nyc post 1

here is something i wrote while waiting for the marathon to start on friday.

There is a huge dog in the theatre, easily half of me. It's 4:30 pm, a half hour before the marathon starts. The theatre is sparsely populated with improv geeks grinning from ear to ear, super excited. High school aged miniature Matt Besser sits next to me. He's going through a notebook talking about notes he took during an improv workshop, describing scenes he did and the lessons he had learned to his female companion.
The theatre is tiny and huge all at once. Lights hang about 10 ft. above a thrust stage that's about a one inch raise from the floor. It seats 140 intimately and even though it's only to years old, the new space smells of history and longevity.
People are starting to pack in as a large drag queen passes in front of me nearly bumping his head on a speaker hanging from the ceiling. Bits of conversations around me reveal pans for dinner (I'll just go to McDonald's @ 2am when the crowd thins out) stories from last year's marathon (I sat here last year and I got sweat on me.)
The cool improvisers are nowhere to be found. Only the geeks, much like myself. Just like at a party. All the nerds show up early and the cool people show up so late that sometimes they don't even show up at all.
AND THEN THE MARATHON STARTED.

I have to say I was very impressed with the improv I saw Friday night. It was all pretty solid clear up to around 4am when I finally left. The New York groups brought a fresh take to things that Chicagoans really need. Chicago is stuck doing the last thing that Del Close invented before he died, while New York is using what he taught as a basis for new and great interesting things. Those are broad generalizations and it's unfair to pigeonhole two scenes of such size but on the whole, that's what I've observed. Here, we're locked into discussing "openers" that have been used by other troupes rather than letting our minds go and discover something new and of ourselves. Not just a cut and paste from what our minds can remember. It seems like the New York groups I saw are invested in providing something new, yet still of Del Closes' "group" mentality. We are in a rut and they are flourishing. Not only are they flourishing but they're in a town where you can get hired by MTV or Conan or Dave to do what you love for a living during the day and do improv at night for free. In Chicago, you might get a gig on Jerry Springer chanting something. That doesnn't count. I must say I am jealous. I feel I'm in the right place and that I came to the right place, but I definitely see my career taking off in either New York or L.A. It can't happen here in Chicago without going through Second City. And while I'm touring with Cupholders and trying to make that work, I won't have time for SC. Cupholders is definitely what I want to do for now. It just better lead to something worthwhile. Something.

The marathon was a great experience for me. Although it sucked being there on my own and really not having a clue about NY, I saw a lot of good shows, plenty of bad shows, both of which are useful. My one major gripe about the festival is that every once in a while it was just a different conglomeration of the same five people from UCB. One group would leave the stage and the next one would come out with two of the same members from the last one. It just pains me considering a lot of troupes from out of town and probably in town got turned away so that these UCB guys could have another 30 minutes they didn't need. Don;t get me wrong the guys I saw repeatedly were great improvisers and I welcomed their talent. But in the spirit of it being a huge festival hosting folks from out of town and in some cases from out of the country, it just would have been nice to see a little more variety. Other than that, a stellar production, a thing of beauty, and a great concept. I hope to go back next year and I intend to submit every show I tape this year, whether it be some other BL solo thing, Cupholders, De Bebe 2 person action, or whatever, I'm submitting it and it would be nice to be one of those guys who's in 20 shows over the whole weekend.

Oh, I just thought of another gripe. After I finished my show, which I will expound upon later, I was hanging out in standing room only over by the little bar they had set up. It occurred to me that now would be a good time to drop some Bearded Lamb stickers by all the other flyers and stickers on the bar, to drum up traffic to this here blog and my site in general. So I plunked them down and continued to watch the show. Within a few seconds something tugged at me. I turned around and it was one of the UCB theatre managers. He told me that the sticker and flyer area was only for UCB shows. Well, what the hell did I just do, but a show at the UCB? Didn't I just perform for your theatre for free while you took the box office? I JUST DID A UCB SHOW, JAGOFF. I told him ok and picked up my stickers from the bar. As I was turning back around to watch the show he said, "I just don't want you to waste any of your stickers." This really got me thinking. How is this a waste of my stickers? Did he mean it would have been a waste of my stickers when he picked them up and threw them away after I had gone? That irked me a bit. All these other shows that play regularly at the theatre are allowed to drop stickers and flyers to promote their group but lord help us if a guest from out of town tries to promote himself. I'm a guest in your space, mr. manager, i get special privelages, especially when i bust my balls to perform for your paying customers. and i won't name any names because that's unprofessional.

So that's all for that.

sleep tight, blogateers. be back with more NYC stuff when i feel the angst again.

b