Alert! We're Starting at 7:30 tonight (venue's fault)

Yo! I just got the call from Simple Studios -- they goofed on some booking issue. Long story short: We're going to start at 7:30 tonight.

I'll still be there at 7:00, since I figure some of you guys will. It'll be a nice chance to chat a bit, I hope. We can still go til 10:30, thus getting in our full 3hours -- but we'll play it by ear, since I know leaving promptly at 10 can make a difference for those with travel or other types of plans.

Sorry about this, friends. They'll get an earful from me. Nobody messes with my class and gets away with it!

See you at 7:30! Or 7! Or, hell, 9:45! (please try not to come at 9:45)

Your slightly exasperated pal,
Geoff

Tonight's The Night!: Week Five- Gettin' Silent

I'm on the run, but just want to confirm that we're gonna rock one of my favorite exercises tonight - nice and simple, just some scenes with a lot of silence. We'll also do some Open Crossing, maybe some emotion chairs and/or Basement/Unbasement, and intervals, sweet intervals, in one configuration or another, depending on turnout.

We had a record-breaking turnout last week, which makes this a big night. Am I expecting 10 again? I'm expecting awesome again.

Come on out! $20, 7-10, Simple Studios. Get freaky. Or classy. Or whatever your gut wants you to do.

I love this class.

Your pal,
Geoff

Tomorrow: Week Five - we get to silence

All right!

Week five is tomorrow, and among other stuff we're gonna make good on the part of my class description that says "exercises involving... silence".



Easy, Eddie. You can talk all you want.

Your pal,
Geoff

That was Awesome - Week 4 Blows the Roof Off

Holy macaroni!

Last night was fantastic. The.. burbly durbly. It ruled. 10 people - beating the previous record by a margin large enough that the margin itself would beat the previous record.

The margin between the margin and the previous record would itself be large enough to beat the previous record.

Free gin awesome.

And hoo, boy, they were game as could be.

Stuff we did included:
Rubbing the google (copyright Kevin Scott)
Slap Daggers
Word Smash (Thor-style)
Open Crossing
This is Bullshit
Emotion Chairs
Basement/Unbasement
And
Raw Intervals

Notes I wrote included:
Very realistic w/ the One sided dialogue then appropriate
& varied degrees
DARK OK
The Birth of Fred Schneider!!!
Bruce Lee & Bruce Willis

Everyone stretched themselves in one or more of these exercises, and a lot of truly spontaneous, unplanned, surprises, and dynamic work ensued.
I really felt like I got to see people getting in touch with their instincts -- and even better, people letting go of that "outside eye" that we improvisers use to evaluate everything we do while we're doing it.

I'm proud to have helped this class to happen.

Now, jumping from 3 awesome people last week to 10 awesome people this week was a big adjustment, and there are a couple of adjustments still to be made. I'm going to break up the Intervals to make sure no one has to sit too long, and definitely reduce the time we spend on warmups to 15 minutes or less.

Please, anyone who's taken this class or who is thinking about checking it out, don't hesitate to drop me a line here, on facebook, or at my email, with your questions, concerns, suggestions, threats, or recipe requests. I'm good with eggs and meats.

Thanks to everyone for coming out, and I hope to see you (and you) next time.

Wahoo!

Your pal,
Geoff

Tonight's the Night -- Week Four

Yep yep yep, tonight's the night, week four of Thursday drop-in. I'm pretty goddamn excited. Maybe not... sexually excited like Mr. Courtin (Courtin' indeed!), but very excited.

Last week was such a blast for everybody, and they're all planning to come back and are gonna try to bring friends who they think could use it.

Want to add yourself to that number?

Do it.

Doooooo it.

For real.

We're gonna keep on jumping tonight, as I continue to refine my methods for getting you out of your head and fully open and on the stage with no plans whatsoever. It really worked well last week.

If you want more surprises per show, come work with us.

I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so.. I'm so... scared?

7:00! Simple Studios! Wahoo!

Your pal,
Geoff

That Was Awesome -- Week Three Made Me Happy

Well well well! How the pendulum has swung! Last night was really great. 3 awesome people came out, and we worked our asses off.
They were each game as hell and threw themselves into everything we did; and let me tell you, they really made beautiful work out of every bit of it. Each of them spent at least one exercise working on stuff that is a challenge for him/her. Everyone stretched themselves, and everyone got into the flow of things and starting having stuff bubble up out of themselves whose origin they couldn't really identify.
Which is the main point of this class.
So Kudos!! To Ann, Athos, and Patrick. You guys did really, really good work yesterday.
And also left me really, really happy.


Stuff we did included:
Word smash, Thor-style
Phone tag
Open crossing
Emotion chairs
And a glorious hour of Raw Intervals

Notes I wrote included:
No real reason to do it
ah well, we're learning to teach
30s scene
Chinese takeout
cocktail cabinet
awe- can b + or -
jealous is not peevish
Nice!
Silence to be used
Filter - Apply it to multiple things
Allow it to ⇑⇓ in intensity
⬑MAYBE NOT
Yay! Being oblique - nice
Neat! jovial-faced suspicion
Mathematics
Neat! two-person scene of all asides
Crisper transitions
Falafels → that's your right in the intervals
Arc
swirl -- spiral!
(Bus stop)
that just happened
Intervals can go dark
No need ever be funny
+ NEW RULE whoever goes 1st gets to go again at the end
Able to twist OK!!! this does that to you now
Hand car -- in head at 28
3 towns so organic!
(right?)

Seriously, this class was frigging great last night. It was an awful lot like my fondest dreams of how this class can go.
You three, come back. And you who haven't come yet, or haven't made it back, come on out. The Thursday drop-in is getting better and better.

Your pal,
Geoff

Tonight's the Night! Week Three!

No time to type much -- gotta run out the door. But tonight's gonna be awsome, I can feel it.

I bought a stopwatch, man, no kidding.

This shit just got real.

I hope to see you there!

Your pal,
Geoff