Thunder Clown has accepted two new members into their fold with open arms, and are already utilizing the new members’ strengths to their great advantage.

They aren’t playing on the third as Thunder Clown, however, most of the team is in the performance class that is playing that night, so I encourage their many, many fans to show up and catch the show, you might be happily entertained.

With two new players, the team had a changed energy on stage.  One of discomfort, slight hesitation and of invitation all at once.  The team invited the new members into their scenes with a wonderful series of trusting offers and relationships that allowed Vikki and Jeff to bring their unique points of view to the stage.

I’m excited to have both Jeff and Vikki on the team for several reasons, the most important is their experience.  Of course their improv experience is extremely improtant to me, but more important to me and Thunder Clown is their life experience.

Even a slight difference in age allows them a different point of view to most scenes, and I think this will challenge the team as a whole, which is, as you know, a good thing.

Great job this week, Thunder Clown.

What an awesome show.

The team hit all three goals right on the money.  They had games that didn’t pay off until half way through, they had awesome continuity in both their scenes and their group games.  They let several scenes develop without pressing or early editing.  Yay Team.

Most importantly, they trusted each other to play a non transformational game.  They punctuated an awesome set by book ending it with the third beat of an awesome group game involving prayer, interpretive dance and the national anthem.

It was one hell of a show to end a season on, and I can’t wait for next season, which starts next Tuesday night, 7:30 pm at the Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis.

We’ll see you there.

Thunder Clown only had four bodies on stage tonight and it showed. The team doesn't have the capacity to run that lean yet, but they put in a monstrous effort to cover.   There was a general instability around deep character exploration due to an absence of power on the back line and when that happens a lot of exposition starts to spew, and once that happens, it’s hard to look away.

In rehearsal we had a couple of our best invocations to date, and I think that the team is finally firing on all cylinders.  We need to cement the idea of nodding back to our suggestion in our game and work on listening to the ideas that are coming out of the opening now that it is creating larger themes in “Thou Art” and “I am”.

For next week, I think we’ll work specifically on slower scenes again at the top, and then have fun with edits, staying away from the opening since we seem to be honing in on it. 

Also, a note to self on tech.  If you, as a director, don’t make sure that the tech team understands what the performance teams’ goals are for a show, tech can actually work against the performers as it tries to help.

This week the team had a LOT more fun. They took their time and played in each one of their scenes. They weren't afraid of letting ideas hang out there for a minute or two or to allow for unknown characters or ideas to be present in their scenes.

From here forward it’s all about patience and allowing them to play as smart as they really are.  My goal is for them to be able to fill a 45 minute show with one Harold.  How sweet is that?

They took some wonderful chances this week, and made moves that they would never have attempted as recently as three weeks ago.

• Suggestion: Fish
• Goal: PCP
  • Playfulness
  • Continuity
  • Patience
• Five Scenes, One Transformation Game

Over all, their scenes were slower and they used edits to lengthen and explore. They started with personal initiations that allowed them to have character points of view later in the set when the characters were called back.

They took chances with tag outs and scene painting, and are proving that their timing instincts are definitely maturing, getting into and out of a scene when it was needed, even if the initiation needed some work.

I can tell that they are questioning being in the ensemble and that they don't know if I've got them pointed in the right direction. They are uncomfortable because they are in new territory and there is an underlying fear. They are now ready to be put back together.

I just hope that they trust me long enough to do it.

• Suggestion: Egg Beater
• Goal: Continuity
• Eleven Scenes, Two Transformation Games

There were several dark scenes (which I always enjoy), the first of which was the very first scene. It crept darker and deeper down the rabbit hole until the back line, literally, saved the spiral by telling a player that she was wanted. This caused the audience to applaud happily, and it gave the walk on a nice, reoccuring character to pull off the back line whenever a savior was needed.

In rehearsal we worked on initiating with a line completely different than your partners, and it paid off in several scenes, as did some awesome patience and scenic dedication.

This week we are going to work on the patience and scene length. Good times.

• Suggestion: Candle
• Goal: Continuity
• Ten (-ish)Scenes, Two Transformation Games

We had good continuity last night, but we definitely need to delve deeper into the thematics that we are discovering in our opening and scenes to find the deeper parallels to play with. The team made some great discoveries in their game play during their set. Even when they weren't sure what someone else was doing they did an excellent job of allowing them to continue to do it with only minimal attempts to justify the unknown or uncomfortable. Most of the justification came in the form of story telling around the things that made the plot fuzzy to the main players, and this will only go away as they build the skill of keeping their own point of view in the face of a partner with a stronger point of view or an unknown or uncomfortable choice.

• Suggestion: Turtle Neck


• Goal: Continuity


• Eight Scenes, Two Transformation Games

During rehearsal we toyed with using different edits rather than only using the transformation edit so that we had better control of the pace of their show. This was also a piece of my diabolical plan to use their transformations as the game in a Harold and introduce them back to sweep edits in a comfortable environment.

The team immediately enjoyed mixing in various edits and recognized the power and fun they had when they could effect their own pacing. The confusion set in when trying to fit their scene work into the scaffold of Harold.

I used the old AB BC DA structure to explain the relationship potentials, and then layered it up a level to AB BC DA 12 23 41, so that their scenes looked like:
AB
12
BC
23
DA
41

Maintaining and remembering relationships and character became a little frustrating until I inserted their transformation edit back in to the game slot of the Harold:
AB
12
Transformation
BC
23
Transformation
DA
41

and suddenly a little light went on somewhere in the group mind.

It’s a little dim yet, but it’s there.

Their show reflected their new-found joy in the pacing and their brains began firing on new cylinders as they investigated the idea of continuity. We’re almost there.

Thunder Clown is a brand new, Seventh team added to the rotation who has already amazed me with their ability to play and create, and I'm looking forward to seeing where they can take improv.

They perform Tuesday nights from now until April, so if you are in Minneapolis, come out and see them, and if you aren't, make it a priority.

Even if you are attempting something new or unfamiliar, you have the implicit permission of the stage to act as if you own it, because you do own it. You NEED to own every scene, every moment and every idea that comes out of you and the ensemble to the point of fanatic resolve.

Be greedy with the stage and it's light, be generous with your attention and information and, as Joe so elegantly put it, seductively and playfully get what you want.

This brain dump is brought to you buy my first listen to my favorite bands latest opus.

Sports
Wings fucking lost. Fuck. Fucking fuck. During this series I realized how much I respect the game of hockey for having guys like Steve Yzerman. What a fucking HOCKEY guy he is. Anyone blaming him is a nut. I’m not sure who’s to blame. Still, I can’t believe they found a way to blow a 2 goal lead. Well, I guess all you can say is GO0o Pistons!

In the last month I:
Went to Phoenix, Az
Saw my niece for the first time
Performed in a Neutrino Project
Performed a show in the dark with Jokyr and Jesster
Saw a bunch of great shows at the Phoenix Improv Festival including but not limited too Cog, Great Adventure, and Jokyr and Jesster
Managed to get pulled over AND given breathalyzer tests twice, I passed
Took three exams, wrote two papers, and worked in a shop where I assemble rod holders
Wrote a resume
Went on an interview
Was photographed in my wet underpants
Started smoking again…ugh
Cried, smiled, and cried while smiling

Phoenix was very cool for me, and I think it was a great thing for Lisa and I. We came back revitalized, and it was nice. School, and work, and driving get in the way of us having a good time together so often, the change felt good.

During the fest Chuck taught a great workshop (with me as Mr. Helper), I saw some great shows, and I made some observations about improv in general. Since then, I have been working on my own scene work quite a bit. Improv theory seems to arrive in spurts of simplicity for me. I only wish its application were as simple.

Based on my observations I have hastily drawn some conclusions.

The first conclusion refers to any given improvisers emotional output, and the intensity at which it is delivered. A level ten in emotional output is deceiving, and is often exposed as a six when scrutinized. Try it. Sit with a director, friend, fellow actor, whatever. Have them count off ten second intervals, and at each interval intensify an emotion, until ten is reached. Hold that feeling for twenty seconds, and flex it if possible. Then lower it to about a seven. End the exercise, take few seconds to walk it off and breathe, then do it again. Use a different emotion. Don’t hurt anyone please.

The second conclusion deals with backline support in a team setting. A team of improvisers finally “scene painted” in a way that wasn’t annoying. Apparently, I like scene painting when the back line uses it to intensify an improviser’s choice, but not to direct a particular scene. As an actor, I will use the time that the scene painting is taking place to hold and intensify my characters emotion.

CTAS has made some strides toward their newest form. Tailgate is coming together as well, and I’m curious to its life after Thursday.

The Tool album is cool. I’ve been repeating tracks one, two, and four all day.

Some rock-ass lyrics from Track 1 – Vicariously:

I own the TV
'cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor
It happens to be

Don't look me at like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
While the mother, holds her child
Watches him die
Hands to the sky cryin,
"Why, oh why?"

Cause I need to watch things die
From a distance
Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
You all need it too - don't lie.

-Fin