Great Puppet Bollywood in the Blogosphere

Tim Bauer, cast member in last year's Great Puppet Musical, writes about seeing the show.

As does General Fuzz.

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Clay has been busy posting video clips to Un-Scripted's YouTube Channel. Like this one, where part of the set comes crashing down at the end.

So I was a witness to a part of theater that we often encounter and are not always in control of and that is audience participation. As an improviser it is our duty to get suggestions from the audience and utilize them in the shows to satisfy the audience's participation. However the gang who played the other day realized a different type of audience participation where the audience was at times disruptive or overly loud during the show. The circumstances were such that they could not be helped. A group of audience members with special needs came to see the show along with a group of Russians who were translating to there fellow members what was going on in the show. As the show went on words were repeated by the audience as well as a translation in full voice. As an audience member myself I found it very distracting to enjoy the show without worrying about what the actors were thinking and how they would react to the noise. As an actor on stage you are constantly aware of the audience and what they are doing it can't be helped so if you see someone in the fourth row yawning you have a tendency to push yourself more to some how get this person engaged in what is going on. Acting is give and take with the audience. If the audience is disinterested then you feel you are not doing your job. So when the audience becomes louder than the business on stage you have a tendency to want to push yourself to get the interest drawn back to the stage. Although as you develop as an actor/improviser you learn to cope with different situations and bring back the old euphemism that " The show must go on!" no matter what you encounter. You can be given all of the tools in the world but the fact of the matter is that when you are onstage you never know what is going to happen. Of course the unpredictable is what keeps us going as improvisers. So I want to take the time to commend my fellow actors/improvisers for working through the weird energy of audience "over involvement" and continuing with the story as they were taught to do. This is what distinguishes the difference between amature and novice improv/acting. We have been given the tools as improvisers/actors and it's good to see these tools being utilized through such episodes and that perhaps the audience was more uncomfortable than the ones onstage. Good work gang! Thanks guys! And keep up the good work!
Larmo

But -- that's what Un-Scripted MEANS . . . !

OK, this is the weirdest thing.

Maybe not THE weirdest. But still weird.

Sitting at the show tonight in the audience, taking notes, I started talking to the people next to me. Someone in front of me overheard and turned around with an expectant look and, may I say, a challenging grin. "You're the director?" she said. "I have a question."

"Sure thing!"
"How much of this show is really un-scripted?" This question comes up a lot. In fact, it came up at the talkback last week, too.
"All of it!" I proceeded to explain how the show stemmed merely from the suggestions, and how we rehearse the individual skills, but not show stuff.
"How about the storylines?" she asked skeptically.
"Nope! It's all improvised! In rehearsals, we do stories, but once we do them, we can't do them again."
She looked displeased. "Why, then, do you think that we all" gesturing to her two companions "have the same question?"
As the lights went down for the second act, I said, "Hey, I don't know! I'd love to talk more about it, though. I could talk forever!"

OK, so I've been asked before about whether we're really REALLY improvising (YES! we ARE! it's MADE UP!) -- but never ACCUSED. Accused! She seemed extremely annoyed!

And Christian said that after the show she "backed him up against the wall" and questioned him about the same thing, "until she got frustrated and left."

Seriously? I mean, for one thing, tonight's show wasn't the best show we've ever done (sorry guys! :o) it's true! sometimes you're hot, sometimes you're off! happens to everyone)--so why exactly would we 1. Write the show to be just like that, and 2. LIE about it?

It's not like magicians, who just won't tell you. Improvisors are happy to tell you just what we do! It's not magic -- and we're not gonna lie! I'm a terrible liar, for one thing.

Hence, the reason for the blog. Really, nice vaguely German-accented lady sitting in front of me. We're improvising. It's made up. You helped. And if it's a good show (or a bad show), does it really matter when it was written -- either six months ago or six milliseconds ago?

Comments?

Un-Scripted 2009!

This weekend we finally (we think) hammered out the 2009 season! The challenge: to make it widely appealing (ie, marketable in this south-trending economy) but still appealing for US!

Behold, in all its splendor:

March: Un-Scripted: unscripted

We really enjoyed this show a lot, and anecdotally, our audiences really enjoyed it as well. We also learned great things about how to start games without "introducing" them, and we wanted to practice more with cast-created music onstage. So there you go!

May: Shakespeare: The Musical!

Probably controversial (you know who you are :o), but understandable to the general public, marketable, fun, high production values, spiffo costumes, and a variable cast size (Dave's getting married during this show!)!

August: The B-Movie Film Project

Still a working title. A combination of Clay's concept to use the B-Movie card games in some way, AND of The Impossible Film Project, which we all loved but wondered how we would possibly bring back, with its logistical craziness. So it'll be a combination of live-action and film, probably an original "film" improvised onstage and then a series of sequels, with the actual film being the last in the series? Still figuring this out -- got any brilliant thoughts? But we're excited.

Nov/Dec: Let It Snow!

Everyone's favorite holiday musical, starring YOUR TOWN, is back! Perhaps with a new twist, perhaps in the city, perhaps new surprises -- still the same feelgood holiday gift! (I've been thinking that I want to send a DVD of their show to each of the towns that we've done, care of City Hall . . . seems like a pretty neat gift, eh?)

There you have it!

Questions? Comments? Let us know! Bring it on, 2009!

"Everything is New"

Yet another clip from this weekend's shows... "Everything is New," sung by Mandy, Pepper and Christian, with effects by Bryce and Jeff. Music by Daniel Walling.

Woo Opening Weekend!!

Can I just say, I'm sOOooOOooo proud of everyone? What a great opening weekend! Packed houses, likeable characters, coherent stories, catchy songs, hilarious puppetry. Whew. It was a tough job, and we did it.

We definitely have stuff to work on; they're by no means perfect yet -- AND, we also have three more weeks of rehearsal and eleven more shows! Given where we've started from, I can't wait to see the shows on closing weekend! Look out, world.

Mmmwah!

On You Tube

You can now see some clips from last weekend's shows on YouTube. Check out the Un-Scripted Channel or watch the embedded clips below:

From Friday Night's Show:


From Saturday Night's Show: