December 2012
0 posts
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August 2012
12 posts
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On the Road Again
I woke up in Lauren’s bed at 9:15, my arm around her and the sun in the window obscured from my eyes by a bit of her hair that made it over my face in the negotiations of the night. My body felt incredible; it dawned on me that this was the first time in five weeks I’d known the comfort of an actual bed. I rolled on my back and thought for a bit, about the immensity of last night and...
16 tags
To Dig Chicago, Part 3: Finish It All Before You...
I woke up at 10, dehydrated and feeling like hell. I lied back on the couch and surfed the internet trying to unfuzz myself and planned out my last day in town. I had Second City tickets that night and was going with a girl named AmyJo, a friend of Robert’s from Houston, so I knew I had to be back by 6 to shower and such.
THINGS TO DO: Eat a slice of deep-dish pizza See Chicago from the Hancock...
9 tags
The Really Big Shew
Craig began class in a state of attrition. He seemed to have spent the previous evening hating himself for the way that he came off on Wednesday and operated with a tenderness that bordered on the unnatural (for him).
“You guys are all poets, artists and geniuses,” he said. “I have full confidence in you tonight and I love you as a group together. Whatever you do it will fucking rule.”
We played...
9 tags
Hypocrites
I’ve officially decided that Craig Uhlir is a fucking dickhead.
Not that he means to be, but he is. There are ways he could go about everything that would give him and everyone around him such less hard of a time. He naturally chooses the most abrasive way to phrase things and then backtracks to what he actually means to say. He reacts passionately, which is his strength and also what makes him an...
11 tags
Deconstructing Love
I woke up and arrived early. Craig had nicknamed me “Late” the day before and since I was treating him like a football coach I was using his negative reinforcement to fuel myself to do better. Today focused on the Deconstruction, a form developed by Miles Stroth that’s a more structured version of what Omar introduced to Antoine and me for Fade to Black. Two people begin a scene (called the “root...
8 tags
Sleeping Through Alarms
I stirred to waking on the air mattress and blearily glanced at the time to see that it was 11:13am. FUCK. I jumped to standing and threw on clothes and was out the door in two minutes. Class this week was at the Underground Lounge, a closer destination but far enough away to be anxious. I remember Caitlin telling me that the place was a dark pit that had to be locked to keep the homeless out so I...
9 tags
Last Day at Castle Davis
I had a lot of writing to catch up with and laundry to do so I planted myself firmly on the couch and proceeded to not move for most of the day. Deena was in and out, being strange and awkward and sometimes making terrible jokes that have to do with being a 29 year old Jewish woman with body issues and a biological air horn screaming for her to be married with kids already. I feel like I’ve given...
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A Day of Sloth, A Night of Wonder
I guess I can’t really call it a “Day of Sloth” as I pretty much spent all of it writing, but I didn’t leave Deena’s couch until about 7pm when I decided to shower and head to see the Deltones. I hadn’t seen them yet and it dawned on me that this was my last Saturday in Chicago and I had better see what all the fuss was about with them. I’m lucky enough to have made friends with the door guy (who...
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Artists, Poets, and Geniuses
Urrrrrgghhhh.
I spent a couple of hours drinking water and getting into a decent headspace before taking a cab down the street to get to Susan Messing’s workshop. It didn’t take long for her to discover that I was hung over and she wouldn’t let me live it down.
“You drank your ass off last night, didn’t you?” “You said I could.” “You fucking asshole! What did you drink?” “I started with beer,...
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Gurus and Madmen
“This class takes scene work to the next level by addressing the problems that plague most improvisers. With an acute focus on point of view as well as getting out of your head, this intensive will get you to the next level improvisationally.”
The things you get to read in an improv theater as you take a piss.
I contemplated the image of a lost Level 1 student dumping 100 bucks into that workshop...
21 tags
The Structure of Memory
I learned a valuable lesson about being a student today.
I walked into Jeff’s class determined to find the answers to all of my questions about the Harold. I’ve never been the kind of student that’s asked many questions. A consequence of being intelligent is a fair amount of hubris involved in the state of learning. There’s the attitude that if you don’t get it without asking a lot of questions...
10 tags
Frustration
Now I’m starting to get a little bummed out.
I don’t think I like Jeff Griggs as a teacher. He’s not very good at explanations and when you seek clarification he seems like he intends to confuse you and be vague. It continues to key into my thoughts that the Harold is no longer used to make art at iO. It feels like a lackadaisical version of my old lighting and scene design classes from college...
July 2012
27 posts
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Organic Openings and A League of Their Own
“Are you the Cris without an H?” “Yeah, that’s me.” “Okay, great.” Coming in late to the first day is the cool kid’s way to always being remembered.
Acting as if I had any time left to rest after everything that happened to me last week, we barreled on through to week four with Jeff Griggs. We’re stationed in the Del Close Theater this time around, a stage that was only a vague legend seen on...
2 tags
Olympic Sunday
Wake up at 11. Surf the Internet. Watch the Olympics. Avoid Deena’s strange comments. Write all day. Never shower. Never leave the apartment. Eat a peanut butter sandwich.
9 tags
To Dig Chicago, Part 2: The Circle Gets Wider
I woke up and decided that, since I had this Saturday and nothing improv-related that I was committed or dying to see, I was going to push out further into the city than I have before. Living so close to iO is a blessing and a curse. There’s convenience but also no need to go outside of Lakeview and Wrigleyville. If I ever move here, Lakeview is definitely where I’m going to move to. I’ve already...
12 tags
Too Much Light...
I didn’t feel too terrible when I got up in the morning so I counted a win as I slid into the Del Close Theater at 10am. Susan Messing was there already and showing off her reputation with sweet style.
“I’m going to try to get you fuckers out of here right at noon if you’ve got any more workshops to go to,” she joyfully exclaimed, “and I know you’re all hung over but try your best to focus.”
The...
7 tags
Personal Feedback with Colleen Doyle, Featuring...
We started up class finishing out the worst initiation exercise and then concentrated on two-person scenes in a marathon that stretched to the heart of each of us as improvisers. As Colleen had promised, she took detailed notes about each of us and gave them one-by-one as we went up to do scenework. I’ve never been much of a note taker in terms of physical notes. I usually have a decent enough...
9 tags
Specificity, or TJ and Dave Fuck with a Pulitzer...
NOTE: In all honesty, I can’t remember exactly what happened this day in class. There were a lot of exercises that had to do with reacting genuinely, from the core of our beings, but it was all so deep and intense that I can’t remember exactly the details of what caused each breakthrough. Ken has been recording every day, though, so I’ll update this post when I get his recordings. Just know that...
7 tags
Diagonal Dave Gets a Birthday
NOTE: In all honesty, I can’t remember exactly what happened this day in class. There were a lot of exercises that had to do with reacting genuinely, from the core of our beings, but it was all so deep and intense that I can’t remember exactly the details of what caused each breakthrough. Ken has been recording every day, though, so I’ll update this post when I get his recordings. Just know that...
7 tags
The Real Fun Begins
As my Chicago world took a turn for the weird it put me in a strange headspace as I walked into the downstairs Cabaret Theater for week three with Colleen Doyle. We did a quick warm-up and before I could even settle in we were doing three-line scenes. I found myself at the front of the line and was immediately called out on my bullshit before I finished my reaction to Stephen’s initiation of, “You...
16 tags
Attempts
I headed down to Link’s Hall at 11am for a contact improv jam that I heard about from Rob. I was really excited; I hadn’t done contact improv since college. In this new mission to become more physical again, it’s one of the more perfect things I can do. Caitlin and her crew were supposed to be there as well and I was really interested in talking more to her friend about some of the movement-type...
15 tags
The Neverending Night
Awake and writing. Strange day. People killed in Colorado the day before puts a real pall on America. Already the news organizations and knee-jerk comments from everybody are a bummer enough for me to not want to follow this story at all. I’d rather see the Instagram feed of all my friends at Megaphone Marathons in Austin.
I got on Fandango and procured tickets to the 3:40pm showing of Dark Knight...
9 tags
Jet Eveleth and the Perks of Being Physical
Man, I am really out of shape.
I had a nice, relaxing morning doing some reading and finding some calm before heading down to the theater for Jet Eveleth’s Physical Improv workshop. I’d only just seen Jet do improv the other night with Susan Messing and her physicality was amazing to watch so I was more than a little jazzed to check this out.
I showed up right on time and the group was already...
9 tags
I Like it When You... I'd Like to See You...
Getting used to Deena’s again proved harder than I’d imagined. I got comfortable at Eric’s. He had a couch that swallowed me and an A/C that could freeze me out if I wanted it to. Deena’s place is a little more controlled. She goes for economy and the heat does well for her Arizona soul. Her air mattress is the first one I’ve slept on in years that didn’t deflate overnight, though, so that’s a...
9 tags
Listen Your Dick Off
My alarm rang at the ungodly hour of 6am and I punched myself to waking, attempting to muster up the energy to brush my teeth and get dressed. I walked to the Addison Red Line and took it downtown to a huge building on N. Michigan Street where I boarded an elevator to the 9th floor and found myself in Dr. Jack Clamis’ office. He was a kindly old man that reminded me of my grandfather and his...
13 tags
Powering Through
I woke up and instantly called the number my mom sent me. The earliest I could get in that wouldn’t conflict with class was 7:15am on Wednesday. The office was right down the Red Line so I made the appointment and resigned myself to one more day of impaired hearing. It was beginning to negatively affect my attitude and other parts of my body. I went through most of the day feeling sick and I found...
8 tags
Vindication, or The Physical Actor's Workshop
After three days off, I was more than ready to get back into the groove. The ear thing continued to be a bummer, so I called my mom to get her to contact my doctor for recommendations of guys up here. We talked for a bit and she said she’d shoot me an e-mail later, so I put it to the back of my mind and headed out.
I met Aaron at Salt & Pepper for breakfast and we discussed for a bit our...
15 tags
Old School
The only detriment to spending time on someone’s couch is how obvious and out there you look when you want a lazy day. If this had been Houston I probably would’ve retreated into my bedroom and not come out at all, playing on the internet and feeling bad for my ear situation. Since I’m on a couch and in a strange city, though, such things seem silly to me. Luckily, Chicago is a city happy to...
15 tags
Earwax, Train Rides and Rap Battles
I woke up with the idea of spending the day on an explorative adventure through the parts of Chicago I’d yet to see. Eric was going to Pitchfork Music Festival so he offered me a ride to his friend’s place in Wicker Park. As I was doing my morning ritual, though, my right ear closed up suddenly. I grabbed a Q-tip to try and remedy the situation and removed a humongous chunk of dark earwax that...
13 tags
A Long, Loud Bit of Nothing Inside a Wonderful...
I woke up at 10:15 and proceeded to do a filthy amount of nothing for the following nine hours. I called my mom and played on the internet, catching up on the goings-on in Houston. The Megaphone Marathons are at Freneticore this weekend and AirSex was Wednesday at Fitzgerald’s. Homesickness is a weird thing. I know at the forefront of my mind that I am doing the best, most amazing thing, but I...
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The Last Day of the First Week of the Rest of Your...
The amount of Dimo’s I’m eating is beginning to reach the inordinate. Last night’s drunken escapades featured as its closing act Scott Lowe, Kevin and I talking improv through the chomp chomp chomp of teeth meeting dough inside a cacophony of Wrigleyville partiers. This time I got a Southwest Eggroll slice (amazing with a nice burn) and one covered in peppers. Hell yeah Thursday.
Week one...
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Invocations, Suggestions and the First Law of...
I woke up around 8am, as is becoming my custom in this adventure, and talked with Eric over a couple of cups of coffee while I wrote. He was interested in hearing about how I was finding the intensive, how things were going down in Houston and my point of view on the New Movement’s philosophy of not taking suggestions. When people find out that I come from TNM, if they’ve ever heard of it, the...
13 tags
Breakthroughs
The walk to iO in the morning is beginning to become a sweet little ritual. I fire up the iPod and hit the road, taking in the city as it comes alive. There’s a cool area of Clark Street that has a train track running above it that I really enjoy walking under for some reason, especially when the clackity-clack of an old train thunders through. It signifies the start of another epic day.
Today was...
14 tags
The First Day of School is Always the Most Fun
Time finally made its way to 9:30am and I shot up and hit the shower. Aaron met me outside and we began the short walk to iO. In fact, it was so short that we ended up there 30 minutes early and killed time with coffee at a restaurant next door.
When we entered the theater it was crammed with people. We checked in and got our packets and I tried to carve out an open spot. I was doing pretty well...
14 tags
Lazy Sunday
I woke up around 11:45, hung over and feeling weird. Deena was puttering around the kitchen and offered me a bowl of grapes, which I slowly ingested with some warm water. It seems that when I drink too much I develop a slight morning cold. When I’m sneezing and blowing my nose incessantly in the morning is when I know I need to cut back. I’ve been thinking of cutting back in general, recently, as...
10 tags
To Dig Chicago
Deena was already off to work by the time I woke up, so I busied myself with writing and doing some preliminary Yelp research on my phone. I’d forgotten to get the WiFi password from Deena the night before so I was searching for a cool café nearby, something that reminded me of Brasil a little bit with good food and coffee and the right vibe. Around that time, Aaron called me up and met me...
7 tags
On the Road
4am saw us departing from Austin on I-35 toward Dallas, the first obstacle in our long pilgrimage to the Zen Improv Masters in Chicago. We were hoping to beat the early morning traffic and we ended up with a serious case of luck in that regard. When we got to Dallas at 7am, after one of the most beautiful sunrises that addled my brain and woke me up twice in the passenger seat because I thought...
8 tags
Austin
I rolled up to Aaron and Hubbell’s apartment in North Austin at 3:30. Aaron got home around 5 and we decided to spend the evening relaxing and leave Austin at 3am to get the night driving out of the way at the beginning. I reclined on the downstairs couch with Proust while their new roommate, an understated cool kid named Michael who seems perfect for the vibe, played chess with his friend Polaris...
6 tags
Packing
July 4th filled with a lot of Lone Star, hot dogs and friends. As I went to bed drunk and tired after playing a game of dominos on a table constructed with ingenuity by placing Chris Oddo’s bass case on top of the ice chest, I texted Aaron to let him know that I planned to be in Austin around 10 or 11am to depart with him for Chicago. He texted back pretty immediately, a surprise since it was 3am...
June 2012
1 post
8 tags
Let's Get Intense →
“When I came to improv in 2010, I had no idea that it would grow to consume a large portion of my life. My original purpose was to dip my foot in, adding a little improv to my acting toolbox. Almost two years later, I find myself playing weekly shows in Houston, regularly traveling to perform in Austin and New Orleans, touring the country and expanding my success in every aspect of my...
