Summary of Improv Goals 018

My ensemble Nerds had a great show Saturday. The audience gave the suggestion, “Doomsday preppers.” For the opening, David, Kitty, and I took seats the stage to informally speak; we are the three who knew something about the topic.

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I heard Disney in that last post?

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“First, thanks for all the interest in our recent TV shows posters and all the nice reactions. In the future we plan to expand this project but today it’s a different set of posters. Even though...”

OK OK OK, I demonstrated those in reverse order, and I have yet to explain why I went on stage. I follow the American Preppers Network blog, but most of my understanding of preparedness comes from my friend Denton, who certainly enjoys How Everything Goes to Hell During a Zombie Apocalypse via The Oatmeal.

I cannot remember what I said during the opening, but Kitty talked about how her two coworkers, who sit on either side of her, spend entire paychecks on gear to prepare for the massive solar flare expected to occur this year. David mentioned all the fallout shelters built in the Sixties, and I corrected him, saying that that was actually in the Fifties.

Our interpretation of doomsday had zombies, but they did not behave stereotypically; the first time any character expected a zombie to so do, I came on stage as an attorney for the Zombie Anti-defamation League. David played a character who had built a underground complex, and we learned in subsequent scenes that every thing therein was stereotypical of Americana of the Fifties: cars with fins, drive-ins, and the only music on the radio.

John played someone who had taken refuge in the complex, and David said, “We have had a zombie includgion,” which we later discovered was an incursion of zombies who were looking for inclusion back in society.

John and Kitty set two boxes beside each other and played as if they were in a car at a drive-in, located in the underground complex.

Frank came up to the car as a zombie and asked in a low, slow voice, “Are you ready to order?”
John said, “We haven’t pushed the button yet.”
“Okay, I’ll come back.”
John and Kitty had some more dialog.
I approached the other side, “Are you ready to order?”
Kitty replied, “We haven’t pushed the button yet.”
“Okay, I’ll come back.”

I really, really want to briefly tell another story about the time before improv class on Tuesday; I was speculative yesterday about whether or not to take advantage of a few freebies through Tax Day, yet I accept my societal role as a consumerist whore, and want nothing more than to put out, especially after I found more deals in this article.

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My swag from Arby’s, Boston Market, Bruegger’s, and Panda Express.

The quality of my listening sure varies, I locked out my father yesterday because I did not hear; he had just stepped outside to roll up the hose. Despite that I again have congestion behind my left eardrum, last night in class, I think that I actually listened well, I was not tired, but became hot and thirsty.

Tuesday in class, we practiced various vocal techniques to develop a character: speaking fast, speaking slow, speaking high, speaking low, speaking with an accent, and speaking in the voice of a celebrity. The most memorable parts were my scenes with David. He did the most ludicrous version of Kermit the Frog, and I could not help laughing, but with some coaching from John, my character said that he could not take the character of David seriously, thus saving the scene.

We ran a long form called a la Ronde, where two people do a scene, the next person edits, one person stays on stage, and we progress through a circle. After the first iteration, we recognized our lack of defined relationships. I was now in my second scene with David.

I began, “Ted, I’m going to bring you before the medical board.”
“Nancy, I...”

He caught me off guard, and I know that I moved closer to him during the scene, yet I cannot remember any more dialog because I descended into laughter again as he carried on. We concluded with Party Quirks, where we played a character assigned by the audience as someone guessed and we gave clues.