Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average Improv

Lana Tleimat, the assistant director, producer, stage manager, costume fabricator, and pain sink of A New Play puts on one final hat: podcast guest. 

Physical Improviser Kaelyn Ong comes on the podcast to talk about her experience working in A New Play and what she has done since. We explore the role of physical improviser as amplifier and Kaelyn talks about how she treats physical improvising like animation!

Jayda Alvarez, one of the five character improvisers from A New Play, joins the podcast to answer all of our questions! Jayda brought a lot of her theatrical knowledge to A New Play, so this episode is not too dissimilar from the early conversations we had in making it.

So how do you improvise a show where the structure itself is improvised? Simple... Know all structures! 

Anna W is back by popular demand to talk about her signature move: monologues! She is truly a monologue master so listening to her talk is pure joy. Monologue's ended up being one of the defining features that distinguished ANP-prov from regular improv and I am so glad we were able to do such a deep dive on them. Such a nice episode! 

TW: Child abuse and sexual assault.

This episode is a rare LIVE interview with two of the most brilliant impro minds out there! Impro Amsterdam reliably curates the best improvised shows that I have seen anywhere in the world, and standing out from the pack this year was Festen. Based on the movie by the same title, Festen takes place over the course of a family dinner during which one member of the family reveals that they were abused by another as a child. The show is political, dramatic, healing, and unlike anything that I had ever seen improvised before. I was lucky enough to interview the show's creators, Aymeric Desjardin and Charlotte Méniére in a nearby wine store.

If you want to find more of their incredible work you can visit the website for their Théâtre de L'Esquive in Bordeaux or go to Aymeric's website. 

https://theatredelesquive.fr/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabYuhqmODz1i0pcBKLBWAB64tOHx8zpFHZXtifBzDgTiuNZaZ1v5w5KGnY_aem_sOb4FUCO-hLXv-1teDKzlw 

https://www.aymericdesjardin.com/ 

In practicing for A New Play we sought to expand the world of what is possible to improvise! To do this we broke away from the traditional "rules" of impro and rebuilt our own looser guidelines to play by. In this episode we also talk about how you can safely explore and expand the comfortable boundaries of of contact, combat, content, and intimacy. I you are interested in having your shows feel more like scripted theater, it is important to adapt the safety procedures from theater so that they work in an improvised setting!

In this episode we explore the subtle difference in thought process the separated A New Play improvisation from other types of improv. If you are wondering why this is such a challenging form, here is your answer, but the payoff for learning to play in this way is enormous :)

Sasha Sokolova joins the podcast to talk about the biggest innovation of A New Play: The Physical Improvisors. If you want some brilliant insights in to how to add movement, visual artistry, and technical elements to your improv, tune in to here what Sasha has to say!

To apply to take the 3 day workshop at the UnScripted Shakespeare Festival, got to https://www.thornandpetalstick.com/festival and fill out the individual application!

Read along with this one: https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/u.osu.edu/dist/5/25851/files/2016/02/taoteching-Stephen-Mitchell-translation-v9deoq.pdf

or listen to the full text:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7sIyojwbx9eaKqkoPL3DDH?si=1dadcab6edf44c79