Local Things to Do

At Blacktop, we've done a lot of shows. Westerns, musicals, improv games, horror comedies, romance. A lot of stuff.

One thing we've realized, is people love seeing local spots in Sacramento and Placer. When you bring in a location from Sacramento, when you mention the State Capitol or Arco Arena, or Rocklin High School, people immediately get excited. I think people like the familiar, and a shared experience. Bring up Studio Movie Grill in Rocklin, and people immediately think, "I know what that looks like!" There's comfort in knowing the improvisers and the audience are seeing the same thing.

So, that got me thinking, what is around Rocklin, Roseville, and Sacramento that would get an audience excited? What are those local touchstones. If you're ever producing an improv show, I strongly encourage you to take one of these suggestions, or situate a scene in one of these locations. People respond instantly!

Places in Placer:

Thunder Valley Casino
Golfland Sunsplash
Pavilions
Galleria Mall
Del Oro High School Football Stadium
Hidden Falls Regional Park
Miners Ravine Trail
Finnish Temperance Hall
Quinn QuarryFarmers Market

Places in Sacramento:

Tower Bridge
Tower Theater
Sutter's Fort
Good Day Sacramento Set
Sacramento Convention Center
Scottish Rite Temple
B Street Theater
Decades Costume
Crocker Art Museum
The new site for the Sacramento Kings. (It used to be called Downtown Plaza, but according to the Sacramento Bee it'll will be called Golden 1 Center)
California State Fair
Crest Theater
LowBrau
Faces
Sacramento Auditorium

If you could add something to the list, what would you add? Where do you like going, and what would you like to see onstage?

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Improv

Have you seen the new Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer? It's pretty entertaining. And, it got me thinking about improv.

Frequently, superheroes manufacture the tools they need to succeed. Well, Superman was born with the tools (strength, heat rays, flying). I'm thinking Batman, and Green Lantern.

Regular people, who have to step up and approach battles differently.

I'm sure I'll get some DC fan grief over these descriptions (here are some Wikipedia links if you'd like to learn the full story about Batman and Green Lantern), but if you're unfamiliar, Batman is a man, who is more detective then superhero. He makes a lot of gadgets to fight evil. Batman is wealthy, but he still has to design and create his tools.

Green Lantern, was originally regular guy Hal Jordan. He acquired a ring and now protects the galaxy. Yep, he can fly, and yes, Green Lantern has a ring, but it's worthless if he doesn't have any imagination.  Anything he can imagine, the ring can generate.

Both heroes deal with extraordinary situations that demand extraordinary creativity.

In improv, the exact opposite can happen. We get lulled into uninspired choices, in locations we've visited a million times.

Our locations may be ordinary (subway, park, Starbucks), but we don't have to pair that with ordinary events. Improv is extraordinary. We're creating something beautiful onstage, instant theater we're sharing with an audience, and then it's gone (and, even if it is captured on video it's never the same. It's always a special live event).

We should demand more of ourselves. We can be more creative. I teach improv classes in Sacramento and improv classes in Placer, and frequently encourage students to not limit themselves. Unleash your creativity! Approach the situation like you never have before. The students worry about being perfect, as if stepping into an improv theater demands perfection. "This is a comedy club, right? Will people like me if what I say doesn't get a laugh?"

You can't break improv. Jill Bernard of HUGE theater told me that once. And, despite all my attempts, I can't break improv. You can't either. How many times do you worry, "It won't be funny. I'm going to wreck this scene if I do X"? You can't wreck the scene. You'll alter the path, change the scene forever, but isn't that the point of improv? Isn't that why we do improv? We have a team of artists who will never be together quite like this moment again....let's see what happens!

If Batman serves Gotham, Green Lantern serves Sector 2814, and we serve the improv scene, everything we do is "good." We're trying our best, the team will help us. So, you can ditch that fear, and yes, and whatever wild idea you have in your mind. It's not about perfection onstage, it's about trying. Let go of fear. It's about being a creative, and having a home to be that creative.

Sketch Writing Class

Looking back, it's funny. On Sunday night, I thought I was going to die. It was a little traumatic. Don't worry. I lived.

I fell asleep on the couch Sunday night. The weekend was long, and I was exhausted. I had just completed an incredible sketch writing intensive with Nick Armstrong, and walking up the stairs just seemed a little too much. The couch was comfortable, and I quickly fell asleep while watching Bojack Horesman (which, side note, is an incredible show. And, when I discovered it's created by Olde Englishe sketch writer and performer Raphael Bob-Waksberg).

I can't sleep long on the couch. I frequently wake up, with either the god or cat nearby, watching, waiting for some affection. I woke up Sunday night, 2:20am. I realized I better check and make sure the garage door is down. 

I stumbled to the door, and suddenly I heard this:

Yep. All of a sudden, I hear that ominous, terrifying music. Close your eyes, and listen to the music. It's creepy, especially when it just starts playing. For once in my life I wish a commercial had played before the YouTube trailer. I didn't know where the sound was coming from. At 2:20am in the morning I'm pretty groggy, and couldn't reasonably realize what was happening. This is what I thought, a second by second account.

"I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. Am I about to be murdered. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die."

How quickly would you realize the music was a trailer mysteriously playing on your phone? It took me 24 seconds of horrifying 2001: A Space Odyssey trailer to realize it was from my phone. I thought I was literally in a soundtracked horror film. I thought some pycho, before murdering, would play music. Those were my thoughts.

I thought there was some Peter Griffin-esque murderer out there. Remember the Family Guy episode when Peter's wish was a theme song? Yep. I thought some wacko was doing that, and then offing people. 

Phew. Thankfully, I survived. What can we all take away from this event? I'm not really sure. Don't read articles on Zite while watching TV and then falling asleep on the couch. It's a real narrow lesson.