Level 3L - Harold, Ross White, Class #3

I am tired, tired, tired. And not yet sufficiently calmed for sleep.

We worked on beats tonight. On different ways to play second and third beats.
· Same characters at different times in their lives – a time jump.
· Same characters in different situations – ordinary, somewhat extraordinary, way over the top
· Same characters in different environments.
· Different characters in the same situation or with the same dynamic. You could be an animal in the second beat.

We started out with sound and motion and I really feel like we did pretty well in finding three disparate themes to play with. We’re getting better at that clover nipple thing (no I will not let it rest – it is golden).

I wound up as a pirate. I love being a pirate, but I need to study pirates more. The most I can really do is “ARRRRR!”. Now “ARRRRR!” is awesome, but it really won’t sustain a whole scene. You’ve got to add a “matey” or a “landlubber” or two in there for variety. Some keel-hauling and plank walking. Swashbuckling variety. ARRRRR, matey, now there’s some fun, right there, it is! Bring me some rum, wench!

We then used monologues to get information for our scenes. I had a little more trouble with that one. My listening skills are not what they should be, but I am working on it. I am, unfortunately, a kinetic learner. I need to write down what I hear in order to retain it. Teaching myself to remember what I hear will be yet another improv skill that will have a positive effect on my life outside of improv.

Still working on the game of the scene thing. In a scene with Suzanne, I kind of thought I was playing the game. When Ross stopped us and pointed out that Suzanne was tellling me what the game was and that I had missed it, I said I guess I had. I hadn't, but I wasn't playing it with much conviction at all, so I was the only one who knew it. I must remember, if I don't play it hard, I'm really not playing it at all.

I also realize that I am often extremely slow on the uptake. Sometimes I just don’t pick up what people are trying to tell me. I really need to work on that if I want have fun in improv. Or in life.