“I LOVED the octopus!”

The theatre I’m a member of consists of directors that have been doing improv for decades, established groups that have been in the game for a while, and rookie/JV groups that are performing and learning the ropes.   I joined the theatre in March or so, and I’ve been performing  frequently since then, moving up the ranks from the rookies to JV, and just recently I’ve started the transition in to a varsity/veteran group.  I’ve passed up a fair number of people in the process, but luckily there hasn’t been any bitterness thrown my way.  Just laughs and praise.
Last night was a rather interesting evening in the land of improv.   The established groups along with a newly formed group of folks moving up from JV each had a chance to perform 20 minutes in front of the 5 directors and show them what they’ve got.  I don’t know 100% what the intentions were here, except that in my case we are getting a new group together, so they likely wanted to see that we could  be a cohesive group.  After each group performed their 20 minutes, the directors were then able to say which group shined, and which performers shined.  There were roughly 50 people in that theatre, and only a few names were going to be said aloud.

We got our lineup of games together, and I was set to be in 3 games.  Because of time we were only able to get 4 games out, so I got a fair amount of stage time, all things considered.  The first game we played is Blind Screw Your Neighbor Tag Freeze.  This game has everyone in the cast lined up upstage with their backs to the audience while two cast members act out some scenario that is initially based on their body positions.  At any time the people in the line can yell “FREEZE!” then a person’s name in the lineup, who will turn around, look at the positions that the now frozen actors are in, and take one of their positions and create a completely new scenario based on these body positions.  Good fun, kinda played out a little flat at the beginning, but it got us pumped.

The second game played didn’t involve me, so I was able to go backstage and relax a moment.

Third game was 4 Corners, where 4 actors are in a square formation.  The 2 people in front are the ones acting, and the orientation of the 4 people are controlled by a 5th person by way of yelling “2 to the left!” or “1 to the right!”  The relationships between the two actors can be anything, really.  two of the people last night were a Rubik’s Cube and a stapler.  In one scene, I was part of a Gum Chewing Chamionship (I created conflict by giving myself lockjaw, having been to a taffy festival the day before).  The suggestion I asked for in my other scene was, “We have a Wilbur/Mr. Ed relationship. What’s the animal?”  I got octopus.  I got a lot of laughs from it, and really hit the mark.  Many of the folks came up to me afterwards mentioning that sketch, admiring my commitment to the character, and the hilariousness that I was able to create with such an unlikely situation.  Lying on my back with my limbs moving about probably helped.

The last game played was Return Counter, where I was working a return counter and people came in returning items, and I had to guess what those items were.  Last night a bra, falafel, and a woman’s chest hair were returned.  I made a choice at the beginning to try out a new character, a war vet with a voice box.  It went well, and I will bring that guy back, but not for that game in all likelihood.

Our group wasn’t any of the director’s picks, but that was to be expected.  And, while I wasn’t any of the directors’ favorite male from the entire evening, I got a nod from at least two of them, and the head honcho gave favorite male/female for each group as well, and I was his pick from our group.  I can’t tell you what this means to me.  He hadn’t really had a chance to see me work since my audition, and looking back I didn’t know shit at that point.  Now he knows I’m the bomb.  “You went way up on my wine list tonight.”  Ah, yes…  The Cabernet Dork…  1980…  good year.
I will likely start having the weekly shows on Fridays at 8pm.  Much better than Sundays at 8pm.

As of now, our group is called 8 Ball.  Because we’re going to perform at 8, and because there are 8 of us in the group, and because with the 4 guys in the group there are 8 balls between us.

FREEZE!  LOOP!