the Book of Jason

November 1, 2000

Hello. I'm recovered now. That was a very busy 6 days. On Friday night (the 27th) the Thriller Theater cast had a great show. One of my favorite things about the show on Fridays was that there was no show following us. We could hang out and clean up at our own leisure. Of course, I had to earn that over the years... usually Jamie the Bartender, ever the only responsible person in the building, closes up and kicks everyone out... he finally trusts me enough to let me lock up the upstairs. It was nice too when the cast would say their hellos and goodbyes to their visiting friends and relatives and then sometimes go downstairs to watch Amber Tillett in the Cage Match. Stage manager extraordinaire and Your Miami Relative Nate Sands and I would gab and clean up after the show... then the cast would trickle back upstairs and help out and pick up their stuff. Much later Amber would show up sometimes and the three of us would all gab. I loved that... I considered that important quality time.

Ah, the memories. Saturday, the 28th, was A Very Special Thriller Theater 3. We had a show at 10:30pm and it did feel a little weird in that we had never had back-to-back shows before... the cast was very excited as was I. The cast was full of fire and it was one of those "Man, this feels like it's going to be a good show" feelings... I usually don't trust those because when I get them before an improv show I usually end up schlepping home praying a car hits me. (btw, I'm watching 'The West Wing' right now and CJ just slapped a 4-star general around- tee-hee!) The house was very sold out (if that makes sense). The rule was that if someone came to the show in costume (the show was free if you were a student/performer) you got to stay for the post-show party (regularly $5) for free. We had the same rule last year and only four people came in costume; this year, around 23 people came! The show kicked ass. That was probably the best one; all the timing was down pat, the audience caught every reference, the cast was dead on, and I didn't even make a single lighting or sound error (go figure!). Hooray for us! Maybe it was because Mia from Pulp Fiction, a geisha, Wonder Woman, the character from Legend of Zelda, and a teen angel were in the audience, but it was a damn good show.

Afterwards, the party began. It was friggin' packed and there were so many people there in so many great costumes... I had such a great time. You wouldn't believe the photos I have.. awesome. The costume contest was great, but with such a clear winner there were no naysayers: Dave Gilley as Optimus Prime! ("Autobots! Transform and roll out!") Second prize was a team effort: Erin McEvoy and Tim Mason as Angelina Jolie and her very close brother. Bob's Big Boy, Abe Lincoln, Nightwing, Spider Jerusalem, Movie-version Magneto, Jack and his Beanstalk, Flo and Mel (from Alice), ach, I could go on... I will get some scans here as soon as possible. My beloved friend Stephanie was visiting and she was much too kind to put up with watching two presentations of the same show. She came as Br'er Rabbit. So cute.

After the show, Mr. Mulhern, Mr. Sands, Stephanie and I cleaned up the joint... some general sweeping and picking up... it was much better than I was expecting it to be. We all went out for breakfast after that.. that's around 5 or so. At the table next to us were some people in costume with a very, very drunk Hulk. He kept putting his head down on the table and going to sleep which lead to lots of fun bits ("Hulk sleepy. Hulk not mix vodka and gin anymore. Hulk always love you.") Made it to Schwa rehearsal at 10am ... very impressed with myself. Tuesday.. another weird show. Not only is it on a week night, it's at 8:30pm. That put us off. The audience was small, compared to all our other shows... the smallest we had had. Also, oddly, the hardest show we had had... it was a tough one.. not the show I would have chosen to go out with, but the party afterwards completely made up for it. It was great fun as well. On Saturday, I was Captain Kirk after a fight ( a small rip on the shirt, and a dribble of blood on the mouth.)

Tuesday, I was Your Host, Lucifer. Mostly because I found a really cool red smoking jacket that now I intend to wear every single night from now on. I also bought a pipe which I am attempting to learn to smoke which is relatively difficult since I refuse to smoke in my home. It's hard to smoke in my house without thinking of all the harm I would do to my books and comic books. It's a nice jacket. Hmmm... maybe on New Year's... So, that was Halloween 2000. So, now what? The Thriller Theater shows have all be amazing fun and I've made some great friends, experimented with some scripts, and I even managed to make some money. The thing is, the shows eat up about three to four months out of the year for me. Between scripting, casting, rehearsing, and production it's about a quarter of the year. I also usually end up creating tons of props, creating the lighting scheme, doing lights for the show, doing sound effects for the show, making the playbill, doing all the press, arranging for photos, virtually stage managing, managing the space and rehearsal arrangements... admittedly, this year I had it the best yet. I was blessed with Erin Davidson, Mike McCarthy, Joe Wilson and the rest of the cast who all chipped in to help out above and beyond the call of duty.

Oh, and check this out: I coach the team Your Miami Relatives of which Mr. Sands is a member and Nate was curious about the show's rehearsal process. He asked me if there was anything he could do to help out and he just showed up one night and eventually became the Stage Manager. He was an incredible asset to the show. Not only as a stage manager, but as the Mummenschanz cameo. We kept it a secret from the cast and the looks on their faces when he came out as the 'schanz... priceless. Anyway, unless someone comes around and offers to produce the thing there won't be one next year. The supercool thing is that several people have already offered to do so. That's cool. Very cool. Wow. it's already 1am and Jack McCoy hasn't wrapped this fucka up yet? C'mon?! Let's go, buddy!! Alright. I gotta bolt.

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"Mrs. Reigert, does your husband own a gun?" - Lenny Briscoe, asking the question that sounds the 'Dum-de-dum-dummmmmmm' sound in my head, during every episode of the great "Law & Order." Of course, the names change.

From Buffy The Vampire Slayer-

Giles: "[This orb] appears to be paranormal in origin."
Willow: "How can you tell?"
Giles: "Well, it's so shiny."

November 5, 2000

Well, the end of an era. Today was my last day as an ImprovOlympic coach. I have been coaching for almost three years, starting with Deep Schwa. Since then, I've coached several teams and substitute coached a bunch of teams. Teaching and coaching improvisation are two totally different things and require greatly different skills. It took me a while to figure that out. For me, being a coach meant always being there for the team; be that for each rehearsal or for each show. Being there for just shows or just rehearsals, does no good. It's got to be both. People and teams act completely different when those lights are on and there's an audience in the house.. some teams even act differently depending on the size of the audiences and unless the coach is actually there to witness and take note of these things they'll go unrectified.

A good coach will take detailed notes on each show and then use those notes to develop exercises to help smooth over the rough spots. That's the educator part of being a coach. Another part of being a coach is that of the disciplinarian. That's the sucky part. Sometimes there are players that just don't listen to notes and just don't want to follow where the team goes. Worse, there are sometimes players that are just plain disruptive to teams and need to be reined in or transferred or, sometimes.... let go. I loved being a coach. Watching Deep Schwa grow and evolved into the great team it is today has been fascinating. We've all become good friends as well and it's so much fun to watch them become coaches as well. Your Miami Relatives has been tons of fun as well; some of the players there I worked with before and some I just met, but they all are really good. Deep Schwa's unofficial going away present to me was an amazing show on Friday night. Just terrific long-form improvisation; smart, funny and full of connections and meanings. Native-american improv; they used everything from the Opening ("...and I used the bladder to hold my water."- Tim Mason). Tonight, Your Miami Relatives also gave me a going away present of a kick-ass show. They did some great character stuff and smart connections... (especially gratifying were the "touchy-feely cops" - "Johnson, come here, I need you!"- Ben Hendin, "Do you mean that?" Nate Sands) They were also super cool and gave me a card signed by everyone on the team and an amazing book (the classic "Ficciones" by Jorge Luis Borges) that I'm really looking forward to reading. (Tom Flannigan's card note was "THACO Improv!" If you get that you're a nerd and one-of-us-one-of-us-one-of-us!!!)

I've been rehearsing with Deep Schwa on Sunday mornings at 10am for about 2 years now. And, to tell the truth, I'm looking forward to sleeping in this coming weekend. Next weekend, we're having a Dinner for Schwa before their show. I'm really greatly anticipating or dreading it. A couple of years ago, the Schwans chipped in and got me the hardcover edition of "Crisis on Infinite Earths." That thing f-ing rocks like you wouldn't believe.

So, why, if I love coaching so much, am I quitting? Some have asked me if it has anything to do with my relations with ImprovOlympic. It doesn't. I love the people I coach and the teams I have been blessed to work with. And I obviously still like working and performing at ImprovOlympic since I'm still with the Pat Shay Dancers and I still do things around the theater. It's more of a personal thing for me. I have enjoyed doing some short-form and I love doing long-form, but in 2001 I'm really looking forward to experimenting with something I'm calling theatrical-form. Like, Dinner for Six, I want to work on shows that present improvisation as a theatrical mode as opposed to as a comedic venue. I've been running some simulations in my head of some forms that I came up and the bridge crew keeps dying.. now wait... I'll have something soon...

On Friday night, the Jason League of America won the ImprovOlympic Cage Match. It was fun. Some of the players didn't even know each other much less have played with each other before. It was tons of fun. We're up again this coming Friday, so please come and do what you're going to do on Tuesday... VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE!!!!!

All of the above has NOT been proof read and is dedicated to Angela Forfia and her tireless efforts on Ralph Nader's behalf. Thank you, Angela. If you are registered to vote, and you should be, please take the time to vote this Tuesday. It's more than a right, it's a responsibility. Thank you.

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"Families is where our nation takes hope, where wings take dream." - George W. Bush, at a rally in Wisconsin.

"Voters of people with the God-given right to decide who will waste their money for them." - anon. 1940

"Politicians, even if their motives are not of the purest, come much nearer performing their duties than the so-called 'good' citizens who stay at home (on Election Day.)"- Justice Brandeis, 1946

"It is no exaggeration to say that undecided voters could go either way." - George Bush, Sr., 1988.

Book of Jason - November 2000!