"W" stands for Winner!!!

I had to withdraw from one of my online classes yesterday. I am miserable about it. Although it was the right thing to do, all it means is that I am taking a big step back in preparing for my graphic design associates degree at Johnson County Community College.

This is my first time taking online classes. Business Math seemed like something I could handle without the need of a human instructor. Wrong. As much as I love math (and I do, I love it) this class was hard. The formulas seem easy enough, but I think that the fact that I am trying to do this all on my own is the problem. I just need that person, that figure to ask the occasional question to. Once I have that, I'll be fine.

I'll be back next semester, Business Math! Just you wait!!!!

Improv-In-The-Dark recap

I think it went well. Not just the piece in the dark, but the show as a whole.

Kansas City Improv Legend Trish Berrong had posted something in her blog that I had been thinking a lot about lately and tried to take that to heart for this show. My mind was free from worry and had shifted to having fun and enjoying myself.

Now I'm not going to go into great detail about the first half, but let me just say that the sense of play that I felt we had was similar to what can only be described as the younger troupe days. We started the show with a funeral piece about a dead 16 year old girl of all things. Yes, this was a comedy show. We felt that staring the show with this was kind of a risk, but we believed that we could pull it of because it is a very character driven piece. I think the audience enjoyed it.

Next came a simple round of scenes where the only thing we focused on was editing the scenes with chairs. This is where I really felt that our sense of play was top notch. Frog killings, staring contests, nonsensical teachings, and cancer-ridden bank robberies. Ahhhhhhh, just like the good ol' days.

For the second half, we got a suggestion (which we didn't really use i guess) and turned off the lights, completely. Did a little improv in the dark for about 30 minutes and the quickly brought the lights back up and blinded everyone in the theater. That is the second half in a nutshell. I am not going to talk about the content of the piece because frankly I don't remember that much about it. Not that it was bad, I think it went well. In my mind, however, the whole thing was kind of an experiment. We just wanted to see if we could pull it off and if the audience would enjoy it. There were some odd moments with the sound effects and music, but those were minor. It was Braeden's (our Chief Composer of Audio-Effects Orchestration) first live show and I think he did an exceptional job. He isn't even an improvisers, just a friend who is a talented musician who has seen us perform a lot. The more we do this, the better we'll get and the more solid of a product it can become.

Be sure to check out Improv-in-the-Dark again on April 26th when the Trip Fives do a show with the very talented improv troupe Babel Fish. Don't be afraid.

Improv-In-The-Dark

Saturday, February 23rd at the Westport Coffeehouse Theater.


I really love our posters. They are all designed by a very talented friend of ours, Jeremy Johnson.

A lot of new things are going to happen on this night. The Trip Fives are going to present a piece in the first half that Ed and myself created specifically for our own two-man show, with some minor alterations. We've thrown out the ending completely and are strictly going to focus on the opening.

This will also be the first Trip Fives show that will feature only four performers. Well, that's not entirely true. We had to perform with four at the last Kansas City Improv festival. Bryan had moved prior to the festival and it would have been too complicated to throw in a new person at such short notice. Besides, that four person show was one of the best performances we've ever done. Performing with four is fun, but I can't wait for little Miss Jen Roser to come back and play with us. Then we can truly be five again. (Jen, I know you are reading this!!!)

Another new thing will be the second half. We will be doing a piece with the lights out. We've made progress over the last few rehearsals, but i've got to admit, this piece isn't easy. It will be fun though. The final new thing is connected to the second half. Our friend Braeden Lynn will be accompanying us with music and sound effects from his laptop and keyboard. He has created show music for us in the past, but this will be the first time that he has every done anything live with us. I am nervous for him but I know he will do a great job.

So come out and watch the madness!!!! Unless you are afraid of the dark.

Money vs. Art

I have been performing improv in Kansas City for nearly 13 years. Two of those years I actually cared about getting paid for performances.

The first year was when Lighten Up broke up. Most of the cast regrouped under the name Funny Outfit and started performing crappy bar-prov at McCoy's Public House (I enjoyed it because the bartender thought i was funny and gave me free shots before shows). From there we started doing monthly shows at the Westport Coffeehouse Theater down the street. before, Lighten Up had its own theater, so money that was made went to bills and promotions. At the Coffeehouse, all we had to do was pay a theater fee. The rest of the money went to the performers. Getting paid was a first for a lot of us.

The other year was my first year at ComedyCity. My wages came from performing and working in the office. The only real reason I cared about getting paid was because it was my only source of income. I had no other job. On the other hand, if somebody asked what I did for a living, I could honestly answer, "I'm a Comedian" without following up with "and I work in a coffeehouse."

Other than those two years I have never cared about getting paid for performing improv.

Making money is just a little added bonus for hard work and self promotion. There should be so much more energy to put into a show and so much more time spent figuring out performance aspects of a show, than energy spent worrying about how much money everyone is going to get afterwards.

Here are the two things a think about when preparing for a show:

1. What are we going to do?
   
2. How are we going to get people there?
   

That's about it.  Then the only money aspect I have to think about is what to charge people for this show that has no script, no set, no live music, no costumes, no props, no nothing.  Just people and their words.  

When the show is over and done with and I happen to get a couple of extra bucks to purchase a beer with, that's fantastic!  maybe I'll do it again next month.

Mr. Smarty Pants.

Today I received a letter in the mail from the "Office of the President" of Johnson County Community College.  

I was named to the Part-time Honor Roll List for the fall 2007 semester.  An honor that is only awarded to 9% of their students.  

It has been over 20 years since I have been on any sort of academic achievement list like this.  Lisa is so proud of me.  I put this letter on the fridge next to Collin's pitcure of a penguin.

Improv Thunderdome Round Two.

Well, this round came and went in a blink of an eye.  Ed and I were not even really wanting to do our 2 man show beforehand because our anticipation for Thunderdome was so high.  We did it anyway even though our hearts were not into it, and in doing so we suffered the consequences of a mediocre show.  To be honest, we didn't care. The sooner we finished, the sooner Thunderdome begins.

We were more prepared this time having had one show already under our belt. Changes were made to make the structure more tight.  Ed kept the opening speech short, describing the premise and then moving right into the first team. Then, instead of announcing an intermission after the first team was over, Ed spent that time promoting everything from Thunderdome thongs to the next Kansas City Improv Festival.  Five minutes later, the next team went.  After than was the true intermission.  Then the last group.  From my point of view the structure came off as very smooth with little to no mistakes.  That was what I was most proud of.  As fun and as exciting as the first round was, it was sloppy and felt unrehearsed, to me. The more we do this, the more comfortable we'll get and the more professional it will seem.

The biggest tweek was the voting system.  Instead of relying on noise and clapping, we preprinted ballots that had each team name on them.  After the third performance was over, the audience could tear off the name of whichever team they liked best and drop it in one of three boxes that Ed, his wife Jill, and myself were walking with throughout the theater.  Once all were collected, we created three separate piles of ballots while all the performers participated in Freeze Tag on stage.  After all ballots were counted, the winner was announced.  

In the end, it was a night where all three teams presented pieces that were incredibly different from one another.  The audience was treated to three completely separate shows, something i've always believed Thunderdome should fulfill.  In one way it stinks that this is a competition.  That one team has to be voted on as the better of the three.  Because after two shows, everyone that performed worked together to give the audience two very funny and very entertaining shows as a whole.

Congrats to Scriptease!  And thank you very much to Babel Fish and Antiprov for participating.

Pizza Man.

As I was contemplating ordering a pizza this evening, I remembered a story of the first pizza I ordered in our new house.

It happened back in late September.  Now that I think about it, I don't believe it was actually a pizza that I ordered but instead the pasta dish from Pizza Hut.  Anyway, I saw the delivery guy's face as he was getting out of the car.  My immediate thought was, "Huh, he looks kinda familiar" and opened the door.  As he was walking closer, he looked up at me and his eyes got kinda big and then quickly looked back down at his feet, then continued towards the front steps. Without looking at me he said "Hi", handed me my pasta and told me what I owed.  I looked at his name tag as I handed him the check.  It read "Alan", and then I realized that I handed seen this guy since kindergarten.

Now, ever since I left high school, I have never been a big fan of running into people I knew or used to go to school with.  Being who I am, I don't generally like people.  This is one of the many things that my father and my brother and I have in common.  It could be a gene thing, but I like to think that problem isn't all on this side of the table.  I think It goes beyond that.  I had many friends in elementary school, K-6 friends.  None of those friends were my friends in junior high, so I had to make new friends.  High School, had to make new friends again.  On graduation day I realized that I wasn't really friends with anyone in my own class.  

There is a mathematical equation in there somewhere as to why I do NOT like running into people I used to go to school with.  I'm not ashamed of anything.  I think it all comes down to the stupid, silly little chit-chat that goes along with it.  If I do see someone, I go out of my way to make sure that someone doesn't see me.

Anyway, back to the pizza guy.  Once i recognized him, I knew there would be no way out of talking with him once he recognized me.  It never got that far.  I handed him the check expecting to get a "Wait a minute, I know you" or something, but he just kept his head down and gave me my receipt.  

"Thank you" I said.

"Thank you" he said and swiftly turned around and headed back to his little pizza hut car.  

Because of the subtle yet strong emphasis on the word "you",  I don't think he was thanking me for the tip amount.  It was more like he was thanking me for not recognizing him."

Huzzah!!!

Yesterday, as I was sickly laying on the couch, I watched a documentary called Darkon.  It's about group of people that create a real-life dungeons and dragons-esque world in Baltimore.

And I thought the Ren Festers were strange.

Go Ahead, Throw Your Vote Away!!!

My friend Ed recently directed my to this website called Glass Booth. You answer a few questions and rate a few political issues and then it's suppose to match you up with what presidential candidate best represents your beliefs. Sounds easy enough, so I did it.

It turns out that I share 100% of the views with... EVERY SINGLE CANDIDATE. Ed informed me that I must have done it wrong, so i tried again. This time I only share 100% of the views with... EVERY SINGE CANDIDATE.

I have never been more confused.

I think i'll vote for Kodos.