Sprezzatura #29 - A Future Full Of Apples
Summer recedes and the tide of our orbital tilt brings ashore the crisp winds of autumn. Can’t think of a better way to usher it in than with a local improv festival.
Le Grand Yes And ran from Sep 23 to 27 and featured a slew of great shows and workshops. It’s nice to see the Montreal (and beyond) improv communities shine for each other. Plus I got to meet so many wonderful friends, new and old. I’m already looking forward to the next one. Congrats to the organizers!
A VARIETY OF THINGS
[NEWSLETTER] Roy Janik’s Profoundly Human newsletter
Roy Janik is one quarter of the phenomenal Pgraph improv group out of Austin, TX. I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen them perform and teach a few times over the years and now Roy has started his own newsletter. Couldn’t hit that subscribe button fast enough.
I’ve been really appreciating how he thinks and writes about improv. Each issue is filled with his deeply earned experience and has clear, actionable ideas. It’s a bite-sized workshop in your inbox.
[WEBSITE] can-i-get-a.com is now available in German
It’s funny how these things happen. I went to the Manila Improv Festival and had the good fortune to meet Niklas Reese who offered to translate our improv suggestion site into German, our 5th language.
Gil and I started it because he wanted a coding exercise and I wanted to make my improv workshops and rehearsals run more smoothly. Now we’re pumping out about thousands of improv suggestions per month around the world.
And, with some good fortune, stay tuned for more languages to come. If you wish to volunteer to translate the site into another language, please let me know at [email protected]
[WEBSITE] https://expo67now.ca/
In 1967, Montreal hosted the World’s Fair, Expo ‘67, on a pair of islands in the St Lawrence River (not everyone knows that Montreal is also a giant island in the same river). They expanded these islands from the dirt they dug up when they built our Metro system. Today, Île Ste Hèlene and Île Notre Dame hold the an amusement park, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve where the Canadian Grand Prix is run, and the Montreal Casino, which is the repurposed France pavilion from the Expo.
This fun site lets you hover over a satellite map of the current island with a window to the past and see what was originally there during Expo ‘67. It’s fun to find the Scandinavian or Yugoslavia pavilions, or the British-American Oil Information Centre, or… ASBESTOS PLAZA (?!).
IMRPOV TIP
I’ve heard it from a few places: “Avoid transaction scenes.”
It’s good advice if you’re starting out. There’s no built-in relationship because you’re strangers, you have to do the busy work of establishing who you are, why you’re there, and other busy work that bogs down the start of an improv scene. You can shortcut 90% of that by assuming you know each other and getting to something a bit more interesting than asking for the price of a muffin.
It’s a common go-to because that’s one of the main interactions we have with people we don’t know. When we’re starting improv, we don’t usually know the other performer in the scene with us. So, hey, fall back on a default interaction, right?
But… you know what transaction scenes are great for? Character work.
Here’s an exercise: The Fantastic Store
Four improvisers are on stage. One of them is the clerk at a fantastic, magical store and the other three are standing in line waiting to order an item.
Each of the customers picks a strong character that is far from their real self. Each of the three customers, enter the store one at time, step up to the cashier, and orders whatever they like. The store has it in stock regardless of how ridiculous the request is (yes, and!). Once one person leaves, they get some applause and the next customer enters.
Once everyone’s gone, swap out the customers and cashier among the students so everyone gets at least one turn being a customer (not everyone gets to be a cashier).
It’s meant to be a super short interaction. They walk in, ask for something, they get it from the cashier, pay (of course, they have the money for it!), and leave. Next!
I’ve found that the characters that come out of these exchanges are WAY stronger than I’d get out of the students when having them do other types of scenes. The weaknesses of the transaction scene (short, meaningless interaction between strangers) is a strength here as it allows the player to focus on their character choices (physical, vocal, emotional, point-of-view, and so on).
It’s not something I’d necessarily put in a show but it definitely exercises a set of improv muscles that can be tricky to work out for many beginners.
PROMO
Movie Night - Sat Oct 10 @ 7pm - Aux Angles Ronds (5333 St Laurent)
Katie Pagnucco and I (aka: our duo, Chestnuts) do a longform set based on a movie summary! It’s our signature show and we love doing it every time.
Sunday Night Improv - Sun Oct 11 @ 7pm - Theatre Ste-Catherine (264 Rue Sainte-Catherine E)
Katy Schutte and I join Montreal’s longest running English improv show. It’s a classic for a reason and the cast? mwah! (chef’s kiss)
The Witching Hour - Sat Oct 17 @ 7pm - - Aux Angles Ronds (5333 St Laurent)
Katy Schutte and I do a spooky duo show with openers Stevie & Me. Katy and I played in VR for months and then got to do a live duo in Oslo. It was one of the highlights of my whole trip and I’m very much looking forward to this one!
Katy’s Montreal Workshops
In my humble opinion, Katy Schutte is a world-class improv teacher. Montreal is hugely lucky to have her visit and teach two workshops. It’s an opportunity that I don’t think it will happen super often.
Take your pick: Object Work (always useful) or using time as character building tool in your improv (killer tool for your toolbelt).
Registration and details:
Never Walk Through A Mime Table Again (Tue Oct 13, 30$)
Time Travel (Sun Oct 18, 30$)
And there’s still a 15$ slot available for the Time Travel class!
An Interesting Wikipedia Page: Zacharie Cloutier
Break hearts and legs,
Vinny
