David Byrne just rocked my world. I went to the show with a few other Int'l Fest participants (Randy, Henk, Per). It was kind of a last minute decision that I'm glad I made.

I ended up down amongst the dancers right in front of the stage. It was so cool. I had talked Per out of his camera, and I snapped a bunch of shots. There's some good ones too.

This festival is rocking. I took a little bit of a breather tonight and I'm getting to bed before 2am for once.

Came across this on notcot.org

Things to say during sex venn diagram.

I've been a walking tour guide for almost 5 months. You just never know what you're going to get from tour to tour. Last week I was sexually harassed by this phillipino guy from Seattle because I made the mistake of revealing my sexual identity (thinking that it would build some commonality, it built a little too much).

I was giving an "Underground" Portland tour to a middle school a few months ago. The tour itself focuses on 'Underground' topics more than actual subterranean locales. This 13 year old boy from the tour group trots up to me as I'm pulling away from the group to ask "Where's vaseline alley?", which is a dated term describing Portland's now defunct strip of gay bars. After collecting myself, I told him it used to be at 10th & Stark, but that it's not really there any more.

Many of my tours take place in Oldtown/Chinatown in Portland, and they are often invaded by crazy street people who have something to say. I've taken to calling them "Portland Flavor" to my groups once they're gone and out of earshot. There was one instance where a homeless man was invading and asking questions, and a postman walked up and took him away as he walked by. Myself and the group were pleasantly surprised by this act of consideration from the postman, and my comeback to the group was simply "Portland, a city that works."

Today, I was scheduled to give a private tour to the Pear Bureau. Yes, there is a pear bureau because, evidently, over 90% of the world's pears are grown in Oregon and Washington. Well, the surprise was that the pear bureau was actually hosting some high end Russian travel and food show. So I essentially gave a tour to a Russian television show. I'll be appearing to 56 million Russians as the guide who introduced them to Portland and Voodoo Doughnuts. They even filmed me walking and talking with the host of the show. There's no end to the thrills in my life.

It's the end of an age for me. I was awarded my Masters degree today after my thesis defense. It was funny that it offered few insights for improvisers, but it was the bomb for anthropologists and a few people from other disciplines. I've forgotten how much improvisers take what they do and know for granted.

One of my thesis committee, who was assigned as an outside observer to insure this was above the boards, asked me where he could see long-form in Portland after my defense.  Another convert to the cause.

What now? That's the real question. School has been my life for the past 7 years. Back to work to pay off the $65k in education debt. <sigh>

Had I made a few choices differently, but only a very few.
Don't walk, but RUN to see this. It is hilarious and fascinating.

The Forge
And in it's dreams
It heard a roar
A bellows beckoning
The roar of a forge
And when at dawn
It did awake
It saw the sea
The sea forging stone.

Its full of stars
Looking upward
Seeing sky awash
With stars
Awe and possibility
Dancing in the blackness
Between scattered sparkles
Then eyes drop
Back to earth
A gaze across
Still waters
There again
A depth of stars
The reflection deepens
Something hints
What is without
Also within

Whisper
Something should be said
For the sensual qualities
Of a whisper.
A delicate breath of air
Like a shiver,
The passage of petals
On a breeze
Between lips.
The loam of body
Dedicating itself to the scene.
A movement behind
The eyes,
Leading to a softer place.
Where the realms
Of flesh
And Dream
Entwine.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

Page

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………..     iii

 

 

I.          Introduction…………………………………………………………..............      1

                        The Setting and Subjects………………………………………………      6

                        Methods……………………………………………………………….     10

                        Summary………………………………………………………………    14

II.        History of the Art and Research of Improvised Theater………………….    17

                        History and Background of Improvisational Theater………................    17

                        Studies of Chicago Improvisation and Useful Social Theories.………    21

III.       Performers: The Background of Performing Improv...……………………   29

                        Training: Learning a New Social and Cultural System………………..   29

The Path to Communitas………………………………………………    33

                        Shared Lives and References………………………………………….    50

                        Threats to Communitas: Rule Breaking and Poor Listening Skills……   54

IV.       Performance………………………………………..……………………..…..   65

                        Liminality and Joking in Performance………………………………...    65

                        Uniting the Viewer and the Viewed…………………………………...    69

Sensing Connection and Understanding the Audience…...…......….....    74

V.        The Audience………………………………………………..………………..    87

                        From ‘Macro’ to ‘Micro’ Joking Cultures…………………………….    87

                        The Demographics of Rochester’s Long-form Audiences……………    92

                        The Audience’s Engagement: Establishing a ‘Micro’ Joking Culture..    94

VI.       Conclusions: Shared Myths, Shared Lives and Community……………… 100

                        Agreement and Heightening with Further Research…………………..  103

 

APPENDICES

            Appendix A Questions for Performers and Audiences………………………..  105

            Appendix B Audience Paper Survey………………………………………….. 107

            Appendix C Online Performer Survey………………………………………...  109

 

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….. 112

After about 5+ months of writing work, I'm fast approaching a submittable edit of my thesis. If anyone is interested in reading an anthropological study focused on looking at the social effects of long-form improvised theater, shout out. It would be nice to get some feedback from folks. It's 95 pages long, but it documents the ups and downs of two different groups in Rochester NY as well as the thoughts of their audiences on the long form shows.

I'm hoping to be defending this work in a few weeks. Cross your fingers for me.

I was awaken by the sounds of the Italian, Antonio, and the other American, Tom arriving a couple of hours after the cock crowed (Yann has chickens and a rooster who gets zealous at about 630). The Russian, Eugen, and the German, Wolfgang, arrived soon after.

After a light breakfast and coffee, everyone is off to nap, and I'm going to hit the pool. Here comes the opening BBQ. Woohoo! 

 So I learned a colorful new phrase in french, which has delighted my foul mind to no end. "Bouffe ma moule", which essentially means "eat my snatch". The story that phrase caùe from is even funnier,but too long for livejournal.

I was shown a place near the old part of the city where they would lock prisoners as the river was reaching flood stage in order to execute them by drowning. It was also downhill from a huge abbatoire of the time. So they would drown in a mixture of river water and animal blood/filth. Europeans have such colorful ways to end things for people. 

Saturday morning, I'm off for Antwerp the diamond capitol of the world. I was told to bring my swimsuit because it has been so nice there. It'll be a nice change from Portland.

One of my old pals from Portland is going to meet me out there too! My friend Carrie has been working in Poland for the last 3 years, and I'm excited to catch up with her. She's coming to one of the shows the international cast is putting on.

On top of all that, my hero, Antonio Vulpio, will be in the cast. But most of the people that I know will be there are so good, it's hard to pick just one as the best. I feel akin to Antonio because we have similar performance styles. Anyway, if you're near Belgium and you want to see some great improv, come to Improzac 08 next week.

I've been negligent about updating for a while. So here's the skinny:

I've got 50 pages of my thesis draft written.  I've got to try to keep it under 100.

I've had to swear off improv until my thesis is finished because I got a day job doing archeology.

My good friend, Nate Halloran, has announced his engagement to his fiance.

I am a bit in turmoil as a transition from a financial aid economy back to an income economy, which means I will begin paying off my school debt in less than a year. Come on great job.

The archeology job is something I'm doing for quick income.  It's ironic that I went away from archeology in my graduate work only to run to it for income at the end of my graduate studies. Yes, there is reasonable income to be had for trained archaeologists outside of the academy. I will attest. I don't look forward to digging holes in the rain, which I'm sure will return once I start next week.

There is an overarching sense that I've cheated the system whenever I sit down to write more of my thesis on the anthropology of improv, and I love it!

My inbox has been filled with notifications from facebook.  Superheroes, superpokes, add a word, likenesses, you name it, and I get notified about it.  I've even gone in and reduced what I get notified about, and they still keep on coming.  It's time to start cleaning off extraneous apps.  Sheesh!

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Druid (6th Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-15

Dexterity-15

Constitution-15

Intelligence-15

Wisdom-16

Charisma-15


Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

As my time in Rochester winds to a close, I'm becoming romantic and reflective.

Nate Halloran and I just finished a short run of shows by knocking it out of the park last night to a great crowd.  We ended up pushing a piano out onto the stage on a whim before the show, and it was THE right thing to do.  It added a whole other level of magic to what we already had.  Nate's musical skills are divine.  I'm sad that it will probably be a year before that can happen again.  Although, it was nice to have this follow our difficult show up in Toronto.  We went up and performed in this pseudo-competitive bar show that my buddy Kurt puts on.  We came in last of three, and it dashed our spirits a bit.  I think that our success last night was largely due to our failure in Toronto.  It's only when you have nothing left to lose that one can be free.  We were free in spades last night.

This anthropology project has led to the forging of a few new friendships and helped build on a few others.  There were performers in the audience last night from the performance troupes that I have studied, and Nate and I surprised them by calling them up for a jam at the end of our show.  It was fabulous.  I really am riding an awesome love high.  You know that warm feeling you get when you've done something right by a lot of people, that's what I've got.  Because I got the two troupes in town who never work together to work together.  I'm a collaboration fiend.  Who knows if it will go anywhere, though.  Happy Holidays Everybody!!!

PS - beware "2girls1cup".  I am scarred (and splattered).

Nate and I are doing a show whose title is taken from a short play about good and bad touch. See what happens when we're left to ourselves.

Ok.  So I'm in the midst of doing interviews of audience members from Improv shows out here.  Here's a great one from the voice of the uninformed and uninitiated about suggestions.  This was this guy's first "professional" improv show he had ever seen.

 “I like it when they don’t take those suggestions like ‘gynecologist’ and ‘proctologist’.  Any bunch of meatballs can do something with that.  You know. Come on, that’s too easy.  I liked that they took something else. I can stay home and watch a bunch of meatballs on TV do that kind of stuff.  To me, there’s more, I don’t know, ‘artistry’ or ‘craft’ in being able to take something that’s maybe more mundane and do something funny and interesting with that.”

Audience Recommendation  14: Don't be a meatball, take the more mundane suggestion.

We're in day 5 of the great bee siege here at my parents' place in NY.  We won some ground yesterday when we opened a wall and found a HUGE hornet nest complex.  It was like a mini-version of "Aliens" without the machine guns and explosions (but lots of chemical pesticide).

The portion that we poisoned and tore out was about 2.5 ft deep x 2ft wide x 1.5ft high, BUT we believe there is still a portion of the hive under the floorboards of the second floor.

Bees started appearing in the kitchen and upstairs bedroom about 5 days ago.  We've been killing about 5-10 an hour from dawn til dusk.  Thankfully, they seem to follow a regular activity schedule.

I'm praying for a frost.  My nephew hates bees, and he moved over to my sisters' house.  He was trying to tell me the world didn't need bees.  I told him that most plant and animal life would die within a decade of bees disappearing from the planet.  I love arguing with 13 year olds.  They can't be wrong.

Back to swatting bees!  Back Fiends, Back!!!