced it). But for us it's...
The End
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2002
Rehearsals for CIF
I think my least favorite part of (co-)producing an improv show is the part where I'm emailed the schedules of 11 busy people and I have to figure out when we can all meet for a rehearsal. "Well, if we meet on Thursday from midnight to 2 AM, we'll have most of the group." Between these two rehearsals, I think we got 9 of the 11 to rehearsal, which included no more than 7 at each (if all that math makes sense).
The first rehearsal was the kind of great rehearsal I have dreams about. We all jumped in and really connected and felt a lot better about the form and each other. Yay!
The second rehearsal was low energy and full of bickering. Boo.
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2002
Sixth Show
"A Birthday Party"
I'm really sorry the run is over already. We only had six shows, and we were just hitting our stride, I think. But it's not over - we're going back into rehearsal to keep in shape for our appearance at the Chicago Improv Festival.
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM
February 9, 2002
Fifth Show
"World Series at Wrigley Field, from the Bleachers"
Our pick-up rehearsal last week, during our week off from the show, turned into just a get-together at Buca di Beppo. Theoretically a "working meal", it was mainly a fun time. We learned all about everyone's relationship troubles and so on. I wasn't sure that it was that productive, but it must have done some good because...
It was a great show! Sold-out/standing room only crowd! We really hit the form AND had a lot of fun. Yee-ha!
Only one week left (and then CIF down the line). Come see the show!
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM
January 26, 2002
Fourth Show
"Eventé"
Yes, you read that right. The suggestion for the event to explore was the show itself. We threw in elements of making fun of ourselves and the show, and treating it the way we would treat any other event - so we had SNL scouts coming to see the show, and reviewers as characters and so on. Phillip plugging Superpunk in the middle of the show was hi-larious.
Two good things: the house was sold out on Saturday. Yay! And Jonathan Pitts came backstage just before the show and invited us to perform at the Chicago Improv Festival on the Showcase stage. Yay! (That show is only going to be a half-an-hour, which I understand has been a problem for shows like Dinner for Six that really need an hour. We had so many problems stretching the show out, that squeezing it back down to half-an-hour should be no problem.)
We don't have a show this week (Feb. 2) so we'll having a pick-up rehearsal sometime this week. Only two shows left after that (well, until the CIF).
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM
January 19, 2002
Third Show
"Ordination of a Lesbian Priest"
Ho hum, another Saturday night, another great house and great show for Eventé. (Actually I'm really excited that that was the case.) I think one of our greatest signs of success is that Greg's mom (who, he says, "doesn't get improv") keeps coming back and has seen all three shows.
Next week, I'm hoping that I can actually remember to play and have some fun doing improv. Jeez, I'm lame.
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2002
Performink Article
The new Performink (Chicago's theater trade paper) has an article on Armando and the show. I snapped the picture of Armando they used when I was out in New York for the 3 on 3 Improv Tourney. I haven't seen the actual paper yet, so I'm wondering if they used that picture in the print edition.
Posted by Fuzzy at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2002
Second Show
"Closing on a House Sale"
What a busy night. Shaun and I did Bare at the Playground at 8 (and I sat in with Chicago Comedy Company at that same show, so I couldn't duck out early to get to WNEP). And then after Eventé I had to rush off to take pictures at Rive Gauche, so I didn't get to go rollerskating with Zach, et al.
The show was great. We had a good-sized house (which makes both the producer and player sides of my brain happy). We got off-track of the form a little, but everyone was having so much fun that I think we did a really entertaining show.
Oh, and we finally got our postcards. Let me rave a little about how great the folks at Rocket Postcards are. They've been super helpful and friendly through this whole shipping crisis. And the quality of the postcards is excellent. And let me shake my fist at UPS a little here, too. My original batch of postcards made it to the downtown Chicago UPS facility, then disappeared and showed up 5 days later in Salt Lake City. How does that happen? Feh.
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
January 6, 2002
First Eventé Review
I knew there was going to be a reviewer at the show, but I didn't know who it was, which is the way I like it -- I have an incredibly bad habit of cheating a look at a director or coach (or reviewer) to see their reaction, which of course throws me off, gets me out of character, etc. etc. If I don't know they're there, I don't peek.
So, the review came out today. It's a good review. Yay!
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
January 5, 2002
Eventé Opening Night
"Divorce Court Proceeding"
Yay! We did a show! A mid-sized, but enthusiastic house. The reviewer came as expected (note to self: always bring extra press kits to the show, because reviewers never bring the one you sent them). And the show was actually pretty good. Yay! (Come see the show!)
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
Second Post-Armando Rehearsal
Here's one of the ways Greg Inda is so mean. He made us do the warm-up we all hate (Follow the follower) even though Armando is gone.
The show goes up tonight, and we're set. Everybody but one (Rob Smith cut up his hand really bad over the holidays and was dealing with arranging for surgery) was at the rehearsal and we ran some good shows. And we got (hopefully) the blue out of our systems with a really raunchy "Wedding."
Now that I'm not worried as a player, I'm worrying as a producer. We're listed in the Reader and the New City (and probably elsewhere, but those are always the first two I check) and I hear we have a reviewer coming tonight. But UPS lost my postcards -- they're somewhere in the UPS building in downtown Chicago, but they can't find them. They were coming late anyway, because of the printing schedule at RocketPostcards over the holidays, so I really wanted to have them for opening night so that the sold-out crowd (fingers crossed) could all take twenty and give them to all their friends with rave reviews.
Oh, and we lost a show. Because of some sort of fund-raising raffle (it wasn't all clear to me) WNEP is having a private party on Saturday, February 2, so we won't have a show that night. I'm a little sad, both as a producer, because it drives our seats-per-night-to-break-even up, and because the 3rd is my birthday and I was looking forward to a full weekend of shows for my birthday.
And hey, I got the cast bios and pictures up and this afternoon I'm making programs for the show.
Posted by Fuzzy at 4:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2001
First Post-Armando Rehearsal
Today's lesson was "Greg Inda is mean." That and "we can do this thing."
We had 8 of 11 at this rehearsal (not bad for such a large cast and a holiday weekend) and our first rehearsal without Armando. Shaun had told me he was impressed with Greg's Assistant Directing work with Free Mason Jar, which is why we asked him to do this show, but until this rehearsal I had mostly seen Greg take occasional notes in his notebook and stare at us. This rehearsal, he took charge. And he's a lot harder on us than Armando ever was. Cool.
And the week off had, I think, given all of us a chance to process some of the massive amounts of information we had learned in the last week. Our runs through the show went very well. Though if anybody gives us "Treaty of Versailles" as a suggestion of an event we may throw a chair at them.
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM
December 21, 2001
Fifth Eventé Rehearsal
Shaun read this journal and noted that whatever I said about the rest of the week, I needed to make the Friday entry something like "my god, Armando produced a miracle, it all came together, and it's going to be a wonderful show."
My god, Armando produced a miracle, it all came together, and it's going to be a wonderful show. And all that is mostly true (especially the wonderful show part - we open Jan. 5. Come see the show!)
Maybe not a miracle, but Armando did make some tweaks to the structure that I think really addressed the problems we were having, and really play to the stengths of this group. We ran the show the new way a couple of times, and it felt a lot better. And then most of the cast went out drinking together, which always helps.
We're taking off the holidays, and then we've got two more rehearsals, sans Armando. And then we open (come see the show!).
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2001
Fourth Eventé Rehearsal
First off, let me say that Greg Inda is a super Assistant Director - and I'm not just saying that because he said he was reading this journal. Well, maybe I am saying that because he said he was reading this journal. So far, his work on the show has fallen under the category of "trouper" -- he's had to sit around alot and watch us fight our way through this thing. He'll be giving us notes at our rehearsals after Armando is gone, and I have every confidence he'll be great.
And next, let me distract you with pictures:
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Armando Diaz | The aforementioned Greg Inda |
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Joe Bill stopped by and Shaun threatened him | Nancy came straight to rehearsal from a gig singing Victorian Christmas carols |
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Elizabeth, Zach, Dina, and Phillip at break |
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Patrick and Zach having a staring contest |
Well, I can't avoid it any longer - I have to talk about the actual rehearsal. Oh, it was stinky-poopy.
Warmup went fine (though we didn't really have Pigeons or Orgasms - so maybe that was the problem) and then we were doing more environment work. That seemed to put everyone in a weird mood, and then when we actually got started running the show, everyone was very stilted and more hesitant than we've ever been ("ever", of course, being the last week). We took a break and we were chatting about it, and some of us agreed to just make the comittment to come out and attack it - to just edit and start scenes and take things places. And we were still all weird when we started up again. Armando had us run some speed-Eventés and they were as slow as a regular show. Arg. The amount of thinking that goes on in this show is really messing with our heads. Right at the end of rehearsal we managed to muddle through one (event: "Giving blood") that wasn't all bad. We lost the entire story line of Rob's date rape attempts on Julia, and it wasn't quite clear why Jesse Helms showed up half-way through, but it had a certain integrity. And Armando ended the rehearsal by saying that he had had a flash of inspiration and knew the tweaks he needed to make to the form to make it all work.
I'm not worried. 1) I trust Armando. He's worked with groups under similar time-pressure before and produced good work. And he's smart and rather tall. 2) This cast is great. I trust this group to do a good show once we stop worrying. 3) I have a superstitious belief about bad rehearsals and shows. I figure that in the run of a show, you're going to have at least one bad rehearsal and one bad show, so I'm happy when it happens, because then it's out of the way. This rehearsal was bad enough that maybe it's taken the place of a bad show, too (hey, I said it was a superstition).
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2001
Third Eventé Rehearsal
Oh, and Monday we did shared environments (you know, silent scenes where one person starts an environment and people join and add to it when they figure out where it is), because we did that again tonight. That's part of why I'm keeping this journal - it's just notes for me for the future.
After our usual warm-up (Follow the Follower, which Rob has titled "Pigeons. Or Orgasm.") we did the shared environments exercise, and ran some "opening snippets" a few times, and then jumped into running the show serveral times.
After we ran the first iteration of the show (event - "bridal shower", the story ended up with a fire claiming the life of the groom's other girlfriend while the bridal shower took place in an illegal bar/casino/strip club-firehouse. Wacky, but it all made sense at the time) and Armando gave us some notes, there was some concern expressed about the "rules" of the form. Armando refused to define the form much more than he already had, so we wouldn't feel trapped by having to fulfill requirements that we aren't inspired to reach, and free to shape the show as we are inspired that night. Liberating, but daunting at the same time (Jason Pardo used to tell us in the Hartford Whalers, "just do good work").
We ran the show a few more times ("Hurricane" and something else) and then Armando told us that we were right on track, especially because we had a month to rehearse without him. He was joking, but he scared the shit out of us by dead-panning a shocked "oh, crap" when he reminded that show opens two weeks after he leaves (January 5! Come see the show!). But I, for one, am feeling a lot better about the show than when I wrote "I wonder if we're going to make it". We put up stuff tonight that I wouldn't have been embarassed to perform on stage, so with two more rehearsals, it'll only get better.
Also, I had been thinking that we aren't rehearsing that much, but Shaun pointed out that the last show he was in (Free Mason Jar) did 2-hour rehearsals once a week for 8 weeks, which seems pretty standard for a lot of improv shows, for a total of 16 hours. We're doing 15 hours (plus two rehearsals after Armando leaves) and we don't need to reprise much from previous rehearsals, because only a day has passed.
Only two more days. Yippee!
P.S. Shaun wanted me to be more subtle. So I'll just point out that he's a handsome fellow.
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM
December 18, 2001
Second Eventé Rehearsal
After tonight's rehearsal, if I think about the fact that we've only had two rehearsals, I think it's great how far we've gotten. If I think about the fact that we only have three rehearsals left, I wonder if we're going to make it.
Tonight, we gave a lot more shape to the form. We ran the three pre-event scenes up to the event, and then we did some work on seeing scenes after the event. We had one where the event was a birth where everything really came together. It was really cool -- Dina Facklis' doctor character was redeemed, Shaun's doctor character met his comeuppance, Laurel and Rob's baby was born, Patrick and Nancy both died in a tragic hospital accident.
We also got to the very beginning of the form -- a glimpse of the actual event, then a jump back in time to the three, unrelated (as yet) scenes. So we know a few crucial details of where we're headed.
This show has a lot of 'improv-math' in it, but there's room for play, too. I think we're all overwhelmed a bit by the amount of thinking we have to do in this show, and that's what's making people a bit tentative, still. Armando was confident that this would all be second nature to us by the end of the week, and I'm going to trust him (that's why we brought him in to direct the show, after all).
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2001
First Eventé Rehearsal
Well, Armando is here and we jumped right in (in fact, we jumped in so fast that we realized at break that Armando and the 3 who didn't make it on Saturday didn't know everyone's name).
Armando described a process (learn some of the tools of the form, start a rough approximation of the form, and then begin to tweak the form) that I thought was a decription of the week, but was actually a description of the night. After just some warm up two person scenes, we worked on seeing an event from different perspectives, and then on seeing different scenes that could be scenes that would happen before an event. We added in the technique of swinging doors to give background info about characters in these pre-event scenes (a swinging door is a brief tag-out that plays a little scene-let and then returns the tagged character back into their original scene). Then we took 3 different pre-event scenes and ran them right up to just before the event would occur. And then that was 3 hours.
We got a lot done tonight. I was a little surprised at how tentative people were about editing and such tonight. Is it because we don't know each other very well yet (oh, I wish we had done some scenes Saturday) or shyness around Armando or are people just tired or what? As a cast member, all I can do is do my best, but as a producer I want the show to be really good so I don't lose money (did I mention the part about Shaun and I spending our own money on this - that's what 'producing' means). I ordered postcards tonight (from RocketPostcards -- thanks to Sandy for finding out about them, they're fast AND cheap).
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2001
First Eventé Meeting
Today, most of the cast got together for a informal first meeting, before Armando gets here. I wanted us to all to meet each other and hopefully get a chance to work together a bit so we could really hit the ground running during Armando-time. I'm currently in rehearsals for another show (Cholley Kuhaneck's show for the Playground's Directors Series) and we did an exercise at the first rehearsal that I thought was really helpful -- we each came out and everyone else would do a scene with that person, so by the time we were done, we had each done two scenes with all the other cast members (we also played Cranium!). So I wanted to do the same thing with this show.
We got most of the cast (8 out of 11) plus Greg together at the Chicago Comedy Company office/rehearsal space. Somehow, "Say your name and something about yourself" turned into an hour-long conversation, and then the food came and conversation continued while we were eating. So... we never actually did any improv. From a getting-to-know-each-other standpoint, the afternoon went very well. I would have liked to do some scenes, but I'm sure we'll be fine.
Posted by Fuzzy at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 7, 2001
Eventé
My experience with NaNoWriMo last month showed me that, even if I failed at the goal of the actual project itself, I kept up with my weblog about the experience pretty well. And I've read so many improv journals that other people have kept, I thought it was about time I did one (and since the rehearsal process for this show is so tight, it's not a very long-term committment).
Background
Back in April, Bare (which is Shaun Himmerick and me) went to the first Columbia Improv Festival in Columbia, South Carolina. Shaun and I had both met Armando Diaz before, but briefly. At the festival we got to know Armando better and performed with him a few times. Over the year, Shaun has kept up an email correspondence with Armando and proposed to him that when he was coming to Chicago to visit family for the holidays, he should come out a week early and direct a show. He agreed. I don't know all of Shaun's conversation with Armando, but I believe they decided on the Eventé form for the show because it was a form that Armando had previously directed a New York cast in, so it would be easier to direct in a week than a form that was brand-new to the cast and director.
So the plan is that we'll have Armando for one week of three hour rehearsals every night, then put up the show in the new year (The run starts Jan. 5! Come see the show!).
An Armando fun-fact: Armando is best known in Chicago for the long-running show at ImprovOlympic that bears his name (although the show now bears little resemblance to the show he helped create). In the old-school Armando Diaz Presents (ADP) form, the monologist would introduce themselves as "Armando", so I've had several people say "Oh yeah, I know who Armando is, he's that skinny blonde guy/guy with the glasses who always wears plaid shirts/red-haired guy." This is Armando Diaz.
Prep Work
The project was in the works for a while, but the exact timing of when Armando would be here, and when the show would run, all sort of came together very quickly. Fortunately, this wasn't our first show we've produced in Chicago (and both Shaun and I have produced plenty of shows in Denver and Lafayette, Indiana, respectively). We produced Bare's Actual Theatre this summer, as a co-production with WNEP.
We don't have a formal job division in FuzzyCo, but the project was Shaun's baby, and so he handled the negotiations with Armando and arranged for the rental of WNEP. I organized the auditions and got the PR material ready. (Shaun usually writes the first draft of our press releases and then I re-write them. If you've ever gotten an email from Shaun, you know that his brain works faster than his fingers.)
Because Armando was only going to be in Chicago for a week or so, we had to have the auditions a few weeks before and we, as producers, would have to cast the show. It did feel a bit odd, because we had already decided to cast ourselves. And Armando's instruction on how to pick the cast for the show was basically "pick a good cast of 10". The auditions were great overall, and in the end, Shaun and I and assistant director Greg Inda picked a cast of 11, because we just couldn't figure out who not to cast to get down to 10. The rest of the cast is Patrick Brennan, Laurel Coppock, Dina Facklis, Elizabeth McNaughton, Phillip Mottaz, Rob Smith, Nancy Howland Walker, Zach Ward and Julia Wolfe.
Right after the auditions we got the press release out (it should have been out a few days earlier, but we wanted to include the cast info) and I finalized the poster.
Posted by Fuzzy at 12:00 PM