Summary of Improv Goals 028

If one was to “walk around the left side of the building, and to the Underground Theater in the rear of the lot” on the evening of Friday, November 2, then one would have seen one of our best shows in Lawrence to date. Part of the honesty of this blog, last week we had higher energy, so that week may have been better. This week, the highlight of the first set, one which I can still remember, was the game of Hitchhiker, where the guesser (i.e., the driver of the vehicle) is sent outside while the other players are assigned a personality or quirk.

Julie is the sister of John, and was our guesser. For a vehicle Julie chose a scooter with a sidecar. John and I were among the five players. Julie correctly guessed our characteristics, and only John remained.

I ran up beside the scooter and said, “Hey, I own a theater! Your name is my name, too!”

Although Julie next guessed John McCain, she soon realized that John was John Boehner, once his position as Speaker [of the House] was mentioned.

For the middle set, we ran a format called Soap Opera, where we ask the audience for genre and a setting, was based on the suggestion, “Jersey Shore in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.”

In one of the first scenes, Frank and I noted the collapse of the club scene.

I dragged John on stage to be President Obama opposite my Chris Christie.

The following defines one of the stronger characteristics of this format.

Melodrama - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them. It is usually based around having the same character traits, for example …”

While the Urban Dictionary defines the A.V. Club, the Roving Imp recalls The Mixer, where the names of improvisers are placed in a bowl and drawn at random to participate in scenes; whether he or she is in an ensemble or merely takes classes, any improviser present in the audience may play.

Source: I sometimes wish I were immortal,
so I could learn to create art like this (J-List).