13 Hours of Improv
So, from this post, you could see what I was up to this weekend. My friend Jeff Swearingen set out to raise money for a charity called Orphan Outreach. I believe the fund-raising goal was less than successful, since during the entire time I was there the audience never really surpassed 8 people (there might have been 12-15 the very first hour) and the average audience size was around 3. Much of the time it was a teenager or two - obliviously texting in the front row - a solitary adult and a gaggle of kids who would run in and out.
The original concept was to present 48 hours of continuous improv. Due to some rental/venue troubles, Swearingen shortened the whole event at the last minute. The event lasted just under 30 hours straight from Friday night to late Saturday night/early morning. I started with the group at 8:30 PM on Friday and stayed until around 3:30 AM and then returned Saturday night about 8 PM and stayed until the event wrapped up at 2 AM that night. So, 7 hours of continuous improv one night and six the next.
Though the audience attendance was spotty and, at times, literally non-existent, the whole experience was fun. Stupidly (or just from a point of ignorance... there were lots of greenhorns), the performers set the precedent early to not play each other's characters, but have only the individual actor who originated the role be the only person to play that character. So, as people left, the characters disappeared from the stories. This made an already hard challenge even more difficult, but it also yielded some fun making up of excuses to cover a character's absence.
I haven't played with a large group of improvisers - especially of such wide ranging experience levels - in a long while and it was both enjoyable and frustrating. With hours and hours to play with we certainly developed rounded characters most of the time and had some wonderful interactions. Of course, there were also a few individuals who kept bringing in their own agendas, trying to steer the plot.
One assh*le even killed off one of my characters on top of continually torpedoing scenes that were going well to bring in his own plot agendas. Very frustrating to work with.
If Swearingen sets it up again in the future, I will probably go in again. Maybe I'll clear the rest of the weekend and stay the whole time next time.
cross-posted on BradMcEntire.com