#ucb improv

[thatoneautistic]

nobody is gonna see this lol but i need more mutuals around the same age as me!! lol (im 19)

[despite-what-we-both-know]

I will never get over taking this pic of d’arcy carden and her looking into my eyes.

[labec99]

UCB Improv 101 is complete! Loved loved loved learning and laughing with this crew. (at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre - Los Angeles)

[theatresleepovers]

It turns out that an improvised ghost musical is exactly what was missing from your life!

[explorethesargasso]

CARDINAL REDBIRD!

[jennysaint]

An Encounter

So, this very surreal thing happened tonight. I am on an improv team with seven white people. This isn't unusual, unfortunately, but important to the story. For our shows at UCB, we do a pattern game opening, which consists of free associating ideas until we land on a funny premise that we then explore for a bit before moving on. During our pattern game someone said "moving to the suburbs" and immediately what came to mind was the weird segregation of the suburbs, due in part to a This American Life I had just finished about integrating schools and how insane people were behaving about it. So I said "I guess I can't like black people anymore?" which got a surprised laugh from the audience. Surprised laughter, to me, points me in a direction. Go there, explore that. This is my perspective. The show happened, and I ended up initiating a scene as a girl from the city trying to make sense of the suburbs. I was looking for the super for my house, I was nervous about interrupting my neighbors. And, because I had brought it up in the pattern game, my scene partner was racist. (The note I got after the show was that I should've called out the racism harder up top.) So then, after our set, a young black woman approached me and said "you're the racist one in the group." And, assuming this to be patently untrue about myself, I laughed and said "yeah that's me!" Some teammates heard this exchange and said "oh yeah, we all are!" To which the girl replied "no, I just mean her." She then told me that my black people line in the pattern game was offensive. I immediately apologized because I would NEVER want to make someone who comes to UCB feel like an outsider, or disrespected. And her perception is what matters, not my intention. So I apologized. But then it got weird. And this is where being an ally and standing up for myself got intertwined in a sticky web. She then proceeded to say things like "I want to succeed at UCB but not if I have to play like you." And other such comments about me, Jenny, as a performer. She expressed frustration about the fact that in her 101 class her teacher had told the students to avoid bringing up race. She said that when black comedians bring up race, they get looks, but white people can do so with impunity. I told her again that I was sorry, I told her that I would absolutely examine my thought process and how I could be more responsible on stage. And she smiled, and again called me a racist. And made remarks about my performance. I got defensive, because I'm human. I told her "I'm making it up up there. Maybe there are some systemic thoughts that I need to examine, but this is also a vulnerable art form and you're crossing a line now." She smiled, and asked what my name was, and shook my hand and walked away. As she walked away she said "yeah bitch". Which maybe isn't important. Maybe that's my way of negating some of her reaction. I don't know. I consider myself an ally. I try to choose my words carefully, I try to challenge assumptions about gender, race, and class when I see them. I try to listen. This was the first time I've been directly told "what you did was offensive to me." I believe her. Even though my intentions were to highlight the absurdity of white flight, present day segregation, the weirdness of the suburbs, ultimately, I was a white girl on a stage full of white people able to do something this girl was told not to do. There are lots of ins and outs to UCB teaching philosophy, and I can understand why a teacher would want to avoid race in a 101 class. I can also imagine that her very valid problem with what I said stems from not seeing huge diversity on stage or in her classes. I don't know. I've never experienced an otherness like that. There's no real Point to this. It was just a startling thing, leaving me with a lot to consider.

[jennysaint]

The Struggle Is Real

(This idea is stolen and mapped onto improv from my college acting teacher Jim Crawford and percolated in many coaching sessions with indie teams)

Here are a few assumptions I’m working from: 

-improv is inherently a theatrical art form, with an emphasis on comedy -great performances come from heart space, not head space.  Meaning: having a quick wit will get you a laugh, but having quick access to your emotions will get you the glory.  Let’s say you’re in a scene where your character’s going through a divorce, but today you’re on a bro-trip to shoot some deer. Two things are probably true: 1.) You are deeply sad/frustrated/angry/hurt about the divorce 2.) You don’t want to ruin bro-trip deer killing time with all your negativity, plus you love your friends and are happy to be with them.  This is, essentially, character game, the XY axis of where sadness and bro-time meet.   Lots of times we have trouble playing both parts of this game.  Usually we will talk about how we feel (”I miss Sandra/I’m pissed at Sandra”) without showing the emotional truth of that because the character doesn’t want to be a downer. And when we do show our emotion, it sometimes doesn’t hit as hard as it should, especially if it’s a big choice later in the scene.  For example, breaking down crying and yelling “Sandra!”.  Here’s my theory as to why, and what to do about it:  Drama and comedy live in the same house.  Sometimes they share a bed.  Look at Emma Thompson’s performance in Love, Actually (a truly terrible movie, but she is a star).  When she’s at her home, and realizes that her husband is cheating on her, we watch this long take of her coming to the realization, putting coats on her children, making a brave face, tearing up, making a brave face, and walking out the door.  It’s a powerful moment in, again, a truly stupid movie.   If she had simply burst into tears, thrashed around, screamed, it would be surprising, it might even be interesting to watch, but it wouldn’t have the same power.   The struggle is the power.   And the same is true in comedy, and especially true in improv.  The straight person in a scene is constantly struggling between going with the flow and logic and truly great straight men are so fun to watch.   So if you are in a scene where your character has conflicting emotions, don’t talk about them, show them! We want to see the character try and overcome sorrow, put on a brave face, have the cracks start to show, barely keep it together, etc, etc.  If, in the end, the character does break down, it is so much more satisfying as an audience member, and so much more fun as a performer.  Toe the emotional line, and you will find comedy nirvana.  Because if your focus is on your heart, you can’t be in your head.  

[ucbcomedy]

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