Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Sunday was the first day of advanced improv class with ComedySportz in Philly. When I first arrived, there were only a couple people there, but I did arrive a little early. Our instructor, Dave, was there, along with Jessie, who will be assisting with the class.

Instead of having class in the theater, which is where intermediate class was, we were back down in the room where we had our beginning class last winter. That room has now been carpeted and painted, so it was a little nicer, though it still has issues. At one point in the class, a fluorescent light tube fell out of a fixture and nearly hit two people!

Participating in the class were Liza, Geoff, Colleen (who's cut her hair and added highlights for a nice contemporary look), and several people we hadn't had class with before.

Tim has short gray hair and is about average height. He was wearing faded jeans and a gray sweatshirt. Jen is tall, almost as tall as Colleen, with long, curly red hair. She was wearing a moss-colored track suit. Chuck is about my height, a young, square-jawed guy with brown hair who was wearing a cream colored, oversized sweater. Walking in late, J.T. is about average height with dark hair and glasses. He was wearing a blue button-down shirt and khakis.

Because there were a number of people who didn't know each other, Dave had us start with a couple name games and warm-ups.

Then we did the game "What Are You Doing?" as a competition. Dave laid out to us what the class was all about. It was about preparing for the type of performance skills you would need to get on-stage and do a ComedySportz performance. So he emphasized that one of the things that they emphasize is the competitive aspect. We were supposed to do it with a lot of energy and really challenge the other people while they did their activity.

I did fairly well this time around. One of my problems was saying "I am doing such and such" rather than just "doing such and such." But that was something other people were doing, as well, which is why it was so hard to break.

Another problem I had was hesitation. Again, when I think back to how I was doing when I first started, and I'm a lot more comfortable with it than I used to be.

Colleen was the master. It was hard to compete against her; she very seldom messed up.

We worked then on scene work, taking turns on stage to do really short scenes, just establishing who, where and what. Each of the scenes was based on a suggestion from Dave.

I was in a scene with Jen where the suggestion was "exam." I started jumping up and down with my hand raised, "Me, call on me!" She called on me, and said, "Yes? What's the answer?"

"7B" I said.

"That's correct!"

"Yay!" I said, and jumped up and down. "I win, I win."

Dave liked that. He said we could have taken it further, like a scene about how the classroom had become a game show.

In another round, Geoff was a used car salesman, trying to put pressure on Tim. One of my favorites was between Jen and Tim. The suggestion was "party", and Jen started going down a list of things she was getting for the party. Clearly, she was a party planner.

She said, "And the bride will be wearing?"

He said, "White, like most brides."

She acted as if this was something of a surprise. When he started sort of imitating her accent, Dave told them to build on that. Jen acted upset, telling him he didn't appreciate being mocked. In response, Tim said in frustration, "Well, this is the third time I've marched this broad down the aisle."

Suddenly, the whole scene made sense. You got a sense of what the scene was really about: a frustrated father, who was still paying for his daughter's wedding, even though she couldn't seem to make them stick.

Chuck and J.T. did a scene where the suggestion was beach. J.T. was running, and Chuck caught up to him and told him to take some time off and relax on his vacation. J.T. said, "But I've got this marathon."

"That was yesterday."

"I can still finish it! It's not over; it's never over."

We also did some longer scenes, where we could get into the scene a little longer. I had a scene with Geoff where the suggestion was fountain. I said, "Let's get in."

He said, "Yes, let's take off our clothes and get in, sis. Like we used to."

Dave suggested I think about what I thought about my brother and what this scene was about. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "Bob, we're going to have an intervention for you. You need to start wearing clothes."

He said, "Why? It's a natural thing."

"You're an accountant!"

"Yes, in a nudist colony."

"But you're getting audited. The IRS guys don't like it when you stand up from the desk to greet them. Besides" and I turned away from him and threw up my hands, "you're embarrassing me."

I didn't see it, but he reacted with a little slump of the shoulders and a bite of the lip, as if he was surprised and hurt. Dave stopped us there and told us it was good.

Liza had a scene with Chuck where he told her he wanted to get a new Grizzly bear wallet before they go extinct. She said, "Well, it depends on how gay you want to be." Then it turned out they were old friends, and she might be his therapist, trying to help him deal with his homosexuality. At the end of the sketch, she revealed she also wanted to be a gay man.

Then we did Freeze. We didn't do it blind this time, so you could see what the other characters were doing before freezing them and jumping in. When he was demonstrating it, Dave had Colleen help him. They took a suggestion from the audience, and I said, "Elephants," because they seem to have a permanent home in my subconscious and pop out frequently.

So Dave and Colleen were hunting elephants, and he was holding a big gun. She got scared and dropped down on the ground, crawling along behind him. He froze them there and had Geoff and I take their place. I took Colleen's place, while Geoff took Dave's.

Dave called out a new suggestion: cowboys. I said with a thick drawl, "I'm tired of being the horse. It's your turn." I stood up and Geoff got down on all fours. I was swinging a leg over his back when Dave stopped us. That got a great reaction from the other class members. It's the sort of thing that I can only credit to the muse of improv, because I have no idea how that came to me.

We could go in as often as we wanted to, so Colleen ended up on stage a lot. She frequently froze people and took their place, and then when other people got up there, they would take the other person's place instead of hers. But she had a lot of fun with it and got very physical.

I had a scene with Liza where the suggestion was farming. She was positioned with a finger pointing upwards. She said, "And if we grow the corn here, it will grow as tall as the sky."

I acted really tripped out and said, "Whoa, dude. Where should I put the pot, between the cornrows?" I grabbed a flat of plants, and we started planting them.

In another scene, I had tapped out someone who had both hands clasped into fists and held out front rather stiffly. The suggestion was war, and Chuck called out, "Get down! Incoming," pushing on my back. We both crashed to the ground as I screamed, "I lost both hands!"

I used my elbows to crawl around, and he crawled on his belly. He said, "I knew we should have joined the Peace Corps."

Liza and I were in a scene where the suggestion was teenage girls. We were lounging around on the floor, and she was telling me that she was going to wear these jeans when she goes out with Brad. "They're slimming, aren't they?"

'Your pink jeans are really nice," I said.

She asked again, "Don't you think they're slimming?"

"I wore them when I went out with him," I revealed, hugging my legs into my chest.

There were so many good ones it's hard to remember them all. One other that pops to mind is Tim taking surfing lessons from Geoff and then falling down onto the stage when a big wave hit.

Everyone was taking big risks and jumping right in there. We were surprised to find out at the end of the class that Chuck was supposed to be in the intermediate class, not the advanced class. We all applauded him for a job well done. I guess we won't be seeing him next week, as he moves to the class he's supposed to be attending.

One person we will see is Carol. She's enrolled in the class but was in California this week. Sadly, Lori, Meghan and Boris didn't sign up for this session. Maybe it was a bad time for them. They'll be missed.

At least we're meeting new people. I'm proud to say that ever since my freshman year of college, I've met new people every year. I think it's important to constantly be expanding your experiences and your associations.

Dave gave us some notes about things to think about. He told us to be sure to stay clear of the "brown bag territory," material that's not appropriate for families. That's a big thing for ComedySportz. Also, it's very important to challenge yourself not to go for the dirty joke, since it's so easy. We also, of course, are supposed to think about establishing a platform on stage.

After class, I had a talk with The Gryphon about whether or not to go to the open auditions for the ComedySportz troop this coming weekend. They have eight slots open, so they're holding auditions. I talked to Dave about it before class and told him that I didn't know if this was a good year for me to try it, because I have the wedding coming up. He encouraged me to try out, since they don't have auditions every year but only when spots are open.

Plus, he said it's a good time and you have nothing to lose. Apparently, some of the best people on the current ComedySportz stage had to try out two or three times before making it. I figure it can't hurt to give it a shot.

More Musings from improv class:

Improv Class Musings Index

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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