| and I'll be better when I'm older |
[09 Apr 2008|06:25pm] |
My Harold team, Raynard, was disbanded today.
I'm deeply dissapointed, but I'm mostly okay with it. The end has been looming for so long now that I've pretty much passed the grief stage. It's just acceptance.
My love for improv and for the UCBT is unshaken, and I hope I'll get another chance to play on Harold night soon. But it won't break me if I don't.
The main thing is that I loved everybody I took the stage with, and it was an incredibly special opportunity just to spend so much time with them. The shows are really just the tip of the iceberg. The rehearsals, the dinners, the bars, the downtime. The whole thing has been wonderful.
The peculiar month of April '08 just got peculiarer. The next few weeks will be a very weird mix of, relishing warm weather, looking for jobs, looking for apartments, embracing my free time, taking tests, and still seeing a lot of shows, and waiting to see if I'm in the harold mix this summer.
anyway, I'm feeling pretty okay. and I'm lookin forward to a fun, strange month.
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[04 Feb 2008|12:06am] |
"Dear New England:
You should've voted for Barack on January 8.
Sincerely,
God."
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[14 Jan 2008|02:42am] |
awesome news:
I randomly found out tonight that school starts next monday, Jan 21, instead of this tuesday, Jan 15. So I've got a free week in New York! virtually a spring break, only colder.
so a variety of the things I ran out of time to work on in Texas- german vocabulary, reading, etc- I can work on this week, mixed in with parties, lunches, friend's shows, and museum trips.
last night I thought that maybe this plane trip, this transition, would be sadder or more difficult than usual. Well… nope. The plane flight was as neutral as always, and the return to New York felt as good as always. From the airport straight to rehearsal, to dinner with Raynard friends, to the dorm, and then chilled with Godel.
The other day I thought about how it's strange, sad, surreal, that I'm going to spend this Entire calendar year, from now till Christmas, away from home. But tonight, as the taxi crossed the highway and the manhattan skyline emerged, the skyscrapers glowing, I thought... "an entire calendar year here, uninterrupted… this is gonna be Incredible."
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[12 Jan 2008|03:07am] |
just got back from a 2 1/2 hour visit with Robbie. He was at Sam Bass, working late, late into the night on some carpentry and set design for an upcoming show. it was the longest, most one-on-one conversation we've had in years. Just talked about high school and our friends and the theatre, the struggles SBCT's had lately.
it was really cool, really special to get to talk to him, and also just to walk around SBCT. stand out on stage and look at the rows of seats, trying to remember how it felt to perform here. the distinct scents of the house and the greenroom. The chilly patio where I spent years hangin around, making friends backstage.
at the end of the night I told him, half-jokingly, "thanks for taking care of Mom." That really is how it is. I think of me, Brandon and Robbie, as though we were brothers, and SBCT was Mom. We became friends here, learned to love acting here. I met them here, and from that I met Katie, and from that I reconnected with Ben, and from all that I basically came out of my shell. Most of the things I love about Texas relate to the people I met, thanks to this theatre.
So SBCT really did raise us, in a way. And Brandon and I are the brothers who moved far away to do our work and make our fortunes, and Rob's the brother who stayed close to home to take care of Mom, now that she's aging and in poor health.
I reference SBCT in my UCBT bio. Ocassionally I wonder if it's an unnecessary reference. But when I visited tonight it just reminded me, in a quiet way: this place Made me. And thanks to Rob and my actual parents and everybody else who's working to get her back on her feet.
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| fired up. ready to go. |
[04 Jan 2008|12:19am] |
Obama aced the first test.
This is the best I've felt about politics in almost a decade.
let's keep this going.
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| more improv thoughts |
[17 Dec 2007|01:42am] |
my harold team had a middling show last week- talky, panicky at times, not as real as it could've been, not as active as it could've been, and occasionally Totally incomprehensible. The audience reaction was generally positive, there were a fair handful of huge laughs, but for the most part I was deeply dissatisfied afterwards.
Today in rehearsal, our coach Anthony A. said, "I heard you guys had a pretty good show this week."
and we were incredulous, 'who told you that?'
"That's actually the worst I've felt after a show," I said.
He asked why, I explained, "Because the last show was so good, I thought that we had evolved past a lot of the mistakes we made this week."
and his response was so insightful and encouraging, it's a good thing for improvisors to keep in mind:
"You can't think in linear terms with improv. This idea that the next show always has to better than the last show- it's just not true. What it really is, is a sine wave that trends upwards: there are bumps and dips, but the overall trend is that you get better."
Such a good, reassuring point. Our November worst was better than our September worst; our November best was better than our September best. It was nice that a very smart guy, who's known this team from the beginning, reminded us of that.
other news:
• The Longest Harold Night Of The Year!, in which all 8 harold teams perform in a row, is this Tuesday. Longest Harold '05 was one of the earliest UCBT shows I saw, right after I finished my Level 1 class; so it's very special and exciting to participate in '07.
• My flight to Texas is the next day. I'll be in Austin December 19-January 13. Hope to see you all while I'm there!
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| "someday this diary will make me famous." |
[29 Nov 2007|03:28am] |
last night was our most successful Harold. Not necessarily our best or funniest show (my two favorites were harold night 9/18 and cagematch 10/18), but this was our most mature Harold yet.
We came into this show with a few clear goals for ourself, big and small: (1) come onstage with a fun but businesslike demeanor, no crazy jumping or indulgence; (2) relate the pattern game to our real experiences, make it personal; (3) take our time at the start of scenes; (4) play real, play patient, play scenes.
And there were flaws and lapses from time to time, missed edits, jumped guns, etc, but we achieved all of our goals. This was our realest (not meaning, 'uncreative', but meaning, 'natural, non-jokey reactions'), most personal show yet. And this was the first time I can remember strangers patting us on the back and saying, "Great show" afterwards.
Also, this was the most level I've felt with a Harold performance. I was as calm as I've ever been going into it (adrenaline buzzing backstage, but otherwise very relaxed), and I felt completely relaxed afterwards (calm satisfaction, no jumping off the walls and no agony either.)
Anthony's notes- "that third scene [with me and Rob]- Wow... I loved every line of this." felt really good to hear.
Some of my Wengert classmates were in the front row. It felt really good to see them there, because last week we were studying realistic scenework. I feel like, Harold night is for the students, it's to show them a model of how to do this stuff well. And we did the patient, realist stuff the best we've done it yet. We set a good example.
Also, tonight was the first night that, I couldn't judge our show relative to the other teams. For the first time my criteria was genuinely about what We did relative to what We can do, not relative to other groups. I was just satisfied with the performance in and of itself, no competitive vibe.
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[19 Nov 2007|06:00pm] |
by request, I'll start posting a few more entries about my improv experiences in nyc. Tonight, a rundown of my improv schedule...
monday nights: UCB Level 4 class with Joe Wengert. It's a basic harold workshop class (I took it this time last year), but I decided to take it again because I've never studied with Joe, and he's one of the highest-regarded teachers at the theatre. Most of the students are 23-26 years old, and they're all pretty good. Fun time, lots of scene work and harold basics.
tuesday nights: Harold Night! My team, Raynard, plays approximately every-other-week, though the schedule varies. Whenever we don't perform, I like to go to watch. There's nine Harold teams at the theatre, and five teams play each Harold night, so it's a different mix almost every time.
wednedsay nights: earlier this year I spent wednesday nights with my indie team (improv troupes not assembled by a theatre) Shark Tank, but this month I'm in an Experimental Improv workshop with Chris Gethard. Gethard is one of the gurus of the theatre, and he's always been a supportive, influential teacher on my way through the UCBT system. In this class we experiment with really fun, different, surreal forms.
thursday nights: Shark Tank practices.
friday, saturday: the weekend! normally I take a break from improv, hang out with NYU pals or whoever. About once or twice a month I like to see the UCB weekend teams: The Stepfathers and Death by Roo Roo on friday, Mother and Reuben Williams on saturday. The weekend teams are basically the leaders of the theatre.
They also fit pretty analogously into a family pattern: The Stepfathers are Dad, Mother is Mom, Reuben is the Golden Son, and Roo Roo is the Rebel. (stepfathers include some of the oldest, wisest performers at the theatre, the veteran teachers and gatekeepers; mother is the oldest team at the theatre, they've been together for almost a decade; reuben williams includes slightly younger guys- late 20s, early 30s- but collectively they're the day-to-day leaders of the theatre, in terms of teaching and administration; and death by roo roo embraces a really dark humor, fun-for-fuck's-sake style more than the other weekend teams- the only group that makes me think, 'improv is badass')
sunday nights: Raynard rehearses with our coach, Anthony Atamanuik. I'll write more about Raynard and rehearsals some other night.
In the meantime, gotta go to Monday class!
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| SNL on Strike! |
[18 Nov 2007|03:08pm] |
Last night the cast/crew/writers of Saturday Night Live performed at the UCB Theatre. Special one-night-only fundraiser in support of the WGA strike ($20 a ticket). There wasn't any general admission; the entire audience was people who worked on the show, friends of the cast, and (in the standby line) UCB performers. And since I qualify for the latter category- I got in!
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h61aFzp9bz805bms0278M7gBUZwgD8T002DO0
Without a doubt it was the insider-iest experience of my life. And it was a really fun, cool, solid show across the board; weekend update and a few will forte-centric sketches were Especially hilarious. A lot of the material was stuff that they couldn't air because it was too dirty for TV. Michael Cera hosted and basically did what Michael Cera does: sublimely charming awkward deadpannery. And Yo La Tengo musical guested!
Coincedentally, this same weekend 3 years ago was the first time I tried to stay overnight in the SNL line. Anyway, the afterparty was pretty great too. Didn't try to rub elbows with anybody, but I did a fair share of drinking and dancing and hung out with my Harold pals. Great night, great night.
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| the latest news |
[27 Aug 2007|02:13am] |
when I wake up tomorrow, it's Monday. My flight back to NYC is Tuesday. Wish I coulda seen more of you.
My Harold Night debut at the UCBT is gonna be September 11.
I wanna marry Kathryn Calder.
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| in Texas |
[03 Aug 2007|07:33pm] |
FYI: I'm in Texas this month, just got back a few days ago. If any Austinite wants to catch up between now and 8/28/07, please call!
also, I was cast on one of the new UCBT Harold Teams.
So any New Yorker who wants to see me improvise, come to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre! We'll start playing sometime in September, once or twice a month.
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[22 Feb 2007|02:07pm] |
I watched the NYU pro-immigration protest today (a reaction to this nyu republican gimmick: http://www.wnbc.com/news/11074589/detail.html)
two thoughts I came away with,
1. If I was an NYU republican, I would just constantly schedule offensive, contrarian events (ie, "Women's Choice is Bullshit! Day") and then sell signs to liberal counter-protestors. "Okay, three 'Keep Your Laws Off My Body,' posters, that'll be twelve dollars please."
2. A smart alecky pro-immigration argument that people should use: "If you're so anti-immigration, you should be a hero and Steal a Job from an illegal immigrant."
There Must be some popped-collar, NYU/GOP Long Island guys who are just Dying for the chance to scrub toilets or work at a meat-packing plant.
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| last of the luddites |
[20 Feb 2007|07:15pm] |
my phone, my utterly featureless, beautifully anachronistic phone, is dead. Battery expired after 2 or 3 years.
fare thee well.
In its place, I picked up a semi-sleek, middle of the road flip phone. I'm a little dissapointed that I can no longer brag about dodging the camera phone/internet phone/gadget-y phone culture, but on the other hand, man. This thing looks like a lot of fun. and the ringtones are an upgrade.
and after shoppin' at the verizon store I stopped for an early dinner at the union square whole foods. Yuppie-tastic day.
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| somethin to keep in mind |
[10 Jan 2007|12:40pm] |
combined total offense, Florida and Ohio State, '07 championship game: 452 yards
Vince Young, '06 championship game: 467 yards
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| meow |
[02 Jan 2007|03:50am] |
slept pretty much all of today, after staying up all night celebrating/helping a friend pack. now I am So awake and nobody to hang out with
it's so bizarre when my friends say, "it's getting late, it's already one a.m." that's texas, I guess.
so now that saddam is dead, there are officially No positive storylines that can emerge from Iraq. everyone already knows the costs outweight the benefits; the last benefit card we had to play was his execution. it's Pure costs in the media from now on.
I'm gonna miss him, and I'm less-than-half joking. when it's all said and done, Iraq's gonna have anarchy or a new khomeini.
second half of winter break, time to catch up with highschool pals and austin-based college pals, and maybe watch/play some improv! it's oh-seven people, yeah!
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| the banana republic is over |
[08 Nov 2006|01:04am] |
it's a good night for american democracy
the voters held the President accountable for years of incompetence, fear mongering, and suppression of dissent.
we've finally got a congress that Just Might stand up to the unchecked, Nixonian expansion of the executive branch.
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