Here’s the second guest piece in our new weekly series. Each Monday we’ll have a new guest dropping by with some thoughts on improv. So, ladies and gentlemen: Boston’s Rachel Klein.
Rachel Klein is Head of Improv at ImprovBoston and player-coach of Maxitor, one of IB’s Harold casts. Before moving to Boston, she trained at the Second City Conservatory and iO Theatre in Chicago, and performed with the Harold team Chopper at iO. In addition to performing, coaching and teaching improv, Rachel’s comedy writing can be seen on the websites The Smew and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. You can read more of her improv musings on her blog, The House That Del Built.
My college best friend’s then-boyfriend (and now husband) once said something to me that, at the time, seemed sort of nice but trivial. What he said was this: “I can’t decide if you’re funny because funny things happen to you, or because regular things happen to you and you see what’s funny about them.”
My response then was, “Well, probably both…or something.” And then we probably ate some pizza…or something. But the comment has stuck with me all these years, which (my odd propensity for remembering minute details of my life aside) suggests there might be more to it than I gave credit for at the time.
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July 7th —> Maisonneuve Magasine Comedy Night — To celebrate Maisonneuve’s Summer 2011 issue, which features the Halifax comedy group Picnicface, we’re hosting a night of improv, stand-up and comic readings.
July 8th @ 8pm —> Smackdown! — Montreal Improv’s weekly competitive improv show.
July 8th @ 10pm —> MAXITOR: Boston Invasion — MAXITOR performs the Harold, the most popular improv format in the US, perhaps even the world. Yes, our world.
July 9th —> MAXITOR: Boston Invasion — Night 2 of MAXITOR’s Harold explosion.
One of our goals for 2011 was to get a fresh infusion of improv inspiration from out of town to visit Montreal. We’ve already had Eux Impro from Paris in May and now…
Maxitor from Boston will be visiting us July 8-9!
Here’s the bio:
- Maxitor is one of ImprovBoston’s premier Harold teams. Consisting of improvisers trained everywhere from the iO theatre to UCB, Maxitor focuses on relationship-based, grounded long form improv. We strive to create shows that are cohesive and hilarious, weaving together interconnected worlds and characters that address universal themes. Maxitor honors its roots while pushing the boundaries of the Harold form.
Visiting Cast: Rachel Klein, Natalie Baseman, Shannon Connolly, Jackie Arko, Mike Varejao
What are they going to do here?
Two shows: Friday July 8 at 10pm and Saturday July 9 at 8pm.
Each show will feature a pair of back-to-back Harolds. It’s a format that doesn’t get played very often in town but it’s HUGE in the states. If you are ever planning on heading out to LA, Chicago, NYC to join one of those big improv schools, the Harold is something you NEED to know.
Oh, hey, look at that, I almost forgot to mention that Rachel Klein will be holding a Harold workshop on Saturday July 9th from 2-5pm, 40$.
Harold Boot Camp
- Learn everything you need to know to understand the basics of the Harold structure in three hours! This workshop touches on the three most important features of the Harold form: relationship-based scene work, openings and games, and group mind. This class is a great way to jump into the form head-first and get an overall picture of the form. You’ll be introduced to basic terminology and structures and get some practice with implementing them. No prior experience is necessary, although some exposure to the Harold form (i.e. having seen one performed or read about it in a book, even) will help.
As always, sign up by emailing classes@montrealimprov.com with your name and the workshop’s name.
(Note: I’ve featured Rachel’s blog here a few times before. Also note: when I say I want to meet with someone, I make it happen)
So start saving your pennies or Canadian Tire money or precious ores and sign up to the workshop because we’ve limited the class to just 12 people (and I just signed up).
- vinny
I’m back from Boston and here’s the low-down: The Boston Improv Festival is pretty darn good.
The highlight for me was taking a workshop with Joe Bill. I’ve heard a lot about him and now I know why. His teaching style is playful. It builds slowly but concretely. There’s lots of room for play but he also knows what he wants. I always felt in good hands from start to finish. I aim to teach improv in the same way. Sometimes I feel like I achieve it but Mr. Bill’s experience really showed through.
In any case, I’m pretty inspired to try out The Bat here in Montreal. It’s an audio-only performance and it’s much more of an improv experience than a show. It’s pretty tough to describe other than it’s “a soundscape in the dark”. Draw from that whatever your mind conjures up.
It seems to me that I enjoy meeting the other troupes way more than I enjoy playing at these festivals. Doing a show is always stressful, especially on little sleep before a foreign crowd. Meeting people is easy and a pleasure. Also, I think I came up with an idea for a small one-man show that might suit me. Never thought I’d say that.
Ok. Back to the Montreal scene! See you all around!
-fv
Marc and I are back from our visit to ImprovBoston and their Geek Week Festival. We drove down Friday night, played two shows Saturday night and drove back Sunday. The Geek Week festival was filled with references to wizards, Science Fiction of all sorts, Batman and dinosaurs. There were even Dungeons & Dragons sessions scheduled for Sunday but we had to drive back. It was a perfect match for Epic Adventure, our improvised fantasy show.
We did a show at 7:30 pm and another at 10:00 pm. Our suggestions were a village name and a profession. The first show took place in the town of “Creepy Trellis” and our hero was a butterfly collector. We had been rushing around getting ourselves in order for the first show and even though it was pretty good, we dropped a couple offers and ideas that looked promising. Tiny mistakes will happen in improv, and even doing a good show doesn’t get you out of looking for ways to improve. Fortunately, the second show went very smoothly (in the town of “Gnarly Spoon” with a ditch-digger). We were both really happy with it. There is video of both shows and I’ll try to get some of the footage online sometime this week.
ImprovBoston has a really nice venue. They’ve been in this new space for 3 years and the company itself is 27 years old. As Montreal Improv grows, I like to hear the stories of how these places grow and evolve. It’s pretty easy to get inspired by other successes in other towns. Our first show was on the Mainstage which is quite wide with a large gap between audience and stage. I think I preferred the intimacy of the Studio for our second show (and the bigger crowd). The front row in the Studio is an arm’s length away. If you can get the whole crowd to stay less than 6-8 feet from you during the show, that’s great.
Geek Week was smoothly run with a few friendly and well-placed volunteers amongst the organizers. I love volunteers and these guys and gals did a great job for little more than a few thank-yous. Kudos to the volunteers and the organizers. If you’re at all geeky at heart, I can recommend the fest without hesitation. I’d love to go back and do it all again next year.
-fv
