the Book of Jason

SEPT. 17, 2000

I love Sundays.
Not just because they started showing new episodes of Batman Beyond, but because of all the improv and scripted stuff I get to do.
Sunday mornings I rehearse with Deep Schwa. We’ve been rehearsing on Sundays @ 10am for almost three years now. It’s really tough, getting up so early and then doing an energetic warm-up and so forth... most impressive is Craig Uhlir; he hosts the Improv Jam on Saturdays from midnight to around 2:30 am and he’s usually one of the first ones there.
We go from 10am to noon and then I get to listen in to Susan Messing’s Level Three class. Her class runs from noon to 3pm and I used to have Training Center office hours on Sundays from noon to 4pm (I don’t any more but that’s another lonnng story). I usually grab some quality time with Susan and then I listen in to her teachings. She’s a great teacher.
At 7pm it’s Call Time at the Playground for Dinner for Six. We chat and then there’s the warm-up (standard improv stuff- eights or something). We do two warm-ups specifically designed for this show; the boys line up opposite the gals (there’s always an even number) and then they cross and hug. The boys switch places and then they hug again so eventually all the boys have hugged all the gals. Then boys hug each other as the girls do the same. This went on for awhile and it worked very well; there was always lots of hugging in the show. Julia Wolfe (the warm earth mother according to the Daily Herald) mentioned that “for a romantic comedy there’s not a lot of kissing.”
She was right.
So, about two weeks ago I decided to add kissing to the hugging routine. That changed things. That night the show was all kissy-face.
I love watching Dinner for Six. Not only do I love watching it; doing so makes me want to be IN the show. It’s fun and smart and, most of all, real. Sometimes not as real as I would like, but no wacky butlers or Cwazy roommate situations. The Harold offers the cool opportunities to do surreal or absurdist scenes or games, but I hate it when that aspect overwhelms the grace of well performed two-person scene.

D46 runs from 8pm to 9pm. I have Thriller Theater 3 rehearsal @ 10pm at ImprovOlympic so then I head over there (actually, so does Jeff Griggs. He’s also in all three shows). Sunday nights we have pizza. Lots of it. This show is tons of fun to work on. Not only is there fun scripted stuff and lotsa dancing, there’s also some improv. That usually runs till just before midnight. And that’s Sunday. Long day, but definitely worth it. Alright, I have to catch my nap before D46.

END OF LINE.

“Wow. Everyone hugs so differently!” - Jeff Griggs, after the second hug, every week.

“Oh, I LOVE Improv!” - Heather MacDermott, after a bad scene.

-September 21, 2000

I am becoming a wee girl.
I now have bleach-blonde hair and I have to condition it so I bought some Herbal Essences conditioner. It smells really good. Now I find myself actually WANTING to condition my hair so there I am standing
there in the shower like a jackass with conditioner on my hair thinking how good my hair will smell and feel. I'm waiting to get my period.

Now, there's a trio of images just in time for Halloween. (I'm so sneaky with the plugs for the new show.)

It's coming time for a evolutionary step. There was the creation of the ImprovOlympic. Then the creation of the Annoyance. What next? (I don't really count the Playground in there as it wasn't really created to express something new but rather as another place for people to play similar themed things. I'm glad that it's continuing to evolve into something new and interesting with the Master's series of classes and the Director's series of shows. I've heard people slam the Playground for "hosting" the Bettie Page show, but you know, IO and SC both hosted Gorilla Theater and they both survived. More or less.)

Is there some step that improv needs or wants? What is that step? IO (and the shows Jazz Freddy and Lois Kaz) demonstrated that long-form improvisation as a theatrical piece in and of itself could work. Later, the Annoyance (with shows Screw Puppies and Hot Monkey Pi) showed that rigid adherence to the long-form rules defeated the very idea of improvisation. When these two concepts finally began to merge (fairly recently, actually) improv began to take off in new, more interesting
ways.

The next step won't be some new long-form or game that will revolutionize the art. You know why? The audience doesn't give a fuck what form you're doing as long as they're entertained. Now, I don't mean
they're laughing their ass off and thus, ordering more drinks and thus, laughing their ass even more off (which will eventually lead to more ons.) I mean, entertained like people who go to the THEATER.

Improv must mature out of its current adolescence and be used as theater; not an excuse for poor theater. Improv has to grow beyond the bar settings and late night shows. It has to grow beyond the gimmicks (theme shows, like Space Dreck and Superhero Society of America... Mr. Chin, I'm looking at you.) There's plenty of talk about the ART and an ARTFORM, but where is the evidence of that? Where in Chicago is there improvisation being performed without gimmicks, without an alcohol soaked audience, without excuses for being improvised, without being surrounded by the knowledge that this-is-improvised-! ? I say there isn't.
The show has to come first. Then the knowledge that it is improvised. Let the audience marvel at how the show they just saw was created spontaneously and not excuse flubs and bits because, hey, it's
improvised.
I believe that for improv to survive and evolve into a lasting artform and for us to avoid the fate of stand-ups in the 80s, improv needs a new standard bearer. Improv needs to break out of the anything-for-a-laugh mode and grow into THEATER. This is nothing new. In fact someone a long time ago once said all of the above. Maybe you've heard of him; his first name was Del. That's right, Del Shannon of the Del-Tones. He was great.
I don't think there's anything wrong per se with the current shows and teams and places of "worship," I just want something more. A smart, funny, sad, wise, romantic, frightening, HUMAN theatrical experience that will make the departing audience say, "What?! That was improvised? No way." I think we can do it. Gather up your best improv friends and colleagues and put together a show. Then improvise it. There's not better place in the world to try this than right here in Chicago.

Race ya.

Loving Improv More than Ever,
JASON

SEPTEMBER 27, 2000

Never a dull moment around here. Halloween looms. Changes for Dinner for Six. 2000 ends. Wouldn't it be funny if the world actually ended this New Year's Eve? Boy, would we all look silly. Had a Pat Shay Dancers show last Sunday. I was in such a rotten, foul mood that I contemplated telling the Dancers that I would just sit out and work lights. Then, I thought of that old parable, I'm going to paraphrase it here: Any improviser can do a great show if they're in a great mood, or even a good show if they're in an okay mood... what kind of improviser can put on a great show in a horrible mood? So, I did the show and it turned out very well. I accidentally ran right into John Mulhern as we (us and Chris Day) edited a scene and the three facts of a) I'm such an clumsy asshole that I just ran smack dab into another player, b) Oh, Man, that probably really hurt John, and c) Man, that was a pretty funny sound John's face made when I slammed into him, just made me start laughing and laughing. My face was all red and I couldn't form a sentence before a line was even spoken. So, there I was, with a major case of the giggles before the scene started. Thankfully Chris and John were able to work with my retardation and we made it into a damn funny (though surreal) scene. Whenever the three of us do a scene together we usually recognize, Hey! I Got Nothing, What You Got? right off and we just go from there. The scenes usually take a surreal turn. We had a bank robber scene like that once. The one I detailed above will forever be known as the Jason-Is-A-Laughing-On-Stage-Jerk. It took me four years of improvisation and about 7 teams to find this one and I will forever be grateful. Strong, smart scenework with smart, experienced people. I'm very lucky they let me hang out with them, much less play with them.

SHOW CLOTHES: I usually wear black slacks (why are the words 'slacks' and 'pants' so damn funny?) and a button down collared shirt. The shirt is either blue or white. I think the performers should always look slightly better than the audience. That's just me. Apparently few believe in this. It also does not good when just one or two people on the team do this. It's hard to be on the same page when everyone's in different books. (Hey, that Analogy Class is paying off) I should really take Messing's advice and wear better shoes on stage, but I'm really afraid of losing a toe (that's a whole other pathology.) I have a show with the PSD later tonight. I wonder if I will update this before I post it? who knows?

Check out the Dinner for Six and the Thriller Theater pages! Buffy and Angel season premieres were very good. I'm looking forward to the West Wing and Law & Order premieres. There was this whole rash of media pundits who kept crying that it was hard for creators to keep anything secret with the hordes of rabid fans with internet access. They must feel like idiots now. Harry Potter, Survivor and even Buffy, kept their secrets and those are some of the most rabid fans there are. Creators and PR people just need to catch up to the new medium.

I'm working on adding a message board on this site, but that involves teaching myself something new and that, as three French teachers could testify, is a very difficult thing. I'm doing a staged reading at the American Theater Company. It's a new play called "Passchendaele." I didn't know what the title meant (even after reading the play) so I looked it up. It was the site of one of the most pointless battles in warfare history. In WW1, almost a million men died trying to take or defend the town of Passchendaele. The town served no tactical advantage or signifigant gain in the battle. Most of the men died horribly as torrential rain mingled with a artillery-scarred field to create some sort of mud-quicksand. Men and horses were literally sucked into the ground to drown in the mud. The websites I found were pretty interesting, but I found the play difficult to follow. I'm probably a dunce. They asked for an Asian man to read the part, but I called the lady in charge to see if she wanted me to do an accent. I can't do an accent (well, some vague euro-accents) except for a horrid racist Chinese accent that I prefer not to do in public. I just can't do it. I didn't grow up speaking Chinese and I don't speak it so an authentic accent is hard for me... I can do the mid-70s sitcom Chinese accent very easily sadly. The ATC lady told not to worry about it and that I could just do my normal voice. Parts of the script however are seemingly specifically written for someone with an accent. ("Is! Is! Say your prepositions!" - Lionel Twain from the amazingly funny Neil Simon play, Murder by Death.) We'll see what happens when we meet to rehearse the reading.

I'm so happy that Jack and Craig are doing some online journal stuff. That's so cool. I need to get my arse down there to catch the sets. The SC way of creating shows is really fascinating and unique and it's cool that it's free.

Some people don't realize that I also have a day job at an actual honest-to-goodness office in the Loop. I love my office; it rocks. They are the best, fun and funny and for some reason they're as into stocks, REIFs and pension funds as I am into comedy and comic books. They are also very reasonable with regards to my theaterical endeavors. They come to my shows and like to hear about how things are going. Whenever I have a scripted show they all come to see it. The improv shows are hard for them to get to since they're all married and/or with kids in the suburbs, but some have made the trek. Ironically, there, I'm the crazy, hippie who's always doing something wacky as opposed to how some people may view me in improv. It's incredibly relaxing to go there and not have any real responsibilities. It's good to have a grounding in the real world. Sometimes I use them as my informal focus group. I like to hear what they watch, what they think is funny or not. Some of them love "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" and some of them hate it. I like to hear their reasons why or why not and it informs me with ideas and opinions that you just can't get within "the box."

Oh, yes, there's plenty of free snacks. In fact, so many delicious and plentiful snacks that I just stopped eating them and switched to natural snacks for a bit (mmm... dried berries and granola...) I heart Svetlana.

END OF LINE

"We have a bet on whether or not that thing will actually show up." - Amber Tillett, doubting the creation of a life-size prop for the Scooby-Doo show.

"1. Shut the fuck up- In rehearsals or notes, if you don't really really really have to say anything.... then don't. Some people talk for the sake of talking. This comes from a space of righteousness or need for affirmation or need to be percieved as vital and intelligent. If you don't have to talk... don't. Look at what you are about to say and ask yourself: 'Is this REALLY supportive to what is going on right now?'... and if it's not, say nothing. It's so easy to whittle away a rehearsal talking bullshit. Everyone knows that 95% of what is being said will not come to fruition, yet they do it and feel a false sense of productivity when they leave rehearsal. I've been sucked into that waste of time abyss more times than I'm willing to admit." - Mick Napier, from his wonderful essay, The Perfect Actor.

Book of Jason - September 2000!