Americans:
What is going on in the world of PHIT? A couple of things:
1) We are on the Twitter now! Well, I guess we were on the Twitter since March or April or something. But I've just figured out how to use it! I refuse to get a Twitter profile for myself - I think that I am too vain about my Facebook as it is. But it feels okay for me to use the thingy for a business.
Do you know what I like best about the Twitter, America? That it confuses me. I like that I am only 27 years old, yet there is a technology out there that 87s me. I am all using two fingers to type in crazy things that may or may not make sense at all, and that brings me joy.
So, the point: PHIT is on Twitter so follow us and tell your friends. NOW GET OFF MY LAWN
2) Comic Vs Audience is taking a well-deserved break in the month of June. In its place, PHIT is testing new waters by holding a staged reading. I view this as the first step in an developing programming to assist Philly-based playwrights in the writing of their scripts. Improv has beed used for ages as a process for preparing written material. In fact, this is how the famed Second City creates much of their sketch material. PHIT has such a huge community of wonderful, talented improvisers, writers, and writer-improvisers, I think one way we can make use of such a resource is to offer it up to the greater Philadelphia theater community as a way to help drive right past that writers block, and to make sure you don't use terrible metaphors like "driving past that writer's block."
3) PHIT staff - myself, Meg Favreau, Kristen Schier, Jason Stockdale, Rick Horner, and Scott Sheppard - were just at North Penn High School in Lansdale, PA for their annual Great Improv Event. What a talented group of kids! I hope some of them will stick around Philly instead of running off to be science majors at a Liberal Arts college, or pre-communications at some third-tier State school. Because as everyone knows, thse are the only two options.
xoxo
alexis
your artistic director
and
hat enthusiast
Monday, May 25, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Improv is the new Woodstock
I was watching some fantastically great hip and cool improv at Studio 34 this past Thursday night. I saw two giants of the improv scene: Rare Bird Show and Illegal Refill. To know how cool that is I guess you might have to be part of the scene - and that is the right word too. Improv has become a scene. I am going to try to describe the experience for you. Here goes:I made my way over to West Philadelphia around 9:15- 9:30. I knew the kids from Fletcher would be there, cause they would just be getting outta rehearsal.
The show wasn't until 10. I was a bit early. I walked into a large warm yoga studio replete with cushy sofas and large haremesque pillows. Members of Illegal Refill and Rare Bird Show were scattered about the large room, broken off into smaller groups and holding relaxed conversation.
"Hey Fletcher, one of you wanna run the door for us?" asked Alexis . "Sure" says Buseman - or something like that. I mean its improv right, who needs a plan?
Anyway - the studio slowly started to fill up with kids in cool t-shirts who had probably just locked up there environmentally friendly bicycles on the street below (I wouldn't know about that, I take cabs). Before I knew it, the place was packed with young 20-30 somethings. They crowded into the old office chairs, sat cross legged on various and sundry giant pillows intermittently spread out on the floor, and, after a while, even leaned against walls.
I looked at the audience at one point during the show and I saw a sea of cool haircuts and faces (both familiar and new) turned upward toward the stage and smiling. As I looked at this sea of attractive young faces I got this feeling, and I am not entirely sure about this, because I was never cool, but I got this feeling that these kids were hip. They were not the usual dorky Star Trek loving nerds you hear about assembling to see some make-um-ups. They obviously weren't at Studio 34 because they had nothing better to do with their time. They were there to see improv - because seeing improv has suddenly (or not so suddenly) become cool.
I don't know how educated the crowd was about what they were watching. Somehow I don't think they were there because they has studied improv. It was clear, however, that they enjoyed it. To them, I imagine, its like seeing a band you enjoy. I do believe there are even such things as improv groupies.
Besides being cool, seeing improv is also economically friendly. Its so not corporate - ya know? The show was, in fact, free! Yes, free! - and also BYOB. Everything about the show had such a hip underground feeling to it. I know it is a hard feeling to impart, especially over a blog, but fortunately you can experience it for yourself the third Thursday of every month.
So come be part of the underground improv scene. What am I saying? obviously, if you are on the PHIT blog or you look good in a t-shirt you already know about it!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
back to my roots
I start teaching for PHIT again this weekend. It will be the first class I have taught in just about a year and I'm definitely looking forward to it.
For those who aren't familiar with PHIT from the beginning, the whole idea of a theater started with classes. There had been a few one-off classes taught on longform by folks like Matt Holmes, Bobbi Block, Alexis Simpson, and Tony DiGerolamo when I sat down with a few people in October 2005 and laid out my vision for PHIT.
The first improv class I ever taught was a Level 1 class that shifted all around Houston Hall on the Penn campus because it was a space I could get for free (I was still affiliated with Penn at the time). Every week I would realize I had to teach the class in a few hours and then sit down to try and write what exercises I would do. About halfway through I realized they would want some kind of performance structure to do and settled very haphazardly on The Armando. I'm thankful I didn't ruin them all. In fact, a couple of people turned out pretty darn good: Mark Dames and Jay Brenner were both in that first class. Along with a girl named Sarah Handfest. Sometimes you just cannot make this stuff up.
From that, we've come a long way. There is now a fully written out curriculum with class goals, exercises, descriptions, etc. for each of our improv Levels (the curriculum totals around 65 pages for all three improv levels). We've got a dozen plus people who've taught classes at the theater - and many, many more if you include workshops - and we've started sketch classes.
And now I'm back teaching, at least for a few weeks, which I'll stop short of calling a nice *break* from the business side of things (because that never goes away), but instead call a nice thing to look forward to on Sundays...
You hear that Level 3 students??? Don't mess this up!
For those who aren't familiar with PHIT from the beginning, the whole idea of a theater started with classes. There had been a few one-off classes taught on longform by folks like Matt Holmes, Bobbi Block, Alexis Simpson, and Tony DiGerolamo when I sat down with a few people in October 2005 and laid out my vision for PHIT.
The first improv class I ever taught was a Level 1 class that shifted all around Houston Hall on the Penn campus because it was a space I could get for free (I was still affiliated with Penn at the time). Every week I would realize I had to teach the class in a few hours and then sit down to try and write what exercises I would do. About halfway through I realized they would want some kind of performance structure to do and settled very haphazardly on The Armando. I'm thankful I didn't ruin them all. In fact, a couple of people turned out pretty darn good: Mark Dames and Jay Brenner were both in that first class. Along with a girl named Sarah Handfest. Sometimes you just cannot make this stuff up.
From that, we've come a long way. There is now a fully written out curriculum with class goals, exercises, descriptions, etc. for each of our improv Levels (the curriculum totals around 65 pages for all three improv levels). We've got a dozen plus people who've taught classes at the theater - and many, many more if you include workshops - and we've started sketch classes.
And now I'm back teaching, at least for a few weeks, which I'll stop short of calling a nice *break* from the business side of things (because that never goes away), but instead call a nice thing to look forward to on Sundays...
You hear that Level 3 students??? Don't mess this up!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
PHIT & NMSS' 30th St Station FREEZE
This past Monday PHIT made it's first foray into the world of Improv Everywhere style flashmob stunts. We had been thinking about stuff like this for a couple years, but I had always felt like we'd just be repetitive. However, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society got in touch with us last fall and wanted us to replicate the Grand Central Station Freeze that was done in NYC a few years ago as a way of raising awareness about MS (a disease which keeps people from moving eventually). It seemed like a good cause.
We had a lot of people signed up, and our actual group ended up being smaller due to the weather - a huge snowstorm - on Monday, but NMSS did still edit together the following video so you can get a feel for it. Check it out:
One really cool thing coming out of the event is people's interest in doing more stunts like this. So we may be doing one again soon. If you've got ideas for good stunts that are original, post them below... so far the best thing I've heard is a Snuggie flashmob.
We had a lot of people signed up, and our actual group ended up being smaller due to the weather - a huge snowstorm - on Monday, but NMSS did still edit together the following video so you can get a feel for it. Check it out:
One really cool thing coming out of the event is people's interest in doing more stunts like this. So we may be doing one again soon. If you've got ideas for good stunts that are original, post them below... so far the best thing I've heard is a Snuggie flashmob.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Asaf Ronen's "Getting Yourself Out of Your Own Way"
Feeling unhappy with the quality of my work with Activity Book, and having an almost tangible sensation of being blocked mentally, I decided to sign up for Asaf Ronen's workshop, "Getting Yourself Out of Your Own Way."
Turns out to have been the best improv-related move I've made in a while. Ronen addressed exactly the issues that have been plaguing me since I started working with Activity Book.
My big problem (in improv and in life) is that I feel an incredible amount of pressure to be "nice." In improv, this is compounded by those lessons we are all taught when starting out:
"Always accept your scene partner's offers."
"Be there for your scene partner."
Granted, these are important lessons to be learned. However, when we spend too much time worrying about our partners, we ultimately end up failing them because we don't make strong choices and offers, and ultimately, we force them to do all the work in a scene.
For example, this is my thought process in a scene:
My partner and I walk out on stage and he begins to mime the act of shoveling. This is a perfectly good physical choice and offer. However, in my mind, I'm thinking:
"Okay, he's shoveling, but what is he shoveling? Is he shoveling snow? Dirt? Or, maybe he's digging! But what is he digging? A hole in which to bury treasure? A grave? Whose grave? His? Mine? But am I sure he's using a shovel? Maybe he's a farmer using a pitchfork on some hay!"
I get so caught up in worrying about getting it "right" that I am unable to add anything to the scene. In trying to be an "unselfish" scene partner and honor my partners' choices, I end up failing them.
The focus of Ronen's workshop was teaching us how to be "selfish" and focus more on ourselves and our choices and less on trying to anticipate and figure out the full extent of a scene partner's offer. Through a series of exercises we learned that if both partners enter with strong choices, even if those choices don't appear to be related, those choices can come together to form a good scene.
The exercise that had the strongest impact on me involved a series of trajectories that Asaf drew on the floor, using painter's tape. The trajectories varied in length and direction (straight, angled, up the wall) and ended with an X. Calling us out in pairs, Asaf instructed us to choose a trajectory, follow it to the X, and develop an attitude, character, or need along the way. Then, we were to begin a scene without checking in visually with our partner.
Naturally, we all found it difficult to resist the instinct to look at our scene partners, because we've all been taught that improv is all about taking care of your partner. But by focusing on ourselves, we were able to avoid second-guessing ourselves and bring strong choices to our scenes. The truly amazing part of this exercise, however, was seeing two people with seemingly incompatible choices coming together to create a good scene without directly relating to each other. Coaching us to "widen the circle," Asaf taught us that we can embrace our partners' choices without letting go of our own choices. If one person decides that he is a stuffy English butler and the other decides that she is an astronaut exploring Mars, a stronger scene will result from both partners accepting the presence of a butler on a Mars expedition rather than from either partner dropping his or her character.
Another way to think of it is as a Venn Diagram, with each person in the scene represented by a circle, and the scene represented by the area of overlap. The best scenes happen when the scene partners work together to find the overlap.
Of course, many people have tried to teach me this lesson, but years of conditioning are not easily undone. What made the difference for me was seeing this concept isolated and explored in a fashion not unlike a laboratory experiment.
At the end of the three hours, I felt that I had a better understanding of improv, and of my own strengths and weaknesses. I'm still working on bringing these lessons to my work with Activity Book, but I do feel that I'm not quite as "in my head" as I have been. Asaf Ronen's workshop more than lived up to its name.
Turns out to have been the best improv-related move I've made in a while. Ronen addressed exactly the issues that have been plaguing me since I started working with Activity Book.
My big problem (in improv and in life) is that I feel an incredible amount of pressure to be "nice." In improv, this is compounded by those lessons we are all taught when starting out:
"Always accept your scene partner's offers."
"Be there for your scene partner."
Granted, these are important lessons to be learned. However, when we spend too much time worrying about our partners, we ultimately end up failing them because we don't make strong choices and offers, and ultimately, we force them to do all the work in a scene.
For example, this is my thought process in a scene:
My partner and I walk out on stage and he begins to mime the act of shoveling. This is a perfectly good physical choice and offer. However, in my mind, I'm thinking:
"Okay, he's shoveling, but what is he shoveling? Is he shoveling snow? Dirt? Or, maybe he's digging! But what is he digging? A hole in which to bury treasure? A grave? Whose grave? His? Mine? But am I sure he's using a shovel? Maybe he's a farmer using a pitchfork on some hay!"
I get so caught up in worrying about getting it "right" that I am unable to add anything to the scene. In trying to be an "unselfish" scene partner and honor my partners' choices, I end up failing them.
The focus of Ronen's workshop was teaching us how to be "selfish" and focus more on ourselves and our choices and less on trying to anticipate and figure out the full extent of a scene partner's offer. Through a series of exercises we learned that if both partners enter with strong choices, even if those choices don't appear to be related, those choices can come together to form a good scene.
The exercise that had the strongest impact on me involved a series of trajectories that Asaf drew on the floor, using painter's tape. The trajectories varied in length and direction (straight, angled, up the wall) and ended with an X. Calling us out in pairs, Asaf instructed us to choose a trajectory, follow it to the X, and develop an attitude, character, or need along the way. Then, we were to begin a scene without checking in visually with our partner.
Naturally, we all found it difficult to resist the instinct to look at our scene partners, because we've all been taught that improv is all about taking care of your partner. But by focusing on ourselves, we were able to avoid second-guessing ourselves and bring strong choices to our scenes. The truly amazing part of this exercise, however, was seeing two people with seemingly incompatible choices coming together to create a good scene without directly relating to each other. Coaching us to "widen the circle," Asaf taught us that we can embrace our partners' choices without letting go of our own choices. If one person decides that he is a stuffy English butler and the other decides that she is an astronaut exploring Mars, a stronger scene will result from both partners accepting the presence of a butler on a Mars expedition rather than from either partner dropping his or her character.
Another way to think of it is as a Venn Diagram, with each person in the scene represented by a circle, and the scene represented by the area of overlap. The best scenes happen when the scene partners work together to find the overlap.
Of course, many people have tried to teach me this lesson, but years of conditioning are not easily undone. What made the difference for me was seeing this concept isolated and explored in a fashion not unlike a laboratory experiment.
At the end of the three hours, I felt that I had a better understanding of improv, and of my own strengths and weaknesses. I'm still working on bringing these lessons to my work with Activity Book, but I do feel that I'm not quite as "in my head" as I have been. Asaf Ronen's workshop more than lived up to its name.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
PHIT Resident Group websites going up
When we originally started down the "House Team" path over a year ago I was really excited about all the web-presence stuff we would be able to do with them to get word out about PHIT. Then I realized getting websites designed is expensive... and that we didn't have a graphic designer at our beck and call 24 hours a day... and that we had no publicity photos. Of course, I still *wanted* to do it - but we weren't quite ready when the House Teams premiered in October.
So here we are now and it's February and the publicity photos are finally starting to trickle back in along with people's headshots, and we've sorta added a 4th group with The Moops and I'm finally starting to get stuff up. I think the websites we have are quick and dirty for now. They have some nice stuff up, and for a designer with as limited a skill-set as I have they are pretty good - but we will be upgrading these sites in the future.
For now though... check out:
http://www.activitybookimprov.com
and
http://www.themoopsimprov.com
Comments are genuinely, sincerely appreciated below!
So here we are now and it's February and the publicity photos are finally starting to trickle back in along with people's headshots, and we've sorta added a 4th group with The Moops and I'm finally starting to get stuff up. I think the websites we have are quick and dirty for now. They have some nice stuff up, and for a designer with as limited a skill-set as I have they are pretty good - but we will be upgrading these sites in the future.
For now though... check out:
http://www.activitybookimprov.com
and
http://www.themoopsimprov.com
Comments are genuinely, sincerely appreciated below!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
VIM Radio debut
If the question is "Where can I hear local improvisors perform a show without leaving the comfort of my sweatpants pile?", then this is your answer:
VIM Radio
Sneak Preview episode, RSS feed to come.
VIM Radio
Sneak Preview episode, RSS feed to come.
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