Just a quick word on Improv:
Every Thursday from 6:30 to 8 we do Improv in the auditorium upstairs in the library. The regulars are Spoon (our leader/ Black guy), Adam (crazy guy), Dre (gay guy), James (fat guy), Ben (straight man), Eric (angry guy), Jo and/or Candace (the girl), and Watson (the little one). So, as with any good comedy troupe, we have our bases covered for characters. A few of us have stage experience, but all of us have been doing Improv for a while and know what we're doing. You'd think we'd be proficient with all the basics, but you know how that goes with our type. We have difficulties giving each other criticism and so we progress slowly, but occasionally we have some really good runs. I shall now attempt to explain why Improv is so awesome.
We Improvers have a vendetta against script actors because when they come in all cocky like they do and try to do Improv, they usually suck at it. Improv is ridiculously better than scripted acting. I'm not saying it's harder work or that the people are better actors, I'm just saying it's more entertaining. This is because Improv is real. Script actors often focus too much on their lines and blocking because that is all they're given, so they lose the ability to act in between lines. But in Improv you have to focus on the other person's lines and actions to know what to do next; scripties just have to memorize or read. They already know what the character is supposed to say next, so they don't think about reacting, but Improv forces you to say the first, most natural thing that comes to you. The reactions that happen on stage are genuine, and that means that the people in the audience can relate to that reaction. In plays and movies, a bunch of old guys sit around and try to come up with lines for a teenage couple to say, but in Improv, two teenagers can get up there and say what two teenagers would really say. Or if not that, they'll at least say something we'd think was funny and fitting. But at the same time, more outlandish and crazy things can happen in Improv because you don't have the burden of scripting and directing and editing and producing all these things. Modern film attempts to capture reality in the production value of a shot, but loses all reality in dialogue and expression. As the technology advances, especially in action and horror movies, movies just become big explosions and lots of make-up. The best horror movies are those old psychological thrillers that, even though you know it's fake because the production is so bad, it still gets to you. Dialogue was way better, too; now they just rely on shoot-outs and chase scenes and what-not. But Improv will never change. Improv is almost always black box or with very few sets and props. After all, how can you make a set for a play no one's ever seen? And Improv shows are cheaper to put on and to go to for this reason. And finally, I'd just like to say that all good Improvers can act from a script well too, but very few scripties can do Improv. It's just because of how we think. We think about acting and reacting, about natural movement on stage; they think about lines. So next time, don't go to a play, go see an Improv show instead. And not that crappy Whose Line stuff, either.
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