Rehearsal Day

Today is the last rehearsal before our May shows begin on Saturday. Jeremy gets to come in for his one-hour crash course on how to play TrivProv - he premieres at 9:00 on Saturday. I am positive he'll do great.

Then, the rest of the Imps come in. We'll go over all the games once as well as play Soap Opera. A lot of people are surprised that we rehearse for improv, but it's really necessary to have a good show, especially with the Imp Spectacular format, where there are a bunch of games. We have to know all the rules to the games before we go in, so we're not learning how to play it at the same time as the audience (although that's happened before...). Rehearsals are also needed to help solidify our sense of group - the kind of improv we do really requires that you trust your fellow actor.

Golden Girls vs. Saved by the Bell

John: Are you around? You're probably still sleeping.

Nifer: awake! good morning!

John: But it's not even 11:00 yet!

Nifer: i went to bed at 6:45. That would be unhuman.

John: What drives a person to go to sleep when most people are still eating dinner?

Nifer: extreme exhaustion. i actually had trouble keeping my eyes open while i was driving home. swine flu. that, and my home computer isn't working. not much else to do but sleep when i'm there.

John: Did you ever see that episode of the Golden Girls when Dorothy was tired all the time, and the doctors told her it was all in her head, until she went to one that said it was chronic fatigue syndrome? 80s cutting edge.

Nifer: "What prompted you to come in today?" "The Golden Girls."

Nifer: Did you ever see the Saved by the Bell where Jessie gets addicted to diet pills and has a meltdown in front of Zack? Early 90s cutting edge. It was only two steps from there we started seeing butts on primetime television.

John: How dare you compare Saved By the Bell to the Golden Girls? Not cool.

Nifer: Would I have stayed up extra late on a school night to watch Saved by the Bell? Probably not. But I DID have ZackBerry scented shampoo. I don't seem to remember Blanche having her own line of body care products.

John: If she did, I predict it wouldn't smell good.

John: Wait a minute - ZackBerry? Puke-a-tronic.

Nifer: It was musky. Like having Mark Paul Gosselaar on your head all day.

Stepping it up a Notch

I find that the monday classes have done a very good job, today especially, of hitting at some of the advanced and deeper techniques that really make an improv scene shine. For example, the technique of active listening lets a scene evolve perfectly naturally, and allows no room for stuff or preconceived notions. Also, the string theory allows people to take an ordinary suggestion, and make it extraordinary. Everyone in the class is extremely talented, and starting to reach a similar level, which makes play much more natural and fun.

How I Fought to be Part of This Blog

James here.

When John was forming this blog, he wanted to create a collaborative news bulletin with all the Imps reporting. However, early on in the brainstorming for creating this blog, he made an executive decision to not include me - you see, I've got kind of a sordid past with online postings...anyway, I found out about the blog through my mole in the Imps, and demanded to be part of the writing staff. John and I scheduled a meeting to talk about the issue, and the following exchange took place:

JOHN: Hey, look James, let's just be rational about this.
JAMES: Rational? You call making a secret blog behind my back rational?
JOHN: Yeah, kind of. It's not that I forgot about you...
JAMES: You just hate me. You hate me because my stock characters get more laughs than your stock characters during Trivial Prov-Suit.
JOHN: It's called TrivProv now.
JAMES: Oh, that's great. I hope you and your new partner are happy playing TrivProv together.
JOHN: You're the one who left! How can you be bitter about this?
JAMES: I'm not bitter. I just want to write on your blog.
JOHN: It's for the Imps, James...I don't know how to tell you this, but...you're not really an Imp anymore.
JAMES: WHAT? Not an Imp? What are you talking about? I'm impier than anyone you've got!
JOHN: You haven't played any shows besides TrivProv -
JAMES: You mean Trivial Prov-suit. TrivProv is what you and your new man do behind my back.
JOHN: Fine, whatever, it's the only show you've played in months. You're too busy doing your "regular theater" to be in improv shows at the Imp.
JAMES: Don't be hateful of regular theater. You used to do it too, you know.
JOHN: ...you...you don't have to tell me that...don't think it kills me inside every day that I don't do regular theater anymore...
JAMES: So that's what this is about? You're spiteful because I get to do plays still? You wish it was you memorizing lines and learning blocking?
JOHN: No...it's not what I want...I'm a changed person now.
JAMES: You can lie to me. You can't lie to yourself.
JOHN: If I let you write for my blog - IF I let you - you can't talk about real theater.
JAMES: Real theater? Was that a slip?
JOHN: I meant to say traditional theater.
JAMES: Uh-huh.
JOHN: And every post you make has to relate to the Roving Imp.
JAMES: Done.
JOHN: And you can't leave the city for Chicago.
JAMES: Sure, okay.
JOHN: And once you're done with your plays, you have to appear in three Imp Shows a week.
JAMES: Fine.
JOHN: Are you lying to me just so I'll let you write on my blog?
JAMES: No.
JOHN: All right then. I'll register you on the blog.
JAMES: YES! YES! Thank you! You will not regret this. I will write the most brilliant insightful -
JOHN: Just get out of my sight.
JAMES: Okay, yeah. Take care, John, I'll see you later.
JOHN: One second - if anybody asks, it was my idea to add you to the blog. Don't you tell anybody - not even Nifer - that we had this conversation.
JAMES: I would never.
JOHN: Get out of here.

It was a long hard battle, but I fought for you, Kansas City. You deserve to have my voice in the flowing river of passion that is improv - and since I'm not long for this town, soon this blog will be the only thing you have to remember me by.

And John? I was crossing my fingers when I said that stuff.

Rock Star Weekend

What an amazing weekend at the Imp - Five shows of wonderful quality, especially Poke and Omega Directive. Full audiences, great fun, awesome after-party... it's like Chicago on the Kaw!

Class, 'Arold, Omega Directive, Poke

After last night's success, I'm looking forward to tonight even still. Class this afternoon, and then the 'Arold at 7:00, with its mix of games and the French Braid longform. Likely to perform: Jen Harmon, Nifer Honeycutt, Jonah Jaxx, Vlad Kaufman, Tom Kessler, Shannon Peery & David Rushing. It's the first show with us for Jonah and Tom, who both have had a ton of success. It'll be a great time.

At 9:00, Omega Directive takes the stage, with its first half inspired by scenes from an audience member's iPod. Last month was my very favorite one of these we've ever done... the iPod was from someone closer to my age, shall we say... and more of the music was familiar to me, and it was faster for me to be able to figure out an opening. In the second half, we'll combine two classic TV episodes into one. If rehearsal is any indication, it's going to be crazy. We parlayed recycled foam cups into twisted family relations resulting in multiple counselor visits. Tonight features Trish Berrong, Aron Carlson, Jeremy Danner, Nifer Honeycutt, John Robison and Ryan Seymour.

Then, Poke is doing a short bonus set. Poke is Trish and Tommy Todd, and it will be their first time at the Imp. Unfortunately, it's because Tommy is leaving town to accept employment in one of my favorite American cities, Minneapolis. Bonus Poke set and accompanying party? Sounds OK to me!

Fun night! $6 gets you in for the whole night. With this much show, that seems fiscally irresponsible on my part. Take advantage of it before I regain my senses.

Huge Night!

Thanks to the Robot Parade premiere, we officially broke our record for most profitable show tonight. Even better than that is the fact that both RP and Improv Survivor were good quality shows - fun and enjoyable. No wonder I'm so tired. Thanks to everyone that performed and to everyone that was in the audience!

Robot Parade, Survivor

Tonight's shows should be a good time! 7pm brings the first show of Robot Parade, the show for the students of the Monday class. They'll be doing a first half of several scenes, then a guided deconstruction for the second half. For those of you that don't know what that is... basically they'll start with one long-ish scene, and then the rest of the scenes will all branch from it. Much more fun to see than to describe. Do you know any of the people in the show? You should come support them. It's only $6... and you get to stay for the 9pm show:
Justin Eifert, Nate Evans, Chris Hurt, Vlad Kaufman, Chante Keller, Matt Massey, Jessica Robins, Julie Robison

At 9pm, Improv Survivor returns. I personally get to be a contestant for the first time. We're also letting the audience vote on immunity for the first time. Since Survivor is a newer format, we're tweaking things as we learn things from the audience. We think that more audience participation will help some. I'm excited to see how Nifer does as host tonight! See these folks:
Host Nifer Honeycutt; Survivors Justin Eifert, Vlad Kaufman, Jessica Robins, John Robison, Julie Robison, David Rushing. Free with admission to 7pm, or $5 on its own. Plus you can help decide our fate, and have a super night doing it!

Thursday Rehearsal

We worked on our May games last night at Imp rehearsal... we've got the lineup ready. Here are the games we'll choose from during our Thursday Prime and Imp Spectacular shows (May 2, 7, 9):

Actor's Nightmare
Beastie Rap
Complaint Department
Foreign Film Dub
Let's Make a Date
Irish Drinking Song
Movie Guys
Oracle
Sports Center
Understudy

Longform: Soap Opera with genres

These are all games that we played during our first two months of shows, and are excited to play again!

On Camera, Part II

The onscreen Imp-plosion (?) continued this afternoon as two of the Imps, John and Nifer, filmed a commercial for a local bar and grill. The shoot was in promotion of the bar's newest drinking game, Das Boot, and consisted of taking turns drinking from a beer-filled kneehigh glass boot. Prop nachos were also eaten. Links coming soon!

On film

Last night, three Imps traveled up north to do a commercial for a new type of curtain rod. If you ever wanted to see John doing shirtless tai-chi, this would be your chance. Nifer and Lauren make an appearance later in the shoot. We'll post a link once the commercial is available.

The premise is that with old style curtain rods, sometimes it's tough to close the curtains so you don't have to look out on your neighbors and their non-mainstream ideals, but with the new curtain rod, you can shut the world out with ease.

That sounded snarkier than I meant it to be.

Now we're doing it too

We just got back from our trip to the Chicago Improv Festival, and noticed that lots of groups have their own blogs, separate from the individuals involved. If this is the way the winds are blowing, let no one say the Roving Imp is behind the times.

Don't expect anything as long-winded as John's blog, as many photos as Jessica's, or the long periods of absence like Nifer's. Expect fun, news, and behind-the-scenes on your favorite Roving Imp groups!