DSIF workshop NOTES

[Holmes]

I'd like to share my notes from the DSIF workshops and I'd like to see others'

Keepin' it Real - Kevin Patrick Robbins
What are the stakes? How is it life-changing? Why is This important?
Laughter is the result of break in tension -hit emotion and build tension and ride it.
Your first thing: hang onto it. That's what will draw the audience in. Use what you have. It's the difference between INVENTIVE (Narrative, where you pull something out of left field to be funny or break the tension or find your way) and ORGANIC. It's the difference between platforming the scene with the Who, What, Where, and Why vs. exploring it together & with the audience in the scene. That's what the scene is about. It'll look more real and it'll be better for the scene and the piece. Change tactics rather than changing scene.
You ARE the game. The game becomes how the characters affect each other.
Don't act mad or sad or happy, BE IT! Allow yourself to really exist in it, rather than playing a flat, cardboard, 'funny' bit.
Get emotional and your body will do the work For you, autonomically. In narrative storytelling, you're looking for where the plot will go (scripting). In this, you're riding where it IS GOING.
The flow of the narrative isn't controlled on stage, anyway. It's all in the mind of the audience and every person will interpret the scene differently.
A Bastardized MEISNER
do a scene where the first line [one, inoccous line] is the only line to be spoken [repeated from different P.O.V. for other character] {or one line per character}.
Example: I thought you were going to take the train. You thought I was going to take the train.
-connect -use tone, emotion, physicality, environment, silence, reaction, how you affect each other -the words begin to become irrelevant, you could be saying anything
-Nonverbal communication is 95%. Focus on it with this exercise.
-What is Really or Also being communicated? SUBTEXT
You can do more in a scene if it's underlying

Find or Allow the truthful, emotional choice and Don't waffle on it for a laugh. It's all about the relationship & how the characters affect each other and are affected. Do something that will MOVE the audience.
An offering can't be MADE, only Accepted.
If the audience is quiet (not laughing) then they're listening and paying attention. It's not bad & don't let it fuck you up. Be in the Scene.

 

[Holmes]

Moves that Help the Whole Piece - Porter Mason

Do something DIFFERENT than the previous scene [voice, posture, physicality, tone, theme, Aything] (and "normal" IS a choice that can be very different)
Get Variety: it makes scenes easier to remember and go back to AND easier for the audience to recognize. PLUS, merging scenes that are already pretty close isn't as impressive. If you merge things that are Completely disconnected and far apart, it's cooler.

When someone's doing a scene, look at it & think of a word or 2 to summarize it (take a picture in your mind) to help you Consciously remember what's come before so you can Use that, rather than filling it up with new stuff. It's better to be self-contained. You should be able to go on Forever, deconstructing one scene.
DECONSTRUCTION: do a scene and afterwards do as many branches off of it as possible [by theme, character, sidesteps off of a line, plot-wise going forward or in reverse, anything that pops into your head off of it]. Everything begins to merge together through referencing back, and it looks awesome.

I don't have a lot of notes from this, because it was really physical and we were just doing it, rather than talking about it. It was really great.

 

[thekingofharts]

Great notes, Matt. Again, really enjoyed Rare Bird Show's performance at DSIF too. Great job.

-John
Witt's End, Michigan

 

[Holmes]

POST your NOTES! EVerrrrrY-BOdeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Sugar-Snit]

I didn't take any notes in Holly Laurent and Jet Eveleth's "BODY MOVING: Character and Movement Study" -- but it has REALLY really changed how I think about things.

It began with me realizing that alll the experiences I have had - including a serious back injury -- are informing the characters that I play. Before I looked at my back injury as a serious limitation... and the weight gain that ensued afterwards as a total liability on stage.

At first I just wanted to slink out of the room because I felt so mortified that my body doesn't move the way it used to move. I was angry with myself for being "broken" and angry that my deficiencies ALWAYS show up. I'm obviously not able to look like I did before the injury or move like I did.

Then - somehow- in betwen being Godzilla and a Tiger and moving slow moving fast and then listening with my right ear because I was gifted as deaf in the left ear -- it struck me.

I realized that these things about me are experiences that informs each and every character. I likened it to a spice in my journal -- the spices doesn't MAKE the dish you're preparing -- but it does direct where the dish goes. It cannot be a curry dish if you're using oregano and basil. And it cannot be Italian if you insist on using texas hot sauce.

But YOU still get to prepare the dish. Just as YOU get to create the characters. You are not bullied by your body-- you are working with it to create something wonderful on stage.

Having them REALLY put us in our bodies was almost frightening-- because we had to start REALLY trusting our guts and then GO with it.

They pointed out that if you make a character selection that the audience doesn't like - you just go with it anyway-- and you keep bringing it back to the callbacks and other scenes. Don't back down because it doesn't go over well. Stick with YOUR choices and YOUR character. Have faith in your character.

The whole workshop made me feel like TRUST (in yourself and in your team) was key. And it also made me really feel more comfortable with my body-- because it is MY TOOL-- and all my experiences will make characters different that anyone else will... and that is why art is so beautiful-- because there are no cookie cutter experiences.

So- I've had a total epiphany from the workshop that has moved beyond just improvisation and into how I'm living right now. I'm not broken, I've been gifted-- and now I get to use these gifts to enhance who I am becoming (and any characters that evolve from this particular ME).

 

[amutepiggy]

i gotta say, one of my favorite things was Asaf Ronen's "trickle-down" theory of directing improvisors- if you change one thing, it will affect the entirety of their playing style. although the workshop was targeted for directors/teachers, i thought the lessons learned were quite applicable to players (especially if you rely heavily on self-coaching). if i had to summarize the class in a snippet, i would say that i learned each of improvisor has a range of default settings that they use in their scenework (eg, all my characters tend to lean forward and wave their hands around a whole lot!). so the idea i s to learn to recognize the patterns you fall into, discover the boundaries of your range, and BREAK THEM YAHHHHHH!

 

[Lord Hatsumi]

Asaf - "I want to have your improv babies"

So the lesson here is, we do not actually learn how to improvise and become better, we are to join improviser's DNA and make super improv babies.

 

[Lord Hatsumi]

Here is what I posted on another site

Remove vocabulary words from your direction. Such as Don't, shouldn't. When directing we should be pushing to change the direction of a performers natural improv patterns. Give them a challenge to do for the rest of their scenes.

Example from the workshop: My partner was being very cautious and wasn't attacking/engaging the scenes. My notes on her was she was playing subtle and defensive. Asaf gave her the challenge of adding !!! to the end of every sentence. Therefore she would be forced to say what she had to say with conviction and authority. Simple challenge, but exactly what is needed.

Asaf also said that if the first challenge does not fix/support the pattern the way you want, feel free to change the challenge. Don't grind it in if it isn't working.

Rehearse what you are going to review and work on before you get to practice. Be ready and know what you are going to say everytime you get up to direct.

There were other bits and pieces he went over but it was mostly diagnostics of particular people in the class.

 

[EthanK]

Dan Izzo:
Improv choices are like shopping at the Gap. Everything's the same so just find your size and get the fuck out of there.