One Of Many

I've been doing more improv lately, some of which has been good and some of which has been bad. The sheer volume means that I'm getting better at a rate I never could just from practicing, but there have been some real clunkers. Then there was last night. My class team from Monkey Butler performed as the concluding act of a student showcase, and I have to say I think that it went fairly well. Maybe it even deserves a recap.

We have been working on a long form improv format called the "Improvised Movie". The idea is that the audience supplies three titles of existing movies. The improvisers pick one whose general theme is the inspiration for a performance. The audience then identifies two things that typically appear in that sort of movie, plus one that does not. Finally, they give a title for this newly-created movie, and at last the team is off!

Given Star Wars, The Color Purple and Aladdin, we went with Aladdin. Our show consisted of a naked, bronzed guy living alone with his talking monkey friend in the jungle while being preyed upon by an evil wizard, his hunchbacked assistan and his son. Meanwhile, a pair of drunken party girls wanders upon the scene, serving primarily to instruct the jungle man and his monkey in the ways of "spin the bottle". I play one of the party girls, and my defining trait was being a "betch".

As I said, our performance was well-received, and I credit a song and dance interlude for generating a standing ovation at our conclusion. One of the team and I went out to join some of the lower-level students for Taco Bell (although we abandoned the concept of eating Taco Bell after seeing a terribly backed-up drive-through, and actually left to get Jack In The Box and brought that back to the Taco Bell). All together, it was a good night.