Your attention, please. The improv team formerly known as “Team Green” is now known as “Watson.” That is all.

Originally published at The Many Hats of Jason Specland. You can comment here or there.

On Wednesday, the team that will shortly be renamed but is currently known as Team Green performed their first show at The PIT. I alluded to how it felt in a brief Facebook status update*, but the feeling was so intense that I needed to record it here.

It. Was. Amazing.

Even though the theater is brand new, between open jams and auditions I’d ( Read more... )

The story before today:

For many years, improv was my life.

In the beginning, there was Comics Anonymous. Sure, it was rough troup* to be a part of at times, but I’ve got to acknowledge the company that gave me my start. Frank, the director, put me on stage and let me cut my teeth in front of real audiences. Sometimes, the audiences even ( Read more... )

Can’t make it to Astoria for Vorpal’s Halloween show? Think $10 is too much to pay? Worried that seeing Vorpal on the stage without other non-Vorpalians to dilute their awesome improv powers will cause your face to melt like the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Well then, have I got a show for you. In fact, I have two shows for you!

Our Level 5 ( Read more... )

Last night, we had our weekly Vorpal rehearsal at Wonderland. It was our first rehearsal with a real coach. Until now, we’d just kind of been running sets and talking about what felt good and what didn’t. But now we have a coach. Our coach: Geoff Grimwood, teacher and member of various PIT house teams. To begin our session, we told him about ( Read more... )

So, last night was the world premiere of my new improv group “Jabberwocky.” I can’t tell you how exciting it is to be in a real group again. When I was invited into this group, and saw the list of other players, I was excited because I knew all of these people were talented. My excitement was realized from the moment we started warming up ( Read more... )

As any reader of this blog already knows, I’ve been doing a lot of improv at the PIT lately. Up until now, it’s all been open jams and class shows. But no more, my friends! Like an improv Voltron, we’ve assembled the best parts of my previous classes to create a Robeast-destroying whole. Except that in this case, instead of destroying a Robeast ( Read more... )

Last night I did New Team Lunacy at The PIT with a few friends from class, and a few others. I was not happy with my performances last night at all, but I think I got some valuable insights. I’m posting them here mostly to solidify them in my own mind.

“The things that make good theater make good improv.” This is a phrase I’ve uttered from the ( Read more... )

So yesterday evening, we had our first level 3 class show at the PIT. Everyone seemed to think it went well, but as usual I’m beating myself up over missed opportunities. Fortunately, our class was sufficiently large that we did two mini-shows, and I got to do both. I wasn’t very happy with myself in the first one, but I feel like I picked up a ( Read more... )

My journey of improv redemption continues apace. My Level 3 class is about to conclude, and like all classes at the PIT, we conclude with a show (actually, two). I’d be mighty appreciative if one or two of you could be there with me to share it.

My teacher for this level, Scott Eckert, deserves special mention. I must admit that I’ve had a man- ( Read more... )