Pat has been performing improv for a while, because that's all he's wanted to do. He got his BA in Theatre at Florida State University, while also performing on the school's improv troupe Oncoming Traffic. He has also performed at the Miami Improv Festival, the Dirty South Improv Festival, and the Black Box Improv Festival. He moved to Atlanta in July of 2006, where he began peforming at The Basement Theatre under the artistic direction of J*. He was appointed Improv Director of The Basement in January of 2007. One of his most memorable moments at the Basement was when Mo Collins of MadTV fame performed a scene with him where she became the physical manifestation of his pirate "man jewels." Currently, Pat performs in Free Kittens! with the JaCKPie Theatre Workshop at Relapse Theatre.
Pat wastes his free time by working for a brokerage and playing Guitar Hero.
Here are Pat's notes on creating this month's Mixtape:
Most people had anticipated me creating a mix with nothing but metal and fast paced songs with indiscernible lyrics. Oh ho, not so fast! I’ve designed shows before, and it wasn’t gonna be that way! I also purposefully only put ten songs on the tape to allow Jim some room to do longer scenes.
Obviously, SOL stands for Stages of Life, but I tried to be subtle and make it seem like it meant Shit Outta Luck.
I really wanted it to be a mixtape…not just a “tape” with songs that I like but a real MIX of songs that carry an overall theme. So I started looking for songs that had spoke or had mention of various stages of life. Tool had “infancy” Toys R Us is a kids song, BNL had 9th grade, ST was a very young-adult angst song. Aladdin was tough because I wanted it to symbolize graduation, and entering the real world.
After that it’s the stages of adulthood: first love, marriage, kids. Then I followed it with old age. I wanted to use Windows and Walls by Dan Fogelberg but couldn’t find it, so Beatles was my 2nd choice.Relient K definitely had the right tone I wanted to close the show with. Most songs were about killing someone, or themselves…seldomly did I come across a song about themselves dying of old age. But Relient K worked great, and I had confidence in Jim to make it work.
Jim did a great job of following interpreting not only the lyrics themselve, but the style of the singer/song itself.
I also got a kick out of some of the audience reactions, especially Whole New World. The clapping in When I’m 64 kind of caught me off guard.
I look forward to making another one!
Mix Tape by Pat Young
Title: S.O.L.
6/14/08
Pat did an amazing job on this mix tape. There were some fantastic surprises! His theme (I found out after the show) was life from beginning to end. Here is the songlist:
1. Tool - Lateralus
2. Toys R. Us song from commercial
3. Bare Naked Ladies - Grade 9
4. Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
5. Aladdin - A Whole New World
6. Mary j. Blige - Love At First Sight
7. Frank Sinatra - Love and Marriage
8. Ugly Kid Joe - Cats In The Cradle And The Silver Spoon
9. Beatles - When I'm 64
10. Reliant K. - Deathbed
The show was about the journey of an intelligent young boy named Hugo, his dealings with being a commercial actor, being a young genius moving too quickly through school, his mother trying to find a husband and him a father and young "love" with a girl named Penny.
Here is my breakdown of the show, song by song:
1. Tool - Lateralus
Black then white are all i see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see there is so much more and
beckons me to look thru to these infinite possibilities.
as below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.
[Type of scene: Monologue/Dialogue. She speaks toward audience and we do not see or hear his half of the conversation.]
[Inspiration: Seeing things in Black and White and Infancy or Infant.]
The first character was a woman whose want was to get pregnant. She wanted a baby and she was willing to sleep with whoever it took to have that happen. The funny thing is, I didn't tell the audience that. She appeared to just have gone home with someone that she met at a bar and he wouldn't hop right into bed with her. Whoever he was, he had a hygiene thing and had to take 2 showers and groom himself before he would head to the bedroom. During this time she talked to him through the bathroom door and snooped around his apartment. After discovering his hygiene issues and his horrible taste in music she decides that he isn't the one and lets herself out. Her name was Janet.
2. Toys R. Us Themesong
I don't want to grow up,
I'm a Toys' R Us kid,
there's a million toys at Toys 'R Us that I can play with!
More bikes, more trains, more video games,
it's the biggest toy store there is!
I don't want to grow, because then if I did,
I wouldn't be a Toys 'R Us kid!
[Type of scene: Monologue/Dialogue. She speaks toward audience and we do not see or hear the other half of the conversation.]
[Inspiration: Kit, Toys, Toys R Us]
We meet Hugo at age 6. He is on a shoot of Toy's R. Us commercial. He has decided to stay on set while they adjust the lights and cameras rather than have a stand in do it for him. We discover that he is a lonely child and that he has done lots of commercials before this one (most noteably a Welch's grape juice commercial.) He is in search of a father.
3. Bare Naked Ladies - Grade 9
I found my locker and I found my classes
Lost my lunch and I broke my glasses,
That guy is huge! That girl is wailin'!
First day of school and I'm already failing.
This is me in grade nine, baby, this is me in grade nine
This is me in grade nine, baby, this is me in grade nine
[Type of scene: "2 person" scene. We see both the teacher and Hugo.]
[Inspiration: Hugo is in his first day of 9th grade. Used pretty much the whole song.]
My original intention was to have Hugo meet Janet in this scene, but when I stepped over to the side to play Janet, another woman "happened." I realized that Janet would be Hugo's mom and that this woman was just a teacher. In this scene we find that Hugo is now 7 years old and is in 9th grade. He is completely out of place and is sitting at the teacher's table because they are "the only ones who understand him." We get an eerie feeling from the female. He better get out of there fast because she seems like trouble.
4. Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
Sometimes I try to do things and it just doesn't work out the way I wanted to.
I get real frustrated and I try hard to do it and I take my time and it doesn't work out the way I wanted to.
It's like I concentrate real hard and it doesn't work out
Everything I do and everything I try never turns out
It's like I need time to figure these things out
But there's always someone there going
[Type of scene: Monologue. We see and hear only Hank.]
[Inspiration: I took the character mostly based on the singer's cadence and vocab. I tried to make the character sound as much like the singer as I could.]
We meet Hank in a vending machine area at a bus station. He is yelling at the custodians, dispatchers and pretty much anyone else that comes across his path. Things have changed here and he is disatisfied. Basically he is a 30 year old man whose mental growth was stunted during Teen Angst.
5. Aladdin - A Whole New World
I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me, princess, now when did
You last let your heart decide?
I can open your eyes
Take you wonder by wonder
Over, sideways and under
On a magic carpet ride
A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming
[Type of scene: 2 person scene. Penny and Hugo.]
[Inspiration: Movement based character creation of the little girl. Also used Aladdin princess as the location detail.]
We meet Penny who is showing hugo her room. They are both 8 years old. She is adorable and sweet and shows him her ability to do a piroette. Her room is filled with Aladdin memorabalia. It appears that Hugo has finally met someone who he can communicate and connect with. The two are very much in Puppy Love.
6. Mary j. Blige - Love At First Sight
Lookin' at you from a distance
Gettin' all of my attention
Could this be love at first sight, baby
You walked away and I missed you
Visions of wanting to kiss you
How could this be if I don't really know you?
Ohh baby, baby
[Type of scene: 2 person scene. Janet and Hugo.]
[Inspiration: This song sounded like something at a bar. It also reminded me of hooking up which had me bring Janet back home right after a partying attempt to get Hugo a father.]
Janet comes home to her apartment where 8 year old Hugo is waiting upstairs. She is intoxicated and tells him that it didn't work out. She went out with a man but he wasn't right for them. Hugo helps her to her chair, makes her some toast and brushes her hair. He is obviously the strong, sensible and smart one in the family even though he is only 8.
7. Frank Sinatra - Love and Marriage
Love and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like a horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You cant have one without the other
[Type of scene: 4 person scene. Hugo, Hank, Janet and Penny.]
[Inspiration: This one just happened. I knew that Janet was trying to find a father for Hugo and it turned out that she was trying to date Hank.]
Janet, Hank, Hugo and Penny are all at dinner but Penny and Janet have gone to powder their noses. Hank tells Hugo that things have changed at this restaurant. He shows him that the sugar dispenser is gone and they replaced it with packets. He criticizes change he tells Hugo "It's my thing. I tell people how much better things used to be." Hugo tells him that this probably isn't going to work out between Hank and his mom Janet because He doesn't like Hank at all. When Janet and Penny return from the bathroom, Penny does a piroette, sits down and waves at Hugo. Janet tells Hank that this probably isn't going to work out.
8. Ugly Kid Joe - Cats In The Cradle And The Silver Spoon
My child arrived just the other day
Came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
He was talkin' 'fore I knew it
And as he grew he said,
"I'm gonna be like you, Dad,
You know I'm gonna be like you."
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man 'n the moon.
"When you comin' home?"
"Son, I don't know when. We'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."
[Type of scene: 2 person scene in a boat. Hugo and Steve.]
[Inspiration: Dad, I'm gonna be like you and "have a good time.]
Hugo is on a row boat with Steve who is about to marry his mother Janet. They are not getting along very well... eventually Steve breaks down into tears and tells Hugo that he has had 8 previous marriages and all of them have failed. Hugo, in petrified silence frantically tries to row the boat to shore. When Steve in his meltdown reveals that all he can commit to is his playstation, he has a bonding moment with Hugo over "Legend of Zelda."
9. Beatles - When I'm 64
When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four?
You'll be older too
And if you say the word
I could stay with you
[Type of scene: 2 person scene. Hugo and Penny.]
[Inspiration: Get Older, Losing my Hair, Will you still feed me and You'll be older too.]
Penny and Hugo, now very old and happily married for many years are at the restaurant where the 4 of them were in their childhood with Janet and Hank. Even though things didn't work out for the adults, we discover that they worked out great for the kids. They stayed together their entire lives. Penny complains that the sugar dispenser is computerized now. Hugo asks her to renew their vows one more time.
10. Reliant K. - Deathbed
I can smell the death on the sheets
Covering me
I can't believe this is the end
But this is my deathbed
I lie here alone
If I close my eyes tonight
I know I'll be home
[Type of scene: Monologue.]
[Inspiration: Deathbed.This one got me good. The emotion was incredible. I was overpowered by it and instead of shying away from its power I let it overtake me. I allowed tears to well up in my eyes... I had no idea which character I was going to play or who had died but I knew that I was crying and that I was walking toward an open coffin. I decided it was Hank at the funeral of his father.]
Hank stands at the coffin of his father. Being someone who hates change in any form he cannot resolve the loss of his father. He cries openly and speaks loudly at his father in the casket. It is a very emotional scene until the end where he takes a phonecall (sound effect provided by an unaware audience member's phone) and decides to go to a bar after the funeral... but not the one suggested by his friend on the phone... because that place has "changed."
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