nicolemarietherese:

stephaniestreisand:

halphillips:

[edit]

I suspect lots of new students simply don’t know the norms.  I think interviewing people is silly, but I’m sure it’s not silly to someone who knows literally nothing about how practice groups are formed.

[edit]

I think you are all like, “Interviews?! What the fuck?” so quickly. But I agree with Hal. I probably would have gone to an interview in 2006. I probably would have thought you had to audition to be in a practice group that performs. If I was starting a practice group that performs back then, I wouldn’t have known anyone and done auditions. Sure, I met people from my classes but after the classes were over those practice sessions were over. And I was basically a ghost anyway so it’s not like a person could talk to me to ask me or I could go up to a person and ask them, or they would even remember me.

I think it’s completely understandable how that situation happened.

I wasn’t going to post again but it’s Friday and slow at work and something about this gets me.

I totally hear what you guys are saying. In those early days, you’re really out there without a handbook. (True confessions: I think I paid our first coaches with a check because it seemed more professional.) And I personally agonized over every small decision.

I have a lot of affection for those early days in improv because I’m a real awkward kid who’d been in New York for a year without forming a social life and suddenly every interaction was an opportunity to make a new best friend. Because - it felt at least - like every person you met was carrying over that non-judgment stuff from class and wanted to like each other. And I think unless we were projecting our own self-loathing onto other people, that was the case.

But something about the instinct to formalize this crazy, organic process makes me really sad. And some of my favorite people (well, Miles) are people I never would have met if it wasn’t for being randomly invited to groups without previous knowledge. I discovered Kat T. because somebody from my 201 told me I would love the girl who looked a little like Helena Bonham Carter and organized everything. I miss thirteen person practice groups with Hiller because no one knew how to say no. The heartbreaking decisions come later. This is the easiest time. I hate to hear that people are so overcomplicating it.

Back in my day, people walked uphill ten miles each way to go to practice group.  We paid our coaches in chickens and cigarettes.  It was a glorious time.

Actually, my first practice group was held in my building’s ‘rec room’ and was coached by the fabulous Curtis Gwinn, and was the most fun improv time there was.

People came and went - there was definitely a core group - and there were certainly anxious moments when we had to decide to exclude or not invite certain people back to play.

Because, we really wanted to play and learn and not stress.

Isn’t that ultimately the point?

Whatever.  My two cents.