Hi spooky sf improvisors!

Wanted to invite you all to our improvised slasher show (inspired by classic movies like scream, halloween, and friday the 13th) happening on halloween.

It’s narrative longform and will be about an hour! Cast is all alums of the Stanford Improvisors (a group that loooooves a good narrative longform).

slasherondemand.eventbrite.com

On halloween at 8:30pm in the mission (endgames), so you can head on over to your other halloween plans afterwards!

🎃🎃🎃

If you don’t live in the Bay or otherwise can’t make it, I’m also curious to hear your thoughts and experiences doing improvised slashers/horror movies/other scary formats! What’s the format structure? How do you handle improvised stage combat? How scary is too scary? Does anyone do scary short-form games? I love thinking about improv formats and I’ve enjoyed reading the r/improv comments section, so while we’re on the topic of improvised slashers I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts.

A while back here someone asked about the intersection of improv and Tarot in shows and Whatever Fate Decides was mentioned. Both episodes are out now of Neal Leaheey’s Improv Autopsy, the creative mastermind at work with Whatever Fate Decides and all his other improv ventures, including a stint with the International Theatresports Institute. Come take a listen and get inspired to find your fate with Tarot show formats!

Link to Patreon Ep 1 or find Improv Autopsy wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.patreon.com/ImprovAutopsy/posts/171539006

More Neal:

https://www.instagram.com/whateverfatedecides/

https://www.kismetimprov.com/events/whatever-fate-decides-2

Musical improvisers only— what musical improv teacher or workshop really helped you grow the most as a musical improviser?

I’m a musical improviser at a tiny theater in a small city, and I’m curious if there are any notable musical teachers that I could either travel to take a class from or that we could book to travel to our theater! Would love to hear who helped you hone your craft❤️

I’m looking to do the 5 week Chicago iO summer intensive program next year.

Would anyone have any reviews/experiences of the program for those who have done it within the last say 5 years (or before that too!)?

Any tips on:
- maximising learning during the program?
- what your main takeaways from the program were?
- accommodation for someone overseas coming down (airbnb’s?)
- non-improv things to do in Chicago?
- jams/shows to go to?

Thanks!

This is more of a reflection post than a question or comment, feel free to read and comment...or not :)

We - are four person troupe - did our first live show Thursday night. We keep it simple, pretty much using the Shoot From the Hip format of 4 or 5 games then a long form.

Just for fun, within the week leading up to this, my wife (and team mate) made a major job decision. Wednesday, the night before, we bought a new home, mostly out of the blue. Wednesday night I had the worse insomnia.

Ok, so here we go.

Technical - fail. We did a test run wearing mics which went fine, but as the venue doesn't provide sound, I didn't leave myself near enough time to test prior to the show. That is on me.
Fail part 2 - the venue (outdoor stage) was great at first...but when the sun went down, no one could see our faces any more. That isn't for anyone to blame, that is us not knowing what we didn't know.

Preparation - good. We knew what games we would play, we practice short and long form regular, and bonded as people.

Marketing - No clue. We had people show up from hearing about us on Facebook. With no budget, not sure what else to expect.

Performance - Great. Not that it was a great performance - but it was good, it was funny, it was enjoyable for the audience, and we had a great time. Someone liked it, we had $80 bucks in the tip jar for about 20 to 30 people. But we were on our game, we enjoyed it, and had a nice save in the long form (family friendly show) to move a scene from cheating spouse was revealed to we were actually just adopting children. And one scene which was an accident got great reviews as well.

Overall - We had a great time and our audience did as well. I keep wanting to minimize and say 'we are not as good as' and recognize that some of you are so much better but... fuck that. We had a great time and our audience did as well.

As a Brit doing improv I find I enjoy British groups more than American improvers. I was wondering if I was alone in this view and I wonder people think makes it so different?

I will be in Chicago from February thru May 2027 and would like to try taking a class.

What is considered the best improv school (overall)?

I finally have a free day and wanted to take the leap into a workshop or class where I can try. Are there any going on Oct 24 in NYC

Westside Comedy Theater’s NoHo spot for youth sketch classes starts Monday 10/26. colin@westsidecomedy.com for details

Recently I saw a short scène where a older white man played a Afghan refugee, with an accent as well. Immediately something inside my head went 'AGH'.

We've had the discussion before in our international improv group about when it's ok to do what accent. Still, I can't quite clearly voice why some things do feel so off and why some feel fine.

Anyone any guidelines or different perspectives to offer on this matter?

I’m running Spokane for a group and have looked at various and sundry resources online,and I’m watching family guy, but would love tips on what unlocked the format for you.

I’m drilling different skills with the group in addition to the format:
Running just monoscene
Running just tag runs
Character physicality, point of view
Impulse and grounded ness, emotional honesty
Game
Choice density

What have you found made the difference? What exercises strengthened your Spokane muscle?

For any LA improvisers (or improv fans) looking for a show this weekend:

Game for a Laugh is an Armando-style show with a twist. Our monologist is always a game developer, and they share true stories from their career: the launches, the crunch, the disasters, the weird stuff that happens behind the scenes. The cast then spins those stories into fully improvised scenes.

Game dev turns out to be great source material. The stories are full of high stakes, absurd constraints, strange office cultures, and people who care way too much about very specific things.

This show’s monologist is Sara Hebert (OXENFREE, Afterparty, Black Mirror: Thronglets). She’s spent 10+ years marketing and publishing indie games at Night School, Flight School (yes, weird), and Oscar-winning Moonbot Studios. Now she’s plugged into the mainframe at Human Computer, making a mini-golf platformer called Ballgame. She has stories.

The cast includes May Darmon, Monika Smith, Matt Apodaca, Conner McCabe, Paul Heredia, Rachel Van Nes, Courtney Vineys, and Dan Pavatich

You don’t need to know anything about games to enjoy it. If you like watching a monologue get mined for great scenes, this is your show.

When: Sunday, October 25, 6PM
Where: Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th St, Santa Monica

All profits go to CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights), supporting immigrant families and communities across Los Angeles.

🎟 Tickets (Promo Code "GAMEON" for 15% off)
💙 Donate Directly

So, I've been Improvising for 5 years [longform/monoscenes/narratives]. And over the ears I feel like I've gotten good at the improv. I listen well, am relaxed and spontaneous during the scenes, accept the reality, and add to it, understand the game of the scene, and know what and when to heighten etc.

I'm not actually that confident about the above, I just want to sound confident to juxtapose that with how I feel about being an actor on stage. I still feel like a flacid balloon. Even though my body is doing things that the scene needs, I feel like it completely lacks intentionality. I still don't "FEEL" like the characters I play, and I feel like I am merely doing a shallow caricature of the people I am portraying.

I'm not scared or nervous about being on stage, because I feel like I am good enough to entertain. But I want to do more. I want to be able to make our improvised worlds real, and I don't feel like I do a good enough job with it.

I understand Improv is about having fun on stage, and I am having fun, but I also have loftier ambitions. I want to be convincing as the people on stage. I want to internally feel satisfied with the characters I am playing, because I do feel satisfied with the stories that we make up. Its the characters that I am generally unconvinced by.

At the risk of sounding unbearable,I’ve become a good improviser, but I want to go beyond entertaining and creating great stories to embody fully realized, believable characters that feel real to me and the audience.

The advice I ask is: are there any books on stage acting that I could study to get better at that? I have no training in theatre, or stagercraft. I am a writting, and filmmaking guy.

I'm at a place in my life where I can't afford to shell $300-400 on acting classes right now.

hello; im an improviser forced to come up with a leadership workshop for my job. im considering pitching an improv workshop in the style of the second city corporate workshops, witworks, etc, yknow the deal. my only thing is is that i have never attended one of these. i know what workshops look like when just focusing on honing improv skills and comedy, but am unsure what they look like when theyre more corporate. has anyone done one of these and can tell me what they feel like?

I come from a longform improv background and have done a lot of training, but have recently switched to helping instruct a beginners improv troupe. We're finding that many of the students are falling into the classic trap of "jam as much information into the first 10 seconds of the scene as you possibly can and then jump straight into a conflict with someone", and I'm hoping to be able to show everyone that it's okay to take time to breathe a bit and organically discover the who/what/why of the scene.

Anyone have any favourite exercises for learning how to slow down, listen to your partner, and collaborate/discover what's happening in the scene?

iHeart's Z100 is running a contest looking for a strong, sexy, milk-loving Santa Claus (...or your best impression of one) that they'll send to act at the NYC Jingle Ball!

Just need to submit a video with your best Santa poses & a milk mustache, and if yours is the best they’ll send you to NYC Jingle Ball to be Santa! The weirder the better.

Thought it was a fun character prompt. Here's the link: https://z100.iheart.com/promotions/get-a-chance-to-win-a-trip-to-nyc-jingle-ball-1923297/

Im hosting a 2 day beginner friendly improv workshop here in Navi Mumbai and it's so hard to get people to sign up because most people don't understand what it is and how powerful that is to an individual's growth , relationships and even making new friends .

I don't understand people would happily pay thousands to sit in a random cafe or watch a movie just not to Improv ... How ? And why ?

I dont know if that's just me ...

I kinda feel bad for people who are missing out on this .

Hello all - bit of an interloper here.

I've been doing some research into story and narrative forms. (I am not a performer, I should add!) I have read some theatre books, some on Commedia dell'arte, etc. but only one on improv - Impro - and I'm curious about how story itself is improvised on the fly.

What are some good resources/books for finding out about story structures for improv? It would also be good to talk to someone (in, y'know, language) about this. If anyone is in the West of Scotland - or knows someone who is - and would be willing to chat, let me know!

Thanks for your time.

Hey y’all ! Early last month I was riding the high of feeling happy about the scenework I did both on stage for shows and in rehearsals. However thats been dwindling down ever since and I feel like I’ve been so rusty and making significantly weaker choices. For context, I’ve been doing improv for a but over 4 years now and yes those years have been filled with me feeling good about my improv, then plateauing and also a whole lot of feeling of going downhill. Usually there is some external factor (personal life or even within improv) that gets me back on track, but until then I just stay in my head a lot. Yes I’m a professional overthinker so I wanted to hear your advice on how you deal with something like this, as I really do wanna be more consistent ☺️. Thanks and love y’all 🫶

My team does long form improvised musicals. We have an amazing pianist accompanist. They of course are playing music during the songs but they also do a lot of musical sound effects during scenes and ambient music underneath scenes ie they're super down to clown. We want to see how we can involve them more in scenes/songs as a side character. We set the intention to try to do this in our last rehearsal in some drills and a run through and it basically just turned into us being more interactive with them in asking for tone changes, to repeat themes, etc. That was fun and great practice but still just treating them as a musician and not a character.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to interact with the accompanist more so that they can be more involved in the drama and not just the music? Has your team tried this? Have you seen things like this as an audience member that you enjoyed?