Class Act
You know, for someone who doesn't have a life, it sure does feel lately like I have a lot going on. In truth, though, the only thing outside the ordinary stuff is the Tuesday night improvisation class.
Speaking of which (and going completely out of chronological order), last night's class was all kinds of fun. We started with our regular warm-up exercises (The Gift of Yes, during which only the first few people actually said "yes," while the rest of us opted for other affirmational words and phrases; Hot Spot, the singing game during which I was less terrified but still terrified; and that layered themed pattern exercise, where we went for three again, even though we did better at three last week than this week), and went on from there.
We ran two "main class" exercises this week. The first is similar to the "party guest" game on Whose Line Is It Anyway. In our version, each actor of the scene pair wants something from the other. The other has no idea what it is, but the rest of the class (the audience) does. As each performer successfully gives (or guesses) what his or her partner wants, the audience applauds. Once both actors have guessed the other's motive, the scene ends.
In my scene, I wanted an apology from my scene partner. Irene gave us the setting of "break room," so I acted like I was stirring coffee. Partner called it tea, so I latched onto the fact that I had no coffee. He had stolen the last of my coffee. Meanwhile, he was lamenting facets of the job that were bothering him, how our supervisor treats him like he's worthless. It went on for a little while, with my being unsympathetic to the one who stole my coffee, and his feeling sorry for himself. Eventually, he apologized for taking my coffee (applause), and I became more sympathetic to his plight and offered him a hug (applause). This is the second time I've had a scene with this particular partner, and both times, I felt like we rocked it.
Our second exercise involved building the stage. (In an imaginary, improv fashion, of course.) Two people would assist Irene in setting a stage. For example, there was a barbecue pit in the upstage left corner with a rusted grill and a sign saying, "DO NOT USE: FIRE HAZARD." In front of this pit was a log. Stage right held a picnic blanket with two coolers: One held beer, the other raw meat. The backdrop displayed a playground in the distance with lots of kids playing and screaming and having fun. Off of stage left was some kind of body of water, and a canoe that came onto the stage. Center stage was an unassembled tent. Slightly downstage and left of center was a pair of trees with a hammock between them.
None of this stuff really existed, of course, but that was what our trio of "builders" described to us.
I got up with a different partner to perform a scene with the stage set like that. Our characters, as it turned out, were on a romantic picnic getaway to celebrate their 10th anniversary. And ultimately decided that nature wasn't their thing and would be checking into a hotel at the earliest possible moment.
And then we built the stage for the next pair. And that's harder than it sounds.
I know I said this in the last entry, but it bears repeating: I'm having so much fun in this class. The three hours just fly by each week, and as this was session 3, the class is half over. Sadness.
Monday's movie was Drive, with Ryan Gosling, Albert Brooks, and Carey Mulligan. Based on the trailer, I had very high hopes for this movie. Sadly, the film's very -- very -- slow start, as well as the actors' tendencies to have pauses so pregnant we expected triplets at any moment, made a better title for the film Sunday Drive. I will say that there were some redeeming moments in the film. Once the story does finally begin, there is some hard-hitting and graphic violence. That's always a plus. There were also a few scenes with genuine suspense. I particularly liked the opening scene, before everything got bogged down with narrative molasses. Albert Brooks does a wonderful job, and Ron Perlman is a flat-out nasty man. Bryan Cranston was... well, Bryan Cranston. All in all, if I had watched it on DVD, I would have turned it off after about fifteen minutes. Which makes me somewhat glad I saw it in the theater, because I would have missed some really great stuff... even if the overall experience wasn't all that.
How was that for a mixed review?
The rest of what I might have to say falls under the category of "same old, same old," which means it's time to end this for now. I will talk to you next time, Dear Journal.