Emotion #2 | Phoenix Comedy Classes
Phoenix Comedy | Jester'Z Improv Comedy
I have said this before but it is once again important to talk again and again about characters emotions. If the exposition of a scene is the foundation, then the emotion is the meat.
In our beginning class we work a lot on emotion because it is a hard principle to apply to scene work, particularly when you start improvising. When initially studying improv we are told to have characters, so we either create characters that are shallow, with vague point of views and undefined emotion or we input ourselves into scenes and situation that we have no point of view about and/or no connection with. The problem with both of these scenarios is that with out a point of view or emotional substance there is no way scene partners can find the relationship within the scene. Instead we rely on our own wit or “the joke”, instead of relying on relationship, emotion and connection.
Here are a couple of ideas that can help you focus on emotion:
1. Have a Point of View – If you have a point of view you can have an emotional response to scenarios with in scenes.
2. Respond Emotionally – So often players are given gifts in scenes that are listened to but denied because we do not respond emotionally.
3. Silence – I think Alanis Morissette said it best, “Why are you so petrified of silence?” Silence can be an improvisers most precious tool… Silence can such the audience into your scene like nothing else can.
3.5. Shut Up – This is a .5 to silence because when someone is trying to build silence it is just as important that his/her scene partner to puts a period on their statement.
4. Be Real – Give real honest responses to situations! In a scene it is so easy to deny a player emotionally by not responding honestly. True responses are what make improv funny.
One of the best scenes I have ever seen came this last week in our beginning class. It was a break up scene, the women in the scene didn’t feel understood. The guy was shocked because he loved her but realizing that what he was doing in the relationship wasn’t enough and asked what he could do. The women said it was too late… And the emotion in that scene was so real that the guy couldn’t even respond and a lingering silence grew until the entire class was laughing hysterically. What made it funny was the realization that we had all been in that situation before and had felt that same way… Nothing in this scene wad funny, but everyone still laughed because of the truth of the scene.
Don’t Panic | Jester’Z Improv
Douglas Adam’s said that the one of the reasons why the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was such a huge hit was because it had, Don’t Panic, writing in friendly letters on the front cover. He was of course referring to his fictional guide to space exploration. However, we can take a great deal from those two words, Don’t Panic.
Particularly when you are first starting out in improv but also after you have been performing for years, we sometimes have a tendency to panic on stage… this happens even more when you are in front of an audience. This, panic, is cause by several things… unconnected scene work, lackluster audience response, denial on stage. Whatever the cause may be it is important that you not panic.
Here a couple of things to do when you feel a panic come along in an improv scene:
- remember to listen – one of the most fundemental principles in improv and often the first to go out the door when you start to panic.
- relationships – probably the reason you are starting to panic is because you scene have no relationship. nothing to connect with the audience.
- forget the audience – okay, so don’t for get the audience all together, but start playing for yourself, put the fun back in improv.
- be patient – the opposite of panic is patient. Trust the scene and the players you are working with. Trust the art of improv and remember the fundamentals.
9 years of Phoenix Comedy | Jester’Z Improv
Happy Birthday March Birthdays, it’s our Birthday too!
9 Years of Awesomeness
This March marks the 9 year anniversary of Jester’Z Improv Comedy
Founded in March of 2001, Jester’Z Improv is the longest running improv comedy troupe in the Phoenix area. The look of the theater has changed a lot in the last 9 years… we have seen some cast members come and go, and some stay… but the shows have not changed! 4 awesomely hilarious improv comedy shows every weekend!
One of the best parts about being in business for 9 years and really the only reason we have been able to stay in business for 9 years are the fans! We love our fans, and would do just about anything to make them happy. Truth be told Phoenix has some of the best improv comedy fans on earth!
That is why this March we are trying to give back a little…
If you have a Birthday any time in March, you can get free admission to see the Jester’Z any time in March! Call it Jester’Z March Madness!
This is how it works:
- Plan you birthday party on a weekend between March 5th & March 27th
- Call and make reservations for your birthday party
- Make sure birthday girl/boy bring some form of ID, or at least enough people to verify a March birthday
- Come and laugh until you wet your pants
- Hope that other people wet their pants too, so you aren’t the only one…
It is that easy!
Make those reservations far enough in advance that we aren’t sold out! | 480-423-0120
A Benefit for Alan & Jen | Jester’Z Improv
Our dear friend and talented actor Alan Schuler experienced a tremendous tragedy when his condo went up in flames early Tuesday morning. He and his girlfriend crawled on the ground to safety but not after suffering injuries, and losing everything they owned to the fire. Alan has performed on the Jesterz stage for several years and has brought many smiles and laughs to many people. We are putting on this performance to do our part to help him and his girlfriend re-coop from this tremendous loss.
Please join us for this benefit performance and help support Alan and Jen during this time of great difficulty. It will be a great night of wonderful entertainment, and a great cause to help a good hearted individual, who we have grown to love both as fellow troup members, as well as the many audiences whom Alan has entertained over the years. Please call and reserve at 480-423-0120 as seating will definitely be limited. If you are unable to make it to the show but would still like to contribute to this cause Any Wells Fargo location will accept donations to the “Alan Schuler Fire Recovery Fund.” To make a donation you will need the account #7529308400 or they can search under “Michael Kriley.” All proceeds will go to Alan and his girlfriend Jen to help them get back on their feet.
Hopefully with our help Alan will be back on stage doing his impression of a T-rex!!
Here is a link to a news report about the fire.
Go to out our special page on the site dedicated to Alan.
6 Week Beginning Improv Class | Jester’Z Improv
This last 12 week beginning improv class was so overwhelmed with students that we have decided to do a 6 week course starting Saturday February 27th at 9am – 12 noon. Hopefully the Saturday and early morning will accommodate students schedules a little better.
The class will cover the basics of improv including, but not limited to: agreement, listening, emotion, team work, characters and basic scene work. A 6 week course is very intense but does offer some great advantages that the 12 week course does not offer. For example, a 12 week course is sometimes a larger commitment then most people want to make. It also forces the student to focus on fundamental improv principals on a week to week bases with out the interruption of ancillary principles.
The class will be taught by Preston Smith who has been teaching, directing and performing improv comedy with Jester’Z Improv for 3 years.
Class enrollment is $200 and includes 6 weeks of classes and a graduation showcase on April 3rd at 6:00pm (yes, there will be a class on April 3rd in the morning.)
For more information or to register for this class please contact Dalane at 480-423-0120
Why do we create characters on stage? | JesterZ Improv
This is round two in character development blog posts
I am relativity sure that I am not beating a dead horse by going on and on about character development. Tonight in our character development class I posed the question: Why do we create characters on stage? There were a number of great answers that were all correct; to add emotion, variety, point of view and so on… However, there was one answer that I really want to talk about and it is this: To give the audience something they can relate to.
As much as I love a flesh eating zombie on stage with a mild case of narcolepsy, it is really hard to relate to that person… not impossible, but hard. Now create a sales person character who has a huge smile and straight teeth with an overly intrusive personality and you have someone that I can relate to… not only me but other improvisers and audience members.
When the audience can relate to our characters it sucks them more into the scene and makes them believe the idea of the scene better. If an audience member is more involved in the scene, the more they will like it. A great group that I think does this really well is Ratliff & Jackson out of Austin… 19 minute scene between a father and his daughter… as relate-able as it comes! Check out the video here.
Here are a couple of great exercises to help build better relate-able characters:
Interview Exercise
3 or 4 students walk around in the room, the teacher points out the way the student is walking, what they are leading with and so on. The teacher then tells the student to change their walk a little bit, lead with something else. The teacher repeats the process with all students walking around the room. He then invites the students to sit in chairs in front of him where he conducts on interviews of each character, asking them questions while the student stays in character. Once the teacher has interviewed all the characters, the characters are then invited to do some scenes together.
Character Mimic
4 or 5 students sit in chairs on stage. One student just starts talking in character about what ever the character has on its mind. After 30 seconds of so, another students starts talking as a different character, this patter repeats itself until everyone has introduced themselves as a character. Now is where it gets a little crazy… Students can now take turns talking in character, if a students likes another students character they can go and stand behind the student chair and talk as the other students character at the same time the first student is talking as their character… and so on, even to the point that ll 5 students are talking as the same character.
Character Development | JesterZ Improv
Building healthy strong characters
Over the last couple of weeks we have a couple of classes that have been focused on building strong characters with emotion. Characters within improv are absolutely vital to the survival of a scene. Characters build strong foundations to a scene and help to build the relationship.
We had Jaye Andres Vice-President of the AZ Enneagram Association in to teach our Character Development class this week. She talked about the different types of “personality filters” that are out there. Here are a list of them. Jaye is a fantastic source for Enneagram knowledge… we highly recommend checking out the AZ Enneagram Associations site.
The Ennnagram test reveals different personalities that are all around everyone in society, that is what makes it’s use in improv so valuable. Nothing is more funny then the truth… that is a saying all improvisers should live by. When we can create characters on stage that the audience can connect with, we draw them more into the scene… when we give those characters actual emotion it draws people even more into the scene, which makes the pay off even greater.
Here are some keys to finding a great character:
- Look around you at the people you interact with everyday, what are thier personally quirks. All the great improvisers will tell you that their best characters were inspired by someone they knew.
- Find a character “twitch”, which is a physicality that puts you in the characters persona.
- Create a real history for your character, where they are from, who they grew up with, what they do for a job… whether they like fudge on their ice-cream or strawberries.
- Give your character emotion! Make them real emotion characters. If you counted every time someone said “i am angry” on stage instead of actually being angry, you would not be able to count that high.
- Purpose and motive. Once you have created an emotion character give them a purpose or a want… and a motive or reason for being angry.
I am sure I could go on a on about how you can build characters, suffice it to say that it is important that they are present on stage… they will give you the words to say as an improvisor, they will give you the emotion you need. NOT YOU, you bring nothing to the stage but a character, once you are both there, let the character take over.
Musical Improv Comedy | JesterZ Improv
We have made it through our first month doing musical improv with guess performer, Mary Hoffman. It was a lot of fun but even more of a learning experience for us JesterZ. In the past we have occasionally added musical games to our shows but very little with an accompanist.
First, super props to Mary Hoffman and her ability and willingness to play with us. I am sure she was frustrated with us from time to time. She is a super talented musician, song writer and everything… we were very lucky to have her with us.
Second, musical improv comedy is a whole different animal from regular improv comedy. There is a tendency to get up in your head and thing too much about the song or the rhyming patterns, which are important… but not as important as the scene.
Lastly, we have a long ways to go. Occasionally, we will put together a song that is really dynamite, we love it the audience loves it… Mary loves it and all is well. However, sometimes we miss… the audience loves it, we like it and Mary is always nice about it. Conclusion, we will continue to work very hard on musical improv.
Mary Hoffman will be doing a show February 6th, 6pm at Theater 168… this is a great opportunity to catch Mary in a smaller setting before she makes it big! (check out the details below, and check out facebook for a special offer)
Mary Hoffman
Catching up | JesterZ Improv
It has been a while since we posted anything on here but believe us when we say there has been plenty going on at Jester’Z Improv. We had a fantastically busy holiday season, shows all over the Phoenix metro area and some wonderful holiday shows at the theater. Now that the holidays are over and we are looking forward to a fantastic 2010, there are just a couple of new items that we wanted to touch on at the beginning of the year, or at least before January ended.
- We have a wonderful schedule of upcoming events available on facebook. We will try to keep everyone up to date on this blog but facebook will be the main source for up coming events.
- JesterZ Mob – We are in the process of putting together a “street team” group that we refer to as the Jester’Z… we are still working out the details for that but expect something on that in the next 3 months.
- Musical Improv – If you have been to the theater in the last month you know that we have added a musical element to out shows. We had a very talented local musician, Mary Hoffman, at Jester’Z over the last month to help up out with the music side of things. We will be doing the music on the full time level, but will definitely be adding more music from time to time.
- Lastly, is a small look back. Over 2009 We really got involved in some exiting, no necessarily new, but new to us ways of interacting with our fans. One of them being this blog, but also our facebook fanpage, which has nearly 1500 fan and our twitter account which has over 600 followers. We have had a blast interacting with our fans and hope the filling in mutual.
All in all 2010 is going to be an out standing year at JesterZ, a monumental year!
Corporate Entertainment | JesterZ Improv
5 reason why JesterZ Improv should be at your company’s event
Customized Comedy :
By nature improv adapts to the surroundings it is in. Therefore it makes sense that when the JesterZ visit you at your location, certain aspect of the show will be driven by your company’s culture. Who is the joker at your work, what little quirks do your co-workers have and what is your bosses day like? Give us these things and we will create comedy genius right there on the spot. There is nothing in the Phoenix area that provides this type of personalized experience for the employees of a company!
Experience / Professionalism :
JesterZ Improv has been performing at corporate functions in Phoenix, Flagstaff, Tucson and other outlying areas for the past 9 years, with well over 200 corporate shows per year. Our performers are the same performers you see at the JesterZ Improv shows on the weekends, we DO NOT outsource our comedy to anyone! Check out our list of clients!
People Will Actually Want to Attend :
I know you laugh at this one, but this is the honest truth. We have had clients who book us year after year after year because if their employees know we are going to be there, it will be fun. The experience will be something people talk about for years to come!
Family Friendly = Corporate Friendly :
HR departments are a wonderful thing, except after the Christmas Party when they have to sit everyone down and explain why “so and so” said what he did at the party and how he is sorry and hopes he didn’t scar anyone’s kids for life and so on… We only know clean comedy. Period. With no exceptions, your comedy show will be clean, family friendly comedy.
Breaking Out of the Norm :
There is really nothing like bringing JesterZ Improv to your company party or event. Put best by University of Phoenix, one of our clients, “In a world of ordinary corporate outings and lame office pot-lucks, your smart, customized performance inspired laughter and created memories we are sure to discuss around many a water cooler for years to come.”
If you are interested in getting more information, please call: 480-962-9262 | we would love to have you come to a show and sample the type of experience available at JesterZ Improv.
BUT HURRY, our Fall calendar is filling up fast!
Please visit our Contact Us portion of the website for more detailed contact information.
Making Reservations
Call: 480-423-0120
Corporate Contact
Call Jef and Shurlin Rawls at: 480-962-9262
Email
info@jesterzimprov.com
