August 19, 2011

Ep 11: Vox Pops from The Fest – Improvention 2011

Prowling the rooms and halls in the wee hours of Improvention 2011, The Flint Podcast brings you a series of one on one conversations with the teachers, performers, administrators and students of this week long impro fest.

TFPC Ep 11 – Vox Pops from Improvention 2011

R/Click and Save As to Download. L/Click to Play in Browser. (67 mins)

 

 

Marcel Proust  on travel wrote, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

Thanks Google.

Festivals operate in such rarefied air.

A year’s work can fly by as if but a foot-note, epiphanies can slow time for a blessed moment, and connections can be forged, broken, and connected again.

And that’s just on stage.

A collection of interviews from Improvention 2011 participants

Featuring Rik Brown, Mim Carville, Amy Moule, Mel Bennet, Jen O’Sullivan, Jaime Cerda, Cale Bain,  Merrilee McCoy, Catherine Hagarty, Glenn Hall, Ben Crowley, Michelle Nussey and the first ever censor beep from the drive by specialist, Ep 7′s Jason Geary.

LINKS

The Spaces. Feature band’s fab website.

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Filed under impro, improv, Improvention, randy dixon, songprov, story, strindberg, teaching, theatre

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August 7, 2011

Ep 10: Fireside chat with Per Gottfredsson and Kettil Medelius

How far can you take impro? What emotions can it conjure and mould? Stockholme’s Per Gottfredsson and musician Kettil Medelius left a lasting imprint on Imrovention 2011 with their commitment to that ‘stretch’ with focused workshops and their show, “Inspired by Strindberg.” Here, they speak with Perth’s Glenn Hall.

TFPC Ep10 – Fireside chat with Per & Kettil : Improvention 2011

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The impact of childhood and the collaboration of friendship. The challenge of a two-act musical, improvising in Zimbabwe and a show taking shape about “the biggest day of your life,” – the day you die. Per and Kettil speak about impro, what it means to them and the discoveries yet to be.

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July 29, 2011

Ep 9: Felipe Ortiz – Fireside chat – Improvention 2011

Columbian improviser Felipe Ortiz charmed a city with his unique physicality and spirit in Improvention 2011. In this live theatre record,  co-founder of Impro A.C.T, P.J Williams, discusses with Felipe his approach to theatre, and the influences that have shaped him as an artist.

 TFPC: Ep 9 -Fireside chat with Felipe Ortiz

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Felipe Ortiz is the founding member of La Gata and co-director of its improv shows. He travels the world playing and teaching improvisation as well as clown and acrobatics.

He directed “Deja vu”, La Gata’s first “new circus” show which featured in “les mois Moliere” in France, and “Festival iberoamericano 2008″ in Bogot’a – Colombia. His solo clown solo “la Cita” was part of “Festival iberoamericano 2010″.

His background is peppered by contemporary dance, contact dance, capoeira, circus and acrobatique techniques, improvisation, acting and clown.

Felipe was a feature guest of Improvention 2011.

 

Questions from the floor came from, in order: Jason Geary, Rebecca  De Unamuno, Jaime Cerda, Tim Redmond, Kevin Blair, Nick Byrne, Linda Calgaro, Libby Klysz, Marko Mustac and Natalie Bochenski.
Note: Due to Improvention timelines, the interview with Tony Totino has been pushed back. Possibly Ep 13.

 

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Filed under ethos, Felipe Ortiz, impro, improv, Improvention, keith johnstone, La Gata

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July 10, 2011

Ep 8: The Displaced – Impro A.C.T: An interview in three acts

What happens when you take a largely comedic form and apply it to potentially dark political material? This is exactly what Impro A.C.T attempted with their two-act fully improvised drama, The Displaced. Here, over three interviews, from rehearsals’ start to show’s end, artistic director Nick Byrne lets us in on the journey of this troupe as they dig for the truth in the material, and from themselves.

TFPC Ep 8 The Displaced

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Truth is a loaded word. From the macro of philosophical musings to the micro of impro and theatrical application. Do improvisers treat truth as some sort of glum genre or is it the launching pad for work that tickles the magic edges of imagination? And what of a show that explores a loaded political theme, refugees, and has bad news built into its title?

How do you remain in the moment and not plod  inexorably towards displacement? Is there place for comedy? Do the politics break the impro or perhaps, do such integral human themes  it free…..

The Displaced. An interview in three acts.

LINKS

Impro A.C.T’s site.

Improvention.

Feature band The Spaces.

Video Trailer for The Displaced.

Cast List for Displaced
Catherine Hagarty
Matthew Sheppard
Sophie Hope
Benjamin Crowley
Kathy Bakewell
PJ Williams
Lynn Petersen
Brad Hoff
Reid Workman
Nick Byrne
group-devised format
co-directed by Barb Barnett & Nick Byrne
lighting design by PJ Williams -  lighting operator Owen Horton
sound by Dave Woodgate
Artwork by Reid Workman
Note: Five interviews in total were conducted with Nick Byrne. The audio here is from three of those interviews.

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May 10, 2011

Ep 7: Story theory with Jason Geary

Can screenplay story techniques teach us improvisers a thing or two?  According to Melbourne writer and improviser Jason Geary, the answer is not only “yes,” but an assertion that story design bears deeper lessons that go the heart of our craft.

TFPC ep 7 Jason Geary Story Theory

Attending a Robert McKee story seminar set off all sorts of sparks for Jason Geary. A seventeen year veteran improviser of international festivals and the Australian stage, along with extended television credits, he found himself drawn to McKee’s story deconstruction. Beyond the lessons for writers, he sensed in the teachings an integral design, a launching pad  for richer improvised theatre.

Protagonist empathy. Slider Theory.  Scene charge. Cast design. All manner of connections erupted and here, in Ep 7 , Jason speaks about the changes in his approach to improv through the prism of McKee story design.

The rigours, the challenges. The aspiration of building a common improv language  so we can step on stage and discover a story, not tell it.

LINKS from show

Jase’s Dictionary of Moments

Robert McKee

Feature artist THE SPACES.

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Filed under Dan O'Connor, Genre, impro, improv, Jason Geary, McKee, randy dixon, rules, story, theatre

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April 17, 2011

Ep 6: P’Graph- The trope of the troupe.

Improv troupes come and improv troupes go. We shuffle and bounce from idea to idea. But Austin quartet Parallelogramophonograph are a rare bird. A troupe that has not only stayed together for over 300 shows, but continues to thrive on story styles and  narrative sets powered by a vigilant ethos of self inspiration.

French Farce anyone? PGraph from L to R: Valerie Ward, Kaci Beeler, Roy Janik and Kareem Badr

TFPC Ep6 -PGraph – The Trope of the Troupe

Right-click and Save As to Download, or Left-click to play. (Run time: 67:42)

In a thriving Austin improv community, P’Graph stands tall. In addition to performing their own  weekly show, they blend and play in the many other shows and troupes that patrol the Austin scene and Hideout Theatre, a theatre, incidentally, that members Roy Janik and Kareem Badr run and Kaci Beeler designs for.

Here, they speak of their history and the collective sensibility that has developed over their years together. The P’Graph way.

The freedoms and burdens of genre, the thrill and opportunity of festival travel and the challenge of staying true to their vision while remaining open to change.

Also, what does it mean, really mean, to be inspired by  audience suggestion? Do you leap, or lurch at onstage intimacy and just how does one  keep the vigour in the craft with such a heavy schedule?

P’Graph.

Ep 6.

LINKS FROM SHOW

P’Graph’s website.

The Hideout Theatre

Video of Kaci and Kareen performing with Patti Stiles and Sean Fabri from Impro Melbourne

Feature artist, The Spaces website

The Spaces music on iTunes

Show Notes and Corrections:

This podcast is an edit of a two and a half hour interview conducted via Skype in Feb from New York.

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Filed under ethos, Hideout Theatre, impro, improv, inspiring your partner, keith johnstone, P'graph, Parallelogramophonograph, theatre

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March 26, 2011

Ep 5: Big Apple Songprov- Andrew Pifko and The Boombox Kids.

Improvised song can transform even the most fearless stage veteran to a butt-clenched, jibbering mess. Canadian born New Yorker, Andrew Pifko speaks about his process of setting song free and how that ethos became the popular songprov format, ‘The Boombox Kids.”

TFPC Ep 5 -Andrew Pifko and The Boombox Kids

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.

The BoomBox kids is a half hour show of tangent scenes and song. In a city with over 150 improv shows a week, it stands out for simplicity and charm. Strong singing voices combine with thorough knowledge of structure and harmony to provide a show where songs are born from musicality, and not just moxie alone.

This is no accident.

Andrew Pifko speaks about the dedicated audition process he went through to cast Boombox. The weekly training to keep skills sharp and the process of getting players to a place where the impossibility of an improvised song (I mean, think about it?) is the most natural thing in the world…and just where Boombox can go next.

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LINKS from the SHOW.

The Boombox Kids at The PIT

Boombox on Facebook and Twitter.

Andrew’s BIO on Wikipedia and IMDB.

The delightful Ms. Collyer’s blogsite, Between the Cracks.

Ships and Thieves rock ‘n’ roll on Facebook and JJJ.

Keith Johnstone

Del Close

The BoomBox Kids are:

Matt Foster (Performer)

Zack Colonna (Performer)

Brenda Scott (Performer)

Hannah Corrigan (Performer)

Hillary Boyd (Performer)

Ariana Seigel (Performer)

Andrew Pifko (Performer/Artistic Director)

& David Broome (Musical Director)

SHOW NOTES

Interview recorded at 88 Orchard on Feb 11. Pavlov’s Improv has been edited for effect, but where at all possible, questions and answers are as recorded.

 

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Filed under Andrew Pifko, Boombox Kids, impro, improv, musicals, New York, songprov

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