Shelley's straws

I LOVE this Pic!

Shannon is adding some really cool pics to his Flickr account!

Derek Mize

Just a quick jot about Derek Mize and his work at the Relapse Theatre in Midtown. This guy is amazing.

Derek is the inspiration for the Derek Mize Scholarship at JaCKPie. Every year JaCKPie will give away one full tuition to a deserving member of the community who shows great promise as a performer, contributes selflessly to the Relapse Theatre in Midtown and is also cute as a button.

We love you Derek!

Beards

I can't grow a beard. The hair on my face comes in red even though in college my hair went dark brown. There are also lots of patches where no hair on my face grows at all... so when I try to grow it out I get a lot of people saying "Your face looks kind of dirty."

I played a cowboy in a touring show of a western Beauty and the Beast and the director asked me to grow out my moustache. I did this (the moustache grows in full) but as soon as the stage lights hit it, it almost literally dissapeared. I ended up having to darken it with an eyebrow pencil which for a guy is an absolute ego buster.

When I see pictures of my biological father, his facial hair was very dark and very thick... Sure seems like he could have given me that gene. Maybe he didn't want me to have it... like it was a big responsibility or something.

If you're wondering the guy in the picture is a JaCKPie member named Shannon Jenkins. He flaunts his beard around and makes sure he has lots of stubble on his face to taunt me. He will pay for this one day, but he doesn't know that yet... Of course he reads this blog so I guess he knows now.

Superbowl

So… it is the 4th quarter of the superbowl and here we all are in Shelley’s computer room looking at pictures of their trip to Washington D.C. Of the entire game I remember looking at the screen about 4 times… So obviously I’m not a sports guy. I did see a couple of commercials that I liked.
Bud Light had a great commercial spoofing Rocky with the last picked Clydesdale and dalmatian training to pull the Bud Light wagon. Great moment at the end with a nice high five between the two.
Coca Cola had an awesome parade float fight between Stewie and Underdog with an unexpected win by THE Charlie Brown.
I don’t know what car commercial it was but the “what’s more than that” of not hitting a deer, not hitting Alice Cooper and almost hitting Richard Simmons in the road was pretty cute.
Mary and I rarely go out for Superbowl Sunday but an invite from Jim Dewberry cannot be turned down without much consideration. Turned out to be a nice relaxing evening of good company and about 3 bowls of carnivore chili, chocolate chip cake and all the soda you could guzzle. Talked about improv more than I wanted to (for my wife’s sake because she isn’t an improviser) but she was a great sport about it and we really enjoyed ourselves.
Now it is time to look forward to this week. Two classes, a workshop a show, two meetings and a lot of planning. Here we go… Happy Superbowl Sunday everybody!

Back when they were in Level 1...

This picture makes me smile. The composition happened when I asked them all to run from different places in the room at each other on the stage and then stick it right before the flash went off. The energy in the picture is so tangible... I love it.

Derek, Ed, Shannon, Will, Sally, N8, Amy, Chris and Benji

They are actually this fun every single class... They are a real blessing 

Funny Receipt

This is the first time in my life that a RECEIPT has made me laugh...
In case you can't read it, it goes like this:
* Roll Wrap
* Curl Swirl
* Bday Card
* Walk N Ride
* Banana

Something about the way the words are put together, the sounds match up and the actual content of the list itself tickled me. Thought it was worth sharing.

Story by Robert McKee

Oh man am I jazzed about this book. This guy talks and thinks right in line with my brain in a way that makes his truths just slide like butter right into the theory I teach with...

Got an idea while reading it at dinner that I'm going to go back and start creating reading guides for the books that I keep suggesting to everyone. That way, people have some of my favorite equal signs to work with, even if I am not able to be with them in person when they are working through the more technical stuff...

I have to start a wiki tomorrow or Monday that will complete the triad of my improv communication with students. The bulletin board, this blog and the wiki will work together to give the community a constant source of educational direction to supplement the 5 levels and for those that have a large appetite for truths will not be at a lack for brain food.

Can't wait until JaCKPie is really my only job so that I can get the true amount of educational material out there that I currently have no time to generate. I want the full experience to be uninterrupted for those students who constantly want more...

Also, masters classes soon for Alumni... pretty jazzed about that too!

I love my job...

Today in Level One class I inadvertently made reference again to something I said 6 years ago when I was describing the 2 man improvised show I would be doing with Chris Pierce. People were fascinated by the concept and wanted to know things like "Do you have a premise?" and "Do you know what characters you'll be doing?" I replied to one of them "Nope. Just the two of us, no idea at all what the show will be about. No props or set. Just two guys, two chairs and a shower curtain."

Today in class it was the shower curtain part that came out and it ran across my brain in a lightning flash how far we've come since the first two man show. There are over 60 people involved in the project now counting actors, students and interns. From 2 to 60 in 6 years and we still have the same core mission and beliefs that were used to begin our first duo show.

I'm hanging in there and just trying to keep myself in a good head space about the whole thing... Keep my mind on the work and taking care of everyone and not let the risk and pressure of it all get to me.

In case you are wondering and/or care, the red curtains that we use today are the same ones that we started with 6 years ago. They were made by hand with grommets, scissors and a bolt of red cloth we found. Amazing.

Arrows on stairs

How wonderful that the owners of my office building felt it necessary to put arrows on the stairs to tell you where to go. I'm assuming this is in case of emergency. Like you're smelling smoke and passing through the emergency door and you're panicked and you're thinking "Which way is down?!! Which way is down!!??"

I wonder if these were placed because of a law suit. Like the warning label on disposable coffee cups that tell you that coffee is hot and you might get burned... because someone burned themselves on hot coffee... and they were surprised.

The basis for the suit must have been "When I was coming out of the emergency exit, I didn't know how to get out of the building so I went up... and up... and up... and I found myself on the roof... and there were flames!!! And it was horrible!!! And I died!!! Give me some money."

I really want to get in there early one morning before anyone else and reverse all these arrows... or at least make the ones on the right go up and the ones in the middle go sideways. Or maybe I'll replace them all with those little feet that show you how to dance. So in case of emergency you must salsa your way to safety... or rumba... or fox trot.

Nope... I'm wrong... the arrows need to be placed so they lead you straight into a wall... or sway back and forth... or lead to a big X on the floor with a pirate spelling of "treshur" beside it.

Nope... got it... on Monday I'm just going to make more of these things and continue them out of the stairwell all the way to where I park my car and then go back and have them start from my desk and lead to the stairwell door. Yep... that's it. Totally do-able.

Needs:
* Color Printer
* Scanner
* Scissors
* Paper
* Tape
* Tape Measure
* Drafting Paper
* Drafting Pencils
* Copy of "Your Guide to Arrows and Tape."

Awesome. Please comment to this post if you want to help me out... I've got a lot of cutting and laminating to do and could use the support.

If you are still actually reading this blog entry, you just made it into my top 10 friend list.

Good night all!

Spanglish

It is so funny to me that I will grill myself for hours about what free movie I want to commit to from the on demand from Comcast or if I'm going to pick something from Netflix, but I will sit and watch 30 minutes of Spanglish with commercials on TBS before I even realize what I'm doing. WITH COMMERCIALS! I hate commercials. I am the king of fast forwarding through them and stopping perfectly before the show starts, but turn the TV on, see a random movie like Spanglish and boom... there goes 30 minutes.

Ask Jim #3: Offer vs. Truth

No actual question today, but this is an explanation that I have given  more than once after I have steered to avoid the term "offer" in a conversation. Enjoy!

 

As most of you already know, I am a firm believer in finding the right terms when we are describing our art and its building blocks. Yesterday it hit me why I don't really care for the term "offer" when it comes to something that an improviser is giving in a line or an action in a scene. The term offer is supposed to indicate that you have put something out on stage to be used, but for me it also indicates that the other person could NOT TAKE THAT OFFER. In our work at JaCKPie we teach that everything that is said or done is right and that once it is spoken or acted on stage it is true.

 

So when are we offering something up to our partner? Never really. We are creating a truth or we are not. If we "offer" it, we might also be indicating by accident that we want it to be approved by our partner. But if we say it, our partner won't be approving or declining because our approach has pre-acceptance built in, and they are going straight past deciding whether to use it or not and moving straight to making something out of it.

I know some of you out there might think this is just semantics but I can't tell you the number of times I have heard "They didn't take my offer" said about someone's scene partner. The problem really isn't that they didn't take it, it is that the environment is still allowing for things not to be taken. If a person walks right by a truth in one of my classes or workshops, I stop them and point out what is already true... I don't indicate that if it was a better line then it might have been worthy of being accepted by their partner.

So the real problem, if we are working from a utopia of perfect acceptance, is not that people are not accepting offers, it is more that they weren't aware of the true potential or the bigger truth behind what was said or done. When we think this way we do not even give the player the subconscious thought that an OFFER might not be accepted and we indicate that you should pay very close attention, lest you miss a TRUTH.

Additions to the Library

When I am searching for truths and equal signs for my work in improvisation and spontaneous theatre at JaCKPie, I rarely look for books ABOUT improvisation... My favorite resources are books about playwrighting, acting, directing, screenwriting and so on... Tonight, I purchased 4 books that I will soon deconstruct in search for said truths and equal signs...

And here they are... in order of what fell out of the Barnes and Noble bag... (PLEASE REMEMBER THESE ARE NOT RECOMMENDATIONS... I JUST BOUGHT THEM AND HAVEN'T READ THEM YET!)

Story by Robert McKee - Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting. Randomly flipping pages, I see awesome sections on Character, Tension and a great page on what makes an argument and why they don't work on screen/stage. Can't wait for this one. The really big selling point is that I agree with the first thing he says. "Story is about principles, not rules. A rule says "You must do it this way." A principle says, "This works... and has through all remembered time. The difference is crucial."

The Playwright's Guidebook by Stuart Spencer - An insightful primer on the art of dramatic writing. Skimming through, I see sections on Action, Motivation, Subtext and Character... all big favorites. Especially excited to see a formula that states "General Qualities + Emotions + Action + Speech/Behavior = Character.

The Unconscious Actor - by Darryl Hickman - Out of control, In full command... The art of performance in acting and in life.  Right off the bat, I spot at least 3 references to Zen so far... mmmmmmmawesome. Chapter one is title "Movie Star or Monk?" and Chapter four is titled "Beyond Box Office: Performance as Art." The man had me at Hello.

Oops! Well look at that... I was wrong, I didn't buy 4 new books. This last one is an old favorite... I buy a copy of Free Play, Improvisation in Life and Art by Stephen Nachmanovitch every time I go to that particular Barnes and Noble for a friend. This copy is for Jillian Fratkin, who is a teacher at JaCKPie and is also doing work forming our Director's Series shows... This book blows people's minds. Before you run out and buy it though, make sure that you read Chapter 2. Some people have trouble responding to his writing style and I don't want to be slapped around for suggesting you buy it Blindly. (If you want to slap me around, please find another excuse. There are plenty. If you need suggestions that are guaranteed to work, just ask Chris Pierce. Or my old teacher Dr. Dan. Or my Cat. Any of those should work.)

So there we are... Four books... 3 new that I can't wait to hit and 1 old that I can't wait to give. It is a good night all around!

Too much time in prep and not enough in WRITING.

So it is 8:48pm and I have zero words toward my daily goal of 1000. What's up with that Jim? Where's them words?

I spent my free time today working on the actual idea of the book that I am writing and how I might make it work instead of actually writing the book itself. I am attempting to create cross references in a way that will lead from one logical improv connection to the next. I've installed the plugin that it took me so much time to find and now I will test it out here. Let's pretend that I want to reference the [cref 23] from the blog article that I read... see? I did it! All I had to do was to type [cref (for cross reference) and ID Number] I am also supposed to be able to Reference and change the description by adding the description after the ID Number. Let's Give it a try. Here is [cref 23 an article.] Did it work? I have to save this entry to find out!  Alright. Enough talking about what caused this... I have writing to do!

Microblog: Fanta, No car and T-mobile Wing

• Looking at the T-Mobile Wing™ one the web and enjoying a Fanta beverage with hard boiled egg and oatmeal. MMmmm... #


• I have no car today so lunch is a lot like work... but without all the work... and with more food... #