Sprezzatura #3 - My Favourite Drawer Of Clothes
I can feel autumn on the wind. The first hints of summer's end are in the air. And I absolutely cannot wait.
I love sweater weather (SWEATERS!). I love not feeling like a humid, sweaty mushroom. Give me cool breezes and earth tones. No question that September is the best month in Montreal and it can't get here soon enough.
What am I into this week?
TV SHOW: Taskmaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4YhsooE5xY (hopefully viewable where you live, nearly all of it is on YouTube, with the most recent episodes being added weekly)
Somehow not all of you have discovered this show. It's a British panel show (that's a whole genre worth exploring if you haven't yet) but rather than just talking, these comedians are given seemingly ridiculous/mundane/impossible/infuriating tasks. The Taskmaster then gives them arbitrary points and the winner takes home prizes. But, like all good things in life, neither the points nor the prizes matter. Instead, it's the pure joy of watching funny, clever people reacting to the situation. There's little acting, just people being their funny, clever selves. And it's gold.
COOL THING: Magic Mirror
You can take a bit of two-way glass, put a computer screen behind it, and hook it up to a cheap micro-computer (like a Raspberry Pi). Configure it just right (tricky!) and you get a "magic mirror". I reaaaallllyy want to make one when I get a chance.
SONG: Call Me Wild by Cory Wong (ft dodie)
It's a house party, the pool is glinting in the setting sun, you're talking to your crush and hoping they notice how cute you are. This song comes on. And you can't help but tell them you'd like to go get a drink together some time. (the whole album is a great listen)
Improv Tip
"Don't set the house on fire right away." This has been my reformulation of "avoid instant trouble". But basically I mean: don't start the scene mid-problem.
"Ugh, I got an F!" "I want a divorce." "Where are my keys??"
Classic opening lines because it feels like you're injecting energy and giving yourself something to do. But my problem is: who cares? I don't know you. I don't know who you're talking to. Why should I give a rat's ass about your problem? The house is on fire but, as an audience member, I have no reason to be affected. As a scene partner, I have no context as to who this affects us.
Take 15-30 seconds to establish the who-what-where. Let's meet the family at home for the night. Feeding the baby. Putting it gently to sleep in the crib. The couple cuddling on the couch and falling asleep. A spark goes off in the kitchen. Flames leap and catch on the curtain. The house is on fire, but now we are invested in this family. We know who is in the house and we care about the house being on fire.
The house can catch fire. Just don't start with the house on fire, and robbing us of why we should care.
Events
Chris Mead is still traveling to Montreal from England to teach Get In Trouble, Fall In Love. He just wrote a big, fun list of things that improv teachers should/could do! (There was a typo in a previous newsletter, it's on WED SEP 13.)
There's an online class (hooray for those!) with Lauren Baumbauer, a wonderful teacher from LA, called Twisted Love Stories. "Our classes will start with a lighter path into potentially darker stories. We may find silly and surprising ways to tell deeper stories or we may find some dramatic theater." Runs Sep 3-Oct 22.
And for those of you who who like science and comedy, I can tease that the new season of the Learn Real Good podcast is halfway done recording. Katie and I drop science facts (she's a biology PhD, I'm a physics grad), make lots of dumb jokes, and interview grad students about their fascinating, cutting-edge research. Season Four is not far away!
An Interesting Wikipedia Page: Cleopatra's Needles
L8r sk8rs,
Vinny