Blog-O-Ween: The Final Blog O th' Ween

We finally made it and now we're famous! Well, one outta two ain't bad I guess. Posting every day has been surprisingly difficult and somehow incredibly easy at the same time. Over the past 17 days (minus weekends, what am I a savage?), I have struggled to force myself to open a new post window each night and each night I started writing with relative ease.

I've learned a lot about my love for improv and teaching through the past three weeks and I feel like it is stronger than ever. Blogging is always something that I aspired to, but was afraid to do. I didn't want to get started and then quit. I didn't want to let other people see my personal, private thoughts about things I loved. I was afraid my love would get picked apart.

I realize now, for the moment at least, that I'm blessed by a pretty small and silently supportive audience. I get page views, a handful of likes on facebook, maybe even a share from my mom, but that's totally fine with me. I'm not writing this blog to be correct or offer perfect solutions to issues I've encountered in teaching or improv. I'm writing this to figure out how to solve those problems or explain how I've solved them in the past. I hope people disagree with me sometimes, because I'm pretty sure I'm wrong a whole lot more than I'm right.

I will be going back to updating on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the most part, but I will still start a post-blitz every now and again.

I will be focusing on providing some more robust posts with the lighter update schedule and I will really be working on remembering to take pictures of things so all of my updates aren't just WALLOFTEXT. That's all I've got, friends. What would you like to see outta this thing?

Blog-O-Ween! A Reflection On My Teaching Style

Wednesday night was my final class before Halloween and I tried something new. Usually my pre-Halloween class is a hectic jaunt around whatever building we happen to be in. I recruit two or three friends to play characters and I have them lead us on a chase around the building dropping candy wherever they go. It is stressful and exhausting and almost always not planned thoroughly enough. I also worry how parents will feel when my costumed friends inevitably give their children floor-candy. This year I did away with all the hubub, and I think it was a real sign of growth for me as a teacher.

Blog-O-Ween! Spittin' Improv Game

"Find the game" your instructors tell you. "The game will make your scene a piece of cake," they state nebulously. What the hell is the game (aside from Triple H's nickname)? The game of the scene is... wait for it... literally whatever you make it. It's almost like you and your partner have total control of your scene and the game isn't something mystical. Oh my goodness!

Blog-O-Ween: Guessing Games Are Improv Magic

Tonight I had a friend tell me that I get far too emotionally invested when we play "Five Things" during rehearsals or shows. For people who don't visit ComedySportz on the reg, Five Things is basically the ultimate guessing game. Your guesser has 5 minutes to  get about 15 gives and your givers can only mime and use gibberish. It looks impossible and that's what makes it improv magic.

Blog-O-Ween! Pictures from GMXv6

GMX was hella fun. Nearly too fun. Here are some pictures:

Pictured Here: Friend Durst (aka Mike Whidden) standing watch over our Star Wars themed Comedy Carnival Cornhole Center

Pictured here is Boba Fett, Lego Torture Walk, and Molly Bahre who's clearly having none of it.

We had a booth! Look at our beautiful shirts, our beautiful Jesse, and our okay Brittney.

I have mentioned that I am not a Dr. Who fan, but this Dalek was absolutely wonderful.

And here's my second sauciest Tardis pose. I can't share the #1 ranker, it's too scintillating. 

Blog-O-Ween! GMX This Weekend!

The Nashville Improv Company has bravely volunteered to do about 16 hours worth of panels at the Geek Media Expo (GMX) this year and I am (perhaps foolishly) blindly following them into battle. We had a smattering of panels last year and it seems that the Geeky, Media-y, Expo-y powers that be liked us a whole bunch. The feeling's mutual, GMX, we love you too!

Blog-O-Ween! Just do it!

Getting your students interested and involved in class can be difficult. If you're anything like me, you are always incredibly into the theory of what you're teaching and you want your class to be able to appreciate the beautiful mechanics of what they're about to do. While it's great to be so excited about how stuff works, sometimes it's better just to let it work before explaining it. In theatre and in improv it is important to let your students get to creating in a safe environment quickly before even thinking about sharing theory with them. So quit mucking around with vocabulary words in your theatre class and just do it!