Quidditch and Teamwork

This past weekend Blacktop Comedy was invited to provide color commentary for the International Quidditch Western Cup IV. I'll be honest, before their invitation I didn't know anything about quidditch outside the Harry Potter books. For instance, I had no idea so many teams existed. Did you know Iran has two Quidditch teams? We didn't see Iran at this tournament. We saw representative's from California, Washington, Oregon, and Canada. They all arrived at Maidu Park in Roseville, 9am, ready for victory. Of course, victory means winning numerous matches, and these matches we quickly found out, were intense. Stanford chose to wear helmets, and I understand why. Concussions happen on the Quidditch field. These broom holding competitors were quick t tackle each other.

However, they weren't quick to work as a team, which surprised me. There were a lot of participants who wanted to be heroes, but few who wanted to assist a hero. Now, there were a handful of united teams, intent of scoring points. These teams focused on making each other look good, gladly giving up their long distance shot, passing the quaffle to another with a better shot. You could see it in their eyes, "better an assist, than a miss."

Do you know what happened? You can probably guess. The fans from Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, San Francisco... even Seattle and Portland, were treated to a beat down. These team orientated players crushed the competition. It wasn't even close. Sure, a few individuals scored on the other team, and they'd beat their chest, and scream (I'm not kidding), but they looked ridiculous, because they were down 200-10.

What's the point? It doesn't matter if you're on a field or stage, playing quidditch or improving, teamwork looks good. And, the results are pretty great too.

Kings in Seattle; Fans at Blacktop

Hey Sacramento! We're all bummed the Sacramento Kings might leave for Seattle.   I know everyone is pointing fingers at the Maloofs (Gavin, Joe and the rest), or Kevin Johnson, or the NBA, or even the fans. I do know one thing: a lot of people are frustrated their leaving. Are you? During those televised games the arena looks pretty bare, but I know there are a lot of season ticket holders. At lot of us at Blacktop were big Kings fans, and need people to commiserate with if the Kings do bolt for the pacific northwest. If the team leaves we're giving all season ticket holders two tickets to any Blacktop production. Attend an improv, sketch, or stand up comedy show, for free. We know it doesn't take the hurt away, but hopefully it helps a little bit.

Perfect Mistakes in Improv

I'm a bit of a app junkie....but a frugal junkie! I like getting my fix on the cheap. I'll peruse Apple iOS apps or even cross the tracks for a nice Google app.  Sometimes, however, I come across something worth a purchase. For instance, Lensflare is worth the .99  cents! "Why did you buy that?" you're asking.

"Isn't this a blog about improv?" you're thinking.

"Did I leave the iron on?" you're wondering.

I can't  answer all those questions, but I can answer the first two.....with a story! When I took Film Studies in college, the teachers always stressed, "you want to avoid lens flare. They are mistakes." The professor would continue, and share the lengths and methods with which photographers and cinematographers would go avoid the flare. We got it. Lens flare = BAD (Not just capitol B, but A and D too. Len flares are that awful).

However, over the past few years, opinions have changed. The flare has become a tool. I've spoken with directors from Roseville and Sacramento, who use a flare for transitions and emotional emphasis. In fact, among the thousands of free apps available Lensflare chooses to charge for their app, and they have buyers! Wired Magazine said, "...you don't know what you're missing until you try this app."

High praise for something that used to be a mistake.

How does this tie into improv?

Thanks for getting me back to my point. Sometimes, a 'mistake' onstage is anything but. Treat your 'mistakes' like a valuable opportunities, because that is what they are. Use them, weave them into the show and by doing so you're telling the audience, this 'mistake,' is wonderful. They'll believe you.