When building Group Games, trust simplicity as The Coalition's Big Bosses did in this To The Ether game. Why? When a pattern is this clearly established and heightened you can reach the point where you don't even need to finish the sequence before the audience is laughing uproariously, having completed the pattern in their own […]
To establish sustainable scenes, it is helpful to remember that each player on stage can have at least one Personal and Scenic game at their disposal to heighten. Personal Game – how you react to who you are, where you are or what you’re doing * I love cake; when I eat a piece I’m overcome with […]
The embedded clip is an Organic Opening from a Harold. In it, the group establishes a progression through three vignettes: Frat Boys, Freshman and Senior Sorority Girls They engage the environment and make interesting stage pictures. They leverage verbal patterns of call and response. And they follow each other. Enjoy! [wpvideo kXymzgzB] Want to learn […]
The clip embedded below shows the 1A, 2A and 3A scenes from a Harold in succession. It shows how, instead of just following plot through the beats, one character's emotional behavior - in this case, Matt Newman's reaction to learning that people close to him are sleeping together - can be heightened through scenarios beyond […]
As said best in Truth in Comedy, “The Harold is like the space shuttle, incorporating all of the developments and discoveries that have gone before it into one new, superior design.” The other way around, Harold’s learnings pack in the lion’s share of what you need to know to do any other long-form, which is […]
Audiences love Musical Improv. LOVE it. They know you're collaborating in-the-moment to build something out of nothing AND YOU'RE FOLLOWING A TUNE AND YOU'RE RHYMING!!! Musical Improv is hard. It's hard to make up with songs in-the-moment. It's harder still to make those songs a backbone to a compelling story, with rich character and emotion. It's […]
Jive Turkey is Chris Ulrich and Joe Randazzo. They've been working on a two-man format where all the worlds connect. There's certainly a through-line of a plot here - finding one character's spouse, trying to have a threesome with said spouses, etc. - but what I like here is that the worlds are more connected by […]
A "Blackout" is a short scene with one big punchline. In sketch, or in improv with a tuned-in booth operator, the lights would go out on stage after the punchline, designating the end of the scene and earning the name "blackout." Blackouts are fun. They can help vary the pacing of a long-form show. They […]
Seek symmetries. Empower asymmetries. Establish rules of cause and effect. Repeat. These steps help guide a group of improvisers in crafting a collaboratively-established game they can heighten together. "Simplify," is my directive to students learning how to build group games organically. If you have more than two or three perspectives each vying to be heard, […]
This is a fun show. Lots of support. Big group games. Many recurring patterns through the show. Invested characters. Accepted endowments. And some authentic Improv As Improv Does Best moments. Enjoy! [wpvideo VThQG06T] Horse Apples is Matt Newman, David Pijor, Matt Micou, Patrick Gantz and Joey Tran Thank you, District Indie Improv Festival for having […]