Sprezzatura #21 - Surely Everything's Fine
It’s been a minute since my last email. Life threw a few curveballs my way over the summer but things have stabilized. I’ve got the capacity to write again in this new normal.
Montreal Fringe Festival has come and gone. Our show, J’aime l’amour, hit all the notes I could have hoped for and more. Great performances, touching and hilarious, all based on love stories from the audience. 10/10
Katie and I traveled to Picton, Ontario to play as our duo, Chestnuts, where we improvised a movie based on a tiny synopsis from Leonard Maltin’s 1996 movie review guide. I have to say that our version of “A Little Princess (1995)” was one of the best shows we’ve done. If I could bottle it, I would. Hot tip for good improv: live with your improv partner for at least a decade.
Improv College is coming back. I’m traveling to an improv festival in October. The sweaters are coming out of storage. Summer is over. Let’s tumble into Fall.
A VARIETY OF THINGS
[VIDEO GAME] Seven Days to End with You
Seven Days to End With You has you waking up with amnesia in a strange place, trapped in a house, with only a mysterious woman as your guide. You don’t even understand the language she is speaking. But this linguistics puzzle game lets you piece together the words, bit by bit. You look for any scrap of context to build up your dictionary to slowly unravel what the heck is going on. I haven’t ever played a game like this and loved every second of it.
[VIDEO] A History of Hip-Hop Music Samples (Warning: naughty language)
This music history lesson could have just been a spreadsheet. Hip-hop song A samples song B. yawn
Instead, we visually see HOW sampling works and the wild creativity and inspiration on display. Hip-hop makes music itself into an instrument and we get to see the genesis of some of the most iconic songs you know.
[TV] The Devil’s Plan
Netflix Korea has created the greatest reality show I’ve ever seen. Forget about taking 12 hot dumdums and putting them on a beach (no shade to hot dumdums; thank you for your service). Instead, The Devil’s Plan takes 12 intelligent people and makes them play competitive and cooperative custom-designed board/card games. They are eliminated one by one until there is a champion. There’s alliances, secrets, a prison, and —best of all— incredible competitions, puzzles, and games. There’s two seasons available and I wish there were a thousand.
IMPROV TIP
Ok, so maybe you don’t need to move in with your improv team just yet. But maybe try Check-In and Check-Out rituals before and after shows/workshops?
The Doorway Effect is a phenomenon that occurs when people enter new spaces (typically through a door/entrance) and they subsequently suffer short-term memory loss. The idea being that your mind is keyed to physical or metaphorical spaces and entering a new space basically loads a new, blank file in your brain.
It might be self-evident, but your improv self needs to be in a different headspace than your not-improv self. To help “enter an improv headspace” with a group, you can start all of your workshops or shows with a physical ritual. Maybe you all sing a song, give each other a high-five, or play your team’s favourite warm-up game. And then have another ritual (or the same!) at the end of the event to return to your not-improv self. Repetition is key for each event. You’re training your brain to associate the ritual with a mental threshold that you enter and exit.
Checking in to your improv sessions creates a clear boundary between your regular self and one where you are focused, engaged, creative, and ready to improvise. You’re getting into “performance mode”. Checking out allows you cleanly exit “performance mode” and return to your regular self. You’re tapping into the Doorway Effect and the more often you can reinforce that, perhaps you can train your brain to slip in and out of an improvising mindset more easily.
(Big thanks to intimacy coordinator and dear friend, Jen Viens, for the idea!)
EVENTS & THINGS
NEW CLASS: Improv College is back with a new online class for your Saturday afternoons. I’ll be teaching Unstructured Narrative from Noon-2pm (Eastern) starting Sep 20. For four weeks, we’ll work on improvised longform, creating a play from nothing, without a skeleton or format. Instead, we’ll just follow our whims and instincts to see where they lead us. We’ll examine why the story is working (or why it isn’t!) and collaboratively explore our way into what comes next. Space is limited and, as always, we have a couple discounted places available for equity students (first come, first served - no application needed).
== As a thank you for subscribing to the newsletter, you can use discount code NEWS30 to get 30$ off the regular price of 120$ CDN.
TRAVEL: I’m gearing up for a trip to Norway for the Oslo Improv Fest (Oct 18-26). I’ll be teaching but also (pinch me) I’m in a show with the UK’s Katy Schutte as our duo, Oak and Maple. I’ll also be swinging by Copenhagen to work and perform with Inconspicuous (Oct 28-Nov 2). Lemme know if you wanna say hello while I’m in your town!
MEGA-NERD: I also started a Magic: the Gathering (?) podcast, called Untapped Libraries. (?!!) I’ve been playing this card game on and off since 1995 and it’s always been a key part of my life so why not make something about it? My other podcast, Learn Real Good, is still on hiatus but there’s 40 sci-comm episodes of Katie and I being science goofs for you to peruse if you wish. (Must… Keep… Making stuff…)
An Interesting Wikipedia (Guidance) Page: No one cares about your garage band
L8r sk8rs, Vinny