Ground up!

[Conklin]

without exception.

Alexis, LeMar, Scott and I share an attitude that has brought us together on many nights: there is rarely a good reason not to improvise. 2am and shift starts in 6 hours? Got homework? Tired, depressed, hungry, or anxious? Fuck it, it’s scenework time now. I haven’t missed work due to improv yet, and as far as I know LeMar and Scoop are still successful students. Improvisation hasn’t caused anyone’s depression to worsen (well there was that one time, but there were extreme extenuating circumstances). And since I have no money and am lazy when it comes to self-maintenance, I’m almost always hungry so if that stopped me I’d never start. I don’t want to say, “Improv can save the world!” because that’s big, bloody, ball-warts of gay, but at any given time there is almost nothing I’d rather do than improvise. It’s seen me through most of my darkest periods in the last 4 years, and been an integral part of many of my highest points. After all it’s done for me, it feels wrong to turn down the opportunity to improvise. Not like I force myself against my will, but rather as if my will couldn’t be anything else.

Serious musicians play their instruments everyday. Someone who wants to be a great basketball player might take hundreds of free throws each evening. Dedicated writers don’t let a day go by without committing something to paper. I’ll never understand why improv became the once-a-week art. I’m not talking about being in four different groups four different nights of the week. If we believe that improv comes from a group mind, shouldn’t we exercise that mind more than 3 out of every 168 hours if we want to be great?

Sometimes I get into trouble because I expect everyone to feel the same way I do. People can express their love for improvisation in different ways. I’m not always tolerant, but I’m usually smart enough to realize I’ve been intolerant. Frequently however I am too awkward to apologize. So if I’ve ever pulled a holier-than-thou lecture out of my ass and waved it in your face, I’m sorry. I still don’t necessarily understand, but I respect your right to feel the way you do without my interference or judgment.

I wonder what I would do if I had no improv. When I lived in New Jersey, I still managed to perform at Haverford at least once each semester, plus sitting in on a few rehearsals and whatnot. And I took level one at the UCBT (I still regret not finding the money to take level two, but that’s an entry for another day). I also clumsily made inadvertently creepy overtures toward fellow New Brunswickian Chris Gethard (which is also a separate entry for another time). So despite being a dry spell, my year in Jersey was hardly barren. What if I had no improv, for say, arbitrarily, six months? Would my head explode?

LeMar and Scott introduced to me a concept that I knew but never had words for: It’s all a scene, and if you have to ask, you already know. Maybe that means if I’m not improvising I’m not trying hard enough. Theoretically, there should be no set of circumstances that can keep me from improvising in the L-S Model. I find that comforting.
- - - - -
If some of this seems choppy, it’s because an hour into composing it the computer died. I rewrote it from memory very quickly, including writing the last paragraph which I had not yet undertaken when the system went south on me. So it’s sort of a rush job recreating a more well thought out entry. Oh well.
- - - - -
Ending on an up-note:
I've already extended two invitations to the big December 13th show at Haverford: one to my brother and one to an old high school friend. Neither has as of yet declined. Matthew, my brother, last saw me improvise almost 4 years ago and Jeremy has never. I would be very excited if one or both attended.
- - - - -
edit: welcome to page 2!

 

[Conklin]

set it in motion, it's the next movement

This is my second attempt at a journal entry tonight. The first came across as too pompous even for my tastes, besides seeming generic and forced in tone. So let's see if I have something to say now.

I think I feel like being brief tonight.
- - - - -
Sometimes I get so excited. Other times I'm so tired. I think I could improvise in dim basements and empty classrooms forever, except when it all seems so narcissistic and pointless.
- - - - -
Once in a great while I wonder what it is we create when we improvise. Whatever it is, by the time it's completed it's gone. That's usually not true of creation; in fact, it sounds more like destruction, or consumption, or some other process that leaves nothing in its wake.
- - - - -
A woman involved in the improv world here told someone several weeks ago that my troupe is disorganized. For a bunch of kids in our early twenties making a first go of things, I don't think we're doing poorly. We've had setbacks, some our fault, others not. What really galls me is that I've talked to this woman twice, she's never seen any of us perform or had any more contact with us than an informal chat over coffee when we were first getting started, and yet she feels comfortable passing judgment on us to others. Well, this got back to us.

It shouldn't bother me what she said. I've seen her perform and I wasn't that impressed. She said she didn't want to go back to the Del Close Marathon because she didn't like the pressure. The pressure of what? Sharing a bill with truly great troupes? Performing in front of people who know what they're seeing? Newsflash: Philadelphia will not always be a little backwater burg when it comes to improv. She's going to be exposed regardless. There will be nowhere to hide.
- - - - -
Bile is such an ugly color. And I'm running on asshole-rage right now which is pretty unusual for me. I'm usually much more easy-going. I'm kind of enjoying the rush right now of pure, unleaded, high-octane assholine. I wish someone was around to do some scenes with me.
- - - - -
I'm going to Throng rehearsal Sunday as a pseudo-coach. I'm nervous. I couldn't imagine a much more sympathetic group to work with however. They'll forgive my screw-ups and not pick me apart and I'll be better for having done it.

 

[Conklin]

I love walking up and down Broad Street in the middle of the night! A trip to City Hall and back really clears my head.
- - - - -
I want to work on pattern and balance with The Throng. I'm not quite sure how to do that, however. I have some ideas. I'll post the ones that work after the rehearsal is complete.
- - - - -
Happy Birthday, Jasmine!

 

[Conklin]

I'm going to Throng rehearsal Sunday as a pseudo-coach. I'm nervous. I couldn't imagine a much more sympathetic group to work with however. They'll forgive my screw-ups and not pick me apart and I'll be better for having done it.
[...]
I want to work on pattern and balance with The Throng. I'm not quite sure how to do that, however.

My predictions were fairly accurate. I didn't do a bad job, but I was definitely nervous and a little unintelligible. I was a little unintelligible, but I am in my daily life. I was much more comfortable talking the abstract that I was critiquing the specifics of their scenes. I did work on balance, and talked quite a bit about patterns (traditional storytelling is lines, improv is curves/circles), and the importance of focusing on patterns as opposed to plots.

Game of the scene is still a problematic concept. I was a little frustrated with how that went. It later occured to me however that out of the 8 members in the group currently, six of them were not yet in the group 14 months ago, and four of those weren't two months ago. So all things considered they're doing well, probably better than should be expected.

After rehearsal everyone stuck around and discussed improv with me for almost a half hour. That was a welcome change from last year when everyone climbed all over each other to get out the door when the big hand hit the twelve. Anyway, that was probably the best part of the rehearsal, because I got to directly address their concerns and also proved to myself that I can still rap with the kids despite being an old man.
- - - - -
RBS to tonight. After several weeks it will be nice to have the canonical four back together, although the Apocrypha was very enjoyable these past few weeks. Still, with a big show looming, we need to hammer away at our format and regain our comfort with each other. So with rehearsal on the platter for tonight, 11/24 might be a rare double update for me!
- - - - -
Chk-BLAUW!

 

[Conklin]

not to be.

Well, the four of us did not reconvene. I'm afraid that if the four of us get together again the universe might reverse it's expansion and crush us in an infinitely small, infinitely dense black hole consisting of all matter as we know it, awaiting the next big bang to jumpstart it. I guess that's kind of a longshot. We'll call it 20-1.

Anyway, we missed 100% participation because Alexis's car got messed up. I've told the story about 4 times tonight and I'm tired of it, but suffice to say the damage doesn't appear serious and the car was parked without her in it when it happened. She seems to be handling the situation well. This is the sort of blow that can send sensitive types like Flex (or me for that matter) on a toilet-flushesque spiral to crappytown, so the fact she has a good outlook is a relief to me.

Also a relief is the fact that rehearsal went well, despite having only three peoples up in it. Nathan made a triumphant return from his play-induced hiatus. We tried game of the scene tagouts and they went smoother than they did with The Throng. A big part of that I think was the tightness of three people -- you were never out of the action for long. Also, tagouts of this sort that I've seen in the past can have the tendency to become "dominant/submissive" ad infinitum so the fact that we found many more nuanced games was fun and exciting. I'm excited to try them again with The Throng, and keep hammering at them until they become second nature. Or at least to hammer until I can't hammer no more for whatever reason.
- - - - -
Since this is the second entry in about 12 hours, I won't feel guilty about cutting it short and getting some damn shut-eye.

 

[Conklin]

My district manager keeps refering to the 28th as "Green Friday" and using the phrase "driving sales" and other crap that is at best smirk-inducing and at worst stab-worthy. I hate retail-america.
- - - - -
I was drinking some Vanilla Coke, and all of a sudden it started tasting like Coke and vanilla vodka, and i almost puked. I think it's safe to say that the Conky Lush Experiment was a failure. I'm glad I did it, and I'm especially glad that I did it on my own time and dime, out of college and working and living on my own. Still, it doesn't look like I'll become the classic drunk that I appeared to be turning into. In the last month or so I've had exactly two glasses of wine: one in France and one during the awful meal on the flight home from France. The airline's food peoples were on strike, so they had to get meals from another airline. They didn't have any vegetarian meals and so I was served salmon ravioli. The name alone makes me queasy. Or maybe my stomach is still on edge because of the Vanilla Coke and the doodoo boca burger I just had.
- - - - -
The Throng is rehearsing the Sunday after Thanksgiving! They are hardcore! I think I'm going again, although that is not settled.

Speaking of THRONG! the Decmber 13th show is still mindblowingly exciting! Alexis and I are hopefully going to spearhead a Philadelphia marketing blitz. I have to remember to dig up Dan Goldstein's press release suggestions. That is one awesome post folks.

 

[Conklin]

quick update:

LeMar and I had Thanksgiving dinner together. Yizzles, grizzles, grizzle bizzles, cranbizzles, stizzle, etc. Good times.

I uneventfully turned 23.

I survived black/green Friday. I think my district manager will be disappointed with the sales totals.

I will return to THRONG rehearsal on Sunday in order to do more of whatever it is I do.

 

[Conklin]

THRONG! rehearsal

I survived another Throng rehearsal without totally exposing myself as the idiotic fraud that I am! I kid, but seriously, I hope that I am the least qualified person they take advice from. I establish the bottom line they shouldn't cross.

We warmed up, then I discussed status: what it is, how we show it, how status transactions play out. I had them do a series of scenes and then we discussed the major status choices and some of the status moves they made. From there we went into organic and group work. I had them play follow the follower. When I saw them do this last, they seemed to move a lot and do so in unison, but it was all very indistinct. So I had them focus very directly on clarifying and heightening what others were doing. After that, I split them in half and had them do two 4 person organic-style openings. I split them because I thought it would help them focus on what the others were doing if there were fewer people to keep track of. I instructed them to worry about creating an environment, using the "if this, then what?" attitude -- if someone starts jumping rope, you don't necessarily have to jump rope, but figure out what else might be in that environment and do something to clarify where you are and what's going on. After they did it in fours, I brought the whole group back together to try it out. It was a little sloppier than the small groups, but they held it together and it was definitely improving. Then we did a couple group games. I coached a bit before and then more again after.

I think I did a much better job this week in terms of chosing exercises and explaining what I wanted them to do, and then directly responding to what they did with specific notes. I was still more comfortable dealing with the abstract, but I managed both sides this week. Part of that comes with some increased familiarity: I'm more comfortable criticizing just because I feel that I'm getting to know them better.

I have offficially committed to attending every Sunday night until the end of the semester. I need the coaching experience more than they need the coaching, but still we both get something out of it. For one, it takes pressure off their senior performers since they can focus on their own work more instead of directing rehearsal. Also, it gives them an outside perspective, which is valuable. So it's not like I'm screwing up their practice to help myself.

edit: i just realized this ends abruptly, so I'm going to remind everyone to come to the show on December 13th. Do it, dudes!

 

[Conklin]

for those about to rock, we salute you

Rare Bird rehearsal last night was a blast. The four of us were together for the first time in about a month, and not a moment too soon as our debut is fast approaching. December 13th gets more exciting with each passing day, but more on that later. First things first.
- - - - -
Rehearsal:
All four of us in the house, and the chemistry was still there. We warmed up with an utterly inept round of clap-passing that had us in hysterics, then we simultaneously passed two claps between the four of us which was even more ridiculous. Then it was 3 line scenes.

From there we worked on our game of the scene stuff. We were good, but I want to see us get sharper and faster. I think we will with the adrenaline at the show.

Flex and I took Matt and Nathan over to Marshall Auditorium so they could get a feel for the room. It's a large, old auditorium with 500 or so seats, about a third of which are up on a large balcony. It kinda looks like a vaudeville theatre. The stage itself is huge for a four person improv troupe. It would be easy to get lost up there, or, alternately, to use creatively to build interesting stage pictures. Anyway, I didn't want them to expect a small lecture hall or something and then be shocked the night of the show, so we took a look around and then did some scenes on the stage.

Our work was crisper in Marshall than we had been in the INSC, so I'm hoping the atmosphere agrees with us. We're doing a tag-out/sweep format that lends itself to quickness and looks sloppy when it's done too slowly. All of this also fits with our mission: do a mind-blowing twenty minute show. We want to do a lot with our slot, and a high energy show will maximize our performance.
- - - - -
I've done shows in Marshall Auditorium twice before, and both were incredible. I don't know if the building will be packed quite like it was before; in the past there were numerous college groups sharing the stage and also packing the audience. With just the Haverford/Bryn Mawr students, it might not be a capacity crowd. At Haverford, Marshall Auditorium is synonymous with "big time event" and thus its always special to play there.

Still, I'm more excited about this than about either of the first two performances. One reason: the first two were hosted by the Lighted Fools, whereas this one is a Throng production. I've got nothing against the Fools and I wish them all the best, but the Throng are my people (even though I've graduated and left their ranks).

The first time we were too new to really know what we were doing, and our show was probably a bit amateurish. We did all shortform at the time, and gimmicky shortform at that. The day after that show was a milestone in the troupe's development: a workshop with Matt Walsh. If not for that, this show would not be happening now. That seems a little silly to say, since no one in the current line up was yet in the group when that workshop took place, but it set the tone for the slow, agonizing, sometimes frustrating but eventually rewarding and successful switch to longform improv. The show was good, but the workshop was the meaningful part of that weekend. I remember more of my scenes from the workshop than I do from the show. I made Walsh laugh out loud by playing a guy more interested in feeding the ducks than in his date to the spring formal. To this day it remains one of my favorite scenes, and a large part of that is because it cracked up one of my heroes.

The next year the group played Marshall again, but for me it was a one-off performance as I was on leave from school and living in Jeresy. I had a blast, in part owing to the fact that I was months removed from my last performance and months away from my next. But I was definitely a guest and not really a part of the troupe then. I was happy for them, and thrilled to be onstage, but it wasn't my night.

I'm hoping the third time will be the charm. A magical night of improv, an unforgetable show, and a jaw-dropping party afterward.
- - - - -
One reason my excitement is still growing over this show: North Carolina will be in the house! I wish I had a webcam, as you would see my shirt spinning around my head just like a helicopter! I am freaking out here! I freaked out and called LeMar and Alexis within minutes of finding out, and when Jasmine called from France not long after, this latest development dominated the short conversation. This night is officially becoming a happening.
- - - - -
I am determined to make this a success because it will in all likelihood be my last performance with the Rare Bird Show for a long time. I'm moving to France for six months, from January to June. I'm not sure if I'll be back in Philly when I return to the US either, although it is as likely as anywhere else right now. I want to go out with a bang. I can ruminate on the bittersweetness of it all later, that night I'll only be concentrating on the sweet side of the equation.

 

[Conklin]

the 5 minute update, since i have to get ready for work:

-Dec. 13th posters are designed. i tried to print them but they didn't take. stupid bad disk and lame computer.

-Schedule change. My coworker and i traded shifts, so i work mid instead of close. so now I'm going to the THRONG! tune-up show tonight. After working with them the past two weeks, I'm psyched to see them onstage again.

-nothing accomplished on the moving to France front. i still have a house to pack, storage to find, etc.

-i invited my mom to the big show but i'm (thankfully) pretty sure she won't come. i invited my roommate, and it looks like he will.

-feet.

-i need a shower in the worst way. i am hobo-caliber right now.

(edit: just as i typed that last line and hit reply, my roommate beat me to the bathroom. so i'll keep replying for a couple more minutes)

-i wonder why some days i'm a stickler for capitalization and others i'm not. probably has something to do with my man cycle.

-i spend entirely too much money, and save entirely too little. it would be one thing to spend too much if i still had a crapload to save, but i don't. i make entirely too little to begin with, so it's really imperative that i spend more thriftily so that when i save entirely too little it's as much little as it can be.

-i want to write a goddamn novel.

-i bet tyrannosaurus rex*looked stupid when he was sleeping, but i wouldn't have been the dude to tell him.

-i also want to write a moderately long treatise on improvisation. i have an outline done on that, which is more than i can say about the goddamn novel.

-i could get 55% of my daily vitamin C from ketchup chips if I ate the 5.5 oz bag. as a bonus, i would get 82.5% of my daily total fat.

-why didn't i ever learn to play guitar? i could be an indie rock superstar right now. which probably would still leave me with too little to save, and spending what i did have on studio time and trucker hats, which would both be new expenses in my life. maybe it's for the best the way things worked out.

-i hate my goddamn novel and i haven't even started it. goddamn.

-okay, my roommate still isn't out of the shower, but i'm seriously running out of stuff to talk about. this entry is running on fumes. kinda like a hobo with a turpentine-soaked rag.

 

[Conklin]

apparently, i'm not unique in my experience. there's a string of us along the road.

Another quick, pre-work update.
- - - - -
THRONG! show was good. The thing I love about those kids is that they are always innovating. Last night they split the 8 person troupe in two, did two 4-person 25 minutes sets, and then came together and did maybe 20 minutes at the end with everyone. It was Throng like I've never seen, and that was really cool.

However, their scenes tended to drag a little in the 4 person sets because not everyone is at the same comfort level yet with editing and initiating. That's something that will hopefully come with time. They are still a very young group. Also, they're remarkably creative. There wasn't a scene that didn't grab my interest at the top. So it was good scenes dragging which is way better than bad scenes dragging.
- - - - -
I have 1 or 2 Throng rehearsals left before the semester ends. I think my main focus is going to be on organic and group work, with a sub-emphasis on letting the character dictate the action and not vice versa. It's striking how often you can look back at a scene that seems contradictory or unfocused and find examples of people making vague character choices and then make plot/action choices that they think would be funny. Trying to shove a character into a plot structure is going to look much sloppier than letting the scene flow from character. That is what I'd like to impress upon the Throng. I just need to figure out how to say it. Maybe like I did here, but clearer.
- - - - -
After the show, Alexis and I got Scott and LeMar to do some scenes with us. They were fun but a mess, of course. Still, we did some good work among the chaos. When the four of us get together without an audience or an agenda, it tends to be a "be as sick as possible to crack everyone else up" night. One particular scene involved me asking if I loved my girlfriend because when I went to do her my dick went soft and I started crying in her arms, while Scott and LeMar played typical teenagers and Alexis was Jimmy, the terminally ill wise-beyond-his-years 8yr old. It was legitimately a very good four person scene and also sick as all hell. That makes me want to write it up for my long-planned sketch show.
- - - - -
DECEMBER 13TH! HELL YEAH!

The Rare Bird Show has one last rehearsal to work it all out. I said to Alexis last night people are either going to love us or be entirely bewildered by us. I'm not expecting a tepid response. Something will be rolling in the aisles, either audience or tumbleweed.

Anyway, for the last rehearsal, I'm thinking two straight hours of getting comfortable with our show format. We've only done it will all four of us for about 15 minutes, although we've spent much more time on it in various configurations of the group and guests, plus we've worked on the constituent parts of the form at length. Still, we need to work out in it, get used to it, get comfortable, stretch ourselves and see what we can do with it. It's decently simple, so ultimately the work is going to have to be strong because the format won't carry us.
- - - - -
Still nothing accomplished on the MOVE. Alexis has agreed to help transport my stuff to storage. My stuff is not ready to move, nor has storage been selected.
- - - - -
Shit, this was not a little update. I'm going to be late for work. I'll blame the stupid snow I'll be walking through for that.

 

[Conklin]

yet agin, THRONG!

Sunday night is still THRONG night for me. What will I be focusing on tonight? Well, this is going to be a fairly lazy entry as it will mostly be copied and pasted from email correspondance with Peter Throng. These passages come from two different emails each, all sort of jumbled together.
- - - - -
on character

One big thing I think you guys need to work on is letting character dictate action instead of the other way around. Almost every scene that gets contradictory or nonsensical or just more generally "lost" is due to people making decisions based on what they think should happen instead of acting in character. This is particularly apparent in scenes with more than two people.
[...]
Without a stronger grasp of character, I'm afraid people will get caught up in trying to hit necessary plot points or fulfill expected conventions without grounding the work in a character with clearly defined and consistent characteristics, desires, motives, etc. Long after improvisers learn not to deny physical/stated reality, they continue to break reality by violating the internal rules of their own characters. Tightening this aspect will show you how much you can still accomplish in a basic, nuts-and-bolts two person scene.

on editing

I agree on editing. That's going to primarily be a comfort thing though, and it's going to take time. Some people need more time to get used to it. There are some little things to do. One thing to emphasize is that an edit is not a rescue. I'm thinking back to when I cued edits by raising my hand and Nick interjected at one point he thought a scene could have continued. Well, every scene should be edited while it could still continue. If you don't edit until the scene can no longer continue, you've let your buddies die out there. It's a philosophical shift. I think some people equate an edit with "I'm saying what I'm about to do is better than what's going on, so I had better wait until that's true." That's a poor way to look at editing; a person with that outlook will get beat to almost every edit. You need to convince people that an edit means "I'm going to help by ending this while it is still succeeding." Also I think that sharpening edits will help vary the pace. At the last RBS rehearsal, there was a scene that I edited after one line and a gesture. Nobody felt put out or that I had cut them off; they trusted me to make that edit, and it also broke up a sort of monotonous pace. Sometimes you need a 10 second scene.
[...]
The paradox is the more displeasure you express, the more self conscious people will be about editing. Self conscious people do a poor job of editing. It has to be a constructive and on-going process, lots of positive reinforcement: "That was a perfectly timed edit on the vampire scene, So-and-so. Keep it up!" Couple the positive reinforcement with the philosophical shift I mentioned in the last email. Make sure people know that editing is like pruning a bush, not like weeding a garden. Also work on rapid-fire three line scenes. There are two reasons people don't edit (frequently in tandem): they feel bad about stopping someone else's scene and/or they feel nervous about starting scenes.
- - - - -
So that's sort of a bird's eye view of what I think they need to work on coming off their last show, and what I plan to concentrate on.

I'm just realizing that a lot of that is repetition from my last entry, so it is repetitive and lazy. Good for me. I will add this:

I was in the back room at work and I noticed some motivational posters that had previously been obscured by product. One in particular caught my eye. It read: "Watch your habits for they will become your character. Develop your character for it becomes your destiny." I thought that was pretty lame as far as real-life advice goes, but brilliant improv advice. It might be how I explain the importance of character tonight.
- - - - -
I get very excited on Sundays. Each of the past few weeks I've done this I've left the house hours early and walked around the city to burn off some of my nervous energy. I will probably do an abbreviated but similar thing today. We are snow covered and cold in Philadelphia right now. I don't mind snow, but I hate wet feet and the thought of eight hours of wet feet is gross. I left my boots at work.
- - - - -
Music is way better than whatever the alternative is.

 

[Conklin]

Throng rehearsal didn't work out quite as planned. They were a couple heads short, so Alexis and I gave some brief notes on the show and then just played with them for the rest of the time. It was tight, funny work and I felt really good about it. I think after six months of flatlining I'm starting to improve significantly again. From everything I gather, improv is rather cyclical as far as good and bad times (maybe more of a punctuated equilibrium?). To be totally honest I haven't been entirely in the crapper for a long time. I'll do bad scenes and sometimes have bad nights, but I haven't gone through weeks-long slumps lately. Despite not outright sucking, I have felt like I've been treading water since graduation. Between my real-life adjustments and my improv-life adjustments, it's taken me time just to get comfortable. It's hard to improve while surrounded by new people and in new situations.

On one hand it's disappointing to be doing so well right before my hiatus, and on the other hand, it's the perfect time to peak -- right before what might be the biggest show of my life thus far.

Anyway, tonight my edits were sharp, my scenes layered and developed, and my characters unique and committed. Forget modesty; I am going to toot my own horn for once. I had an awesome night. Keep it up, Conklin. The off-season starts next week, you might as well leave it all out on stage. This is my goddamned Super Bowl.

 

[Conklin]

good, not great

We're tapering. That's what I have to keep telling myself. You don't run 800 meter intervals the week before Sectionals. You do long, slow distance running, spend some quality time with the team, and cut back the mileage everyday. That's what happened tonight. Nothing explosive, nothing mindblowing, but also nothing worrisome. It was solid and technically sound. We played well together. We edited well. We did more four person scenes than we have been, which is a good tool to have at the ready. It was a good but not great night.

After that we went out for pizza together. I don't think the four of us have ever spent time together outside of rehearsal. It was good, food and bits. It was the right time. I'm going to miss these kids.

After pizza, Alexis dropped me back at the campus and I eventually caught up with LeMar. More pizza, this time a $5 xl from Dominoes. Scott stopped by very momentarily, just long enough to say hello. LeMar and I watched Average Joe and did hilarious "sore winner dickhead" bits. I had never seen the show before. It's pretty messed up. Sorry Joe.

Then we watched "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" which I had never seen. The movie was way ahead of its time. No one was doing 1970s nostolgia humor back in 1988. Brilliant.

The movie ended and I had to seriously haul ass to catch the R100. It was either psuedo-jog to the station or risk missing the train and waiting an hour in the cold. I realized how out of shape I am, and how slippery ice is. I also caught the train. I walked home from City Hall rather than transfer. It cost me maybe 20 minutes, but I don't work until the afternoon tomorrow anyway.

That pretty much brings you up to the present.
- - - - -
I'm considering crashing at Haverford friday night. It's my last day of work, so I'm not going to want to sit alone at home. And the NC kids arrive late that night, and it would be cool to be on the welcoming committee. I guess I would end up bunking with them in Comfort lounge (don't get too excited, it's a dude's name, not an adjective). I wonder if they'd mind?

 

[Conklin]

I decided while walking to work today that I want to build an improv collective here in Philly.

I also decided that I want to develop a solo format while in Paris. I figure the synergy between my alienation and my idleness has the potential to create great art. Alternately, it might create a free cell chamo the likes of which the world has never seen. I love the unknown.
- - - - -
If you have the means but haven't made plans to be at Haverford College on December 13th yet, then you're probably ridiculously stupid, or incredibly insane, or totally immobile like a slinky sans stairs. No matter which of those is true, I pity you.

 

[Conklin]

give a hoot, Broad Street Owl!

I'm getting a better idea of what I meant by an "improv collective" -- i'm thinking of 10-15 talented people who like and respect each other and are very familiar with each other's strengths and weaknesses, and at any given time have 2-3 projects running. Broader in scope than a troupe, tighter in focus than a theatre. Call it the "Wu-Tang model" if you will.

Philly improv can and will work. I'm willing to do what it takes to make it work. It might not be as easy as trying to get into an established scene somewhere but it will be rewarding and is necessary. As good as some walk-ons are, they can't touch an inspired initiation.
- - - - -
I played with the Throng again tonight. I'm setting myself up for a major heatbreak when the improv dries up -- that's three rehearsals this week, with a worke-shoppe, show, and an insane jam still in the queue. Speaking of which, I talked to Brett of Dillinger who will be directing the Rizzle Bizzle Shizzle workshop. We'll be tackling heightening and environment. Sweet.

Anyway, back to The THRONG! -- those kids are so enthusiastic and fun! They are going to drop some jaws this weekend. Scoop might as well be an international star already because he's the most talented, natural improviser I've ever seen. I like to think I'm not bad, but I bust my ass. Scott just flows, which isn't to say he doesn't put in a hell of an effort, but it's just different. LeMar is only 7 months in, and he's already a seasoned veteran. Peter has grown into an elder statesman and a great improviser. Not to shortchange the rest, but it's after 4am and there are eight members, so I won't get into them all now. Needless to say, they are a talented goddamn group.

I did two very good scenes tonight. One, the bird in the restaurant scene, was a struggle because I had to justify like a mofo but it all came together. It was kind of like the old lady that swallowed a spider, with a cat to go after the bird and a dog to go after the cat and some flies to eat the horse crap and a robot to keep track of the various food chains. The other scene, Uncle Eddie, was easy. Scoop went all virtuoso with an assist from Nick. I was just along for the ride. I kept feeding him fat pitches down the pipe and he kept slugging dingers. The premise was that Uncle Eddie (Scotty) was the coolest guy ever to his nephew (me), but in reality the truth -- which we kept cutting to -- was much more mundane. Instead of smoking up with President Eisenhower he asked him to sign his baseball mitt; instead of shooting a naked chick with condoms with a slingshot he was lurking on her porch. Brilliant showing by Scoop Shovel Scotty.

Maybe I also did something else good, but I don't remember. It's all a blur, which is how it should be. I fucking love to improvise.
- - - - -
2 shifts of work left, and the first of those begins in less than 6 hours. I caught the last trolley back from Haverford tonight. You better believe I jogged -- it's a long wait until the morning commute begins. I'd rather be early and panting than late and crying. I even took the Broad Street Owl home rather than walk from City Hall -- a combination of rain and the lateness of the hour persuaded me.

But now is time for bed, kids. I'll talk to you again soon, and I hope to see you on Saturday!

 

[Conklin]

I had a whole message explaining what was going on at Haverford with the big show, plus our new buddies from North Carolina, but it got zapped by stupid computer face that i'm typing on here.

All you need to know is that the awesomeness has already begun, and it is a long way from peaking.

I'm tired and stiff from sleeping on a cold floor for just a 2 or 3 hours, but I don't even care.

Screw you computer face. even you can't take this from me. this is awesome. i am incoherent. still 8 hours away from performing. oh crap. the last entry was better.

 

[Conklin]

what the hell happened? damn!

Let's see if I can successfully recreate the events of the last day and a half. North Carolina got here at 2:30am on Saturday. To mark the occasion we did scenes until 5am. Then I slept on a floor with a duffle bag for a pillow with 4 other people in a small dorm room. It was cold and uncomfortable. I was seriously pissed when I woke up, until I remembered why I was there. Then I started smiling again.

I woke up at 8ish. I got some breakfast and noticed that I had a message from my mom. She and my dad had decided to come to the show. They drove 4 hours from upstate New York.

In the meantime, Dillinger arrived around 1pm [for the purposes of this entry, Dillinger is Brett Christensen, Risa Sang-urai, Erik Tanouye, Joe Wengert, Zach Woods, and Chris Gethard]. They led workshops. Brett worked the hell out of RBS, and we're better for it. I'll probably get into it in greater detail once I get home.

LeMar and I went on a keg run and we got pizza for the lot of us. We fucked up Marshall auditorium with college debris -- pizza boxes, soda bottles, jam band CDs, etc. -- and all hung out. Then later it was show time. I will probably get into that later also, but I think it was a very good show. I didn't let any swears slip (I wasn't consciously trying not to, but with my parents in the audience it was kind of nice to do a solidly PG-13 show). The THRONG was awesome as usual, and Dillinger laid down some crazy Harold action for the crowd. It was insane. My parents seemed to have liked the show. Maybe they'll understand why this is so important to me now.

That was just the beginning. Dillinger did a second set a few hours later at the after party, and then a jam started up with the DSI kids, Philly kids, and New Yorkers. While it was 20-something peoples, I had some trouble getting involved. Then Dillinger and LeMar, Scoop, and I went to the winter formal and went nuts for 15-20 minutes. Dillinger took off, and the rest returned to the basement for more scenework.

By the end of the night it was LeMar, Scott, Alexis, and me from Philly, and Corey, P.T., and Lisa from NC doing it up, with Alexis's sister and her boyfriend occasionally jumping in and other times serving as an audience. This went on until really damn late. 5 again? Maybe 6? I don't even know. I slept on the floor of the basement with my jacket for a pillow. I feel old after two days of nocturnal spinal abuse.

Alright, that gets us back to now, when I am typing this in McGill Library again. And I'm going to split because I don't want to miss DSI. I have no idea when they're leaving.

 

[Conklin]

details...

workshop
Rizzle Bizzle Shizzle was paired up with Brett Christensen. He was a very good fit for us. After some warming up, he had us do our form. Not that great. We might have underwhelmed him at that point. From there we started concentrating on games of scenes. We started improving quickly. I'm not sure we were completely warmed up at the start, which took some of the bite out of our format and thus served as a poor diagnostic of where we were.

We worked on environment quite a bit, with a series of 5 minute scenes where we had to do something but not talk about it. Those were fun and challenging.

We also did La Ronde style tagouts. those were great.

Brett taught us a warmup that will become a new favorite for years to come: mimed knife throwing. Seriously, it's the bestest fun i've had warming up in a long time.

I could say more, but I'm tired now. After consulting with Alexis maybe I'll remember more (she took some notes, and i, for once in my life, did not).

show
The first Rare Bird Show performance. Nathan's first improv show ever. Alexis and I onstage again for the first time in five months and one day. I don't even know how long it was for Holmes, but I'm not sure if he's performed since graduating college in 2002. If he has, it was sporadic at best.

Anyway, we had many reasons not to expect the best from ourselves. Honestly I couldn't ask for anything more from us. We played together well, we edited sharply, and we initiated strongly. We learned yet again that we have good chemistry. We're very different personalities but we get along well and legitimately like each other.

I did two scenes I really liked, including one where I initiated by bowling and saying "I'll tell you what man: chicks." Eventually through a tagout I ended up in a car honking at Alexis with my foot while hanging out the passenger side door and beckoning her closer. The other move I really liked was coming on as a dude tied up and gagged in the trunk while Matt picked up a hitchhiking Nathan. I think I did a good job of not distracting from what they were doing and adding to the scene, not mugging and hogging attention. At least I hope.

the jam/party
The first half of the jam was a little rough for me. I get anxious in large groups, and there were maybe 20 people on that little stage so i was uptight. And then on top of it, some shit happened in the first scene I stepped up to do that had a negative effect on my trust for the people I was sharing the stage with. I'm not even going to get into it now, but it took me out of the game and I regret it. I shouldn't have let it bother me, but I was already edgy and this just pushed me over the edge.

Break for Snowball! Softcore frog porn! Jug stealing! and Crazy dancing with Dillinger! The best 20 minutes I ever spent at a Haverford dance. There wasn't as much debauchery as Gethard had wanted, but it was still a cool, brief change of pace in a weekend dominated by improv.

Back to improv!

The second half of the jam (unfortunately Dillinger-free) was much better for me, and I had a ton of fun. Some of it was silly, some of it was truly great, but all of it was a blast. We did some piss poor musical stuff that was just hilarious but by any possible criteria piss poor.

conclusions
LeMar posted that "Philadelphia improv is here" in the other places forum. While I agree that we've announced our presence with authority by putting on a quality event and doing quality work, we're not where we could be. It kills me that I won't be around to help build on the success of the past weekend. I want this so bad. Maybe it's insane for me to want to build this from scratch with little formal training and not much experience. I think I can get more opportunities to improve in a smaller, tighter community. We'll see where I end up, and what eventually happens.

in other news
ticket booked. i leave for Paris on January 9th and return on March 30th. I'll be going back to Paris 10-14 days after that and staying through June. I have no idea what happens after I get back.

 

[Conklin]

i like posting after 4am

i am dirty and hungry and tired. my house isn't packed. i have in all likelihood done my last scene with another human being until April at least. i am coming down from my improv high in a big way.

jesus do i feel like crap. i am excited about the future, but the present feels pretty bleak. i've always had a tough time with delayed gratification. chalk it up as another way i'm crazy.

i look stupid when i'm on the back line, but from what i can tell, so do most people. not during the show, but later in pictures. i've never noticed anyone looking particularly stupid on the back line while watching a show, but in photographs 80% of people do. cameras are a freaking joke, man. what good is a moment, anyway?

i'm going to eat a frozen burrito and go to bed i think.