Hey, there's two guys fucking in the wolf pit!

The third Macroscene show is tonight.

I talked about the previous shows before:
Week 2
Week 1

Two shows have gone by and I’m very pleased with the result. Last week a show took place in medieval England. Not setting the show in current times is definitely fair game in the macroscene, but we had only done it once in class. Still this class loves to challenge themselves and so they didn’t shy away from doing a series of scenes in a British Kingdom where a nearly blind king allowed his subjects to rape horses to make their bleak lives better. Although he did lock up time lost travelers who had misplaced their El Camino Time Machines.

The second half took place in a town where everyone worked with their child, except for the sterile cop who decided to leave town with ill gotten money only to find himself stranded in a pocket universe called Happy Town. Somehow the unknowingly adopted daughter of a comic book shop owner escaped Happy Town only to get trapped in a dust filled world of sorrow. The show was started with such a nice message of family only to end in some sort of Science Fiction short story.
The cast continues to impress me, and doesn’t seem to get phased by me over-talking the show before or after. Nor do they get phased by these online bursts of compliments (I hope). Speaking of which here are a few more members of the cast:

Dave Bluvband - Everyone loves this guy right? I sure do. He’s got that right mix of wierdo and smarty pants that keeps an audience guessing and laughing. He’s got a perfect sense of the absurd and did one of my favorite improv double takes in a class. I’ve coached Bluvband a lot, so sometimes I take for granted how funny he can be and how nice he is. He seems to love every move his scene partners make, and that is the perfect formula to make great improv. He plays the same with everyone, and can seemingly match any move that is made. I can’t praise him enough.

Johnny McNulty - This is another guy I’ve coached a bunch before getting him in this class. And Johnny brings his own brand of oddness to the table. But where most folks throw those moves in your face Johnny plays his moves in measured steps doling them out in bursts of awesome. Johnny’s silent rage he felt towards his park bench rival Johnny was louder then any tirade, and he only needed a few choice words to make any move. Or earlier in the show when Johnny picked his moment to point out to a disgruntled criminal that the diploma hanging on the wall was for an ASSOCIATE degree, it flowed out of an earlier game while not stopping the new scene. Any improviser who needs to learn patience on stage should watch Johnny in action.

Miles Klee - I had seen Miles do improv only a few times before this class. So I didn’t have a great feel for what he would bring to the stage. I knew past teachers loved the guy, and everyone who has been in class with him agreed so it wasn’t a huge leap to think he’d be good. But I wasn’t prepared for who smart he is. Miles is one of those guys that can catch any reference or at least fool me into thinking he caught it. While playing 1 of 2 over-educated telephone operators he made me believe he had an unending supply of quotes about philosophy. Miles is also another one of these guys who is a sharp shooter at making his moves. He’ll enter a scene pick his moment and kill it, seemingly anytime he wants. On top of that, he can pick the most interesting reaction to any unusual situation he is placed in. He also plays a great scarecrow.

Dan Black - I don’t know how I avoided seeing Dan do improv before this class but somehow I did. Lucky for me I emailed Chris Gethard to ask about Dan and hopefully Gethard doesn’t mind me saying that I was given some pretty high praise. Well earned too. Dan plays like a powerhouse. He makes a show MOVE. I believe he could be in every scene of every show for a week and not slow down. On top of that he takes a note and puts it in action immediately. On two different occasions I gave Dan notes about changing up the way he played. More diverse characters. Hold off on some of his callbacks. I never had to give those notes again. And I love the way his characters avoid some common pitfalls with unwarranted honesty and by wearing their emotions on their sleeves. In the first show of this run Dan played a racist and wasn’t afraid to go there. But also kept the audience on his side by telling his mother he didn’t believe the things he said, and he only did it to make her laugh. I talked to Gethard near the end of the classes and he immediately noted what a big fan of Dan’s I had become. Truth!

And that’s just 1/4 of the class! See this show!

http://newyork.ucbtheatre.com/shows/2238