After an extended break, we are back to talk about our recent experience at the Fringe. John Mistele is guest! Sorry for the audio quality on this one!
The Glorious GOAT we are interview this week is none other than Lisa Rowland! We have always looked up to Lisa when she was our teacher, but assumed that she was just the best improviser that we knew. As we have traveled the world and seen more improv, it turns out that she is one of the best in the whole world too! Lisa has served as the artistic director of BATS, was the only improviser chosen from the USA to be in the cast of Impro Amsterdam 2024, and Status magazine (which is a GOATed publication) included her on a short list of improv teachers who deserve Three Michelin Stars. But don't just take our word for it, give it a listen to see how great sausage is made!
The second part of the interviews that I got from Flock Festival, this episode features the voices of the international guests who had come from far and wide to take part! It includes interviews with: Liam Webber Chris Mead Maria Ramis Auri Itämäki Isabel Brodie Adria Lerma Katy Schutte Phill Spear Lê Kim Thanh Julia
This special live episode, I interview great improvisers while they play the dutch game of Sjoelen. Flock Theater in Amsterdam is the best improv theater that I have seen anywhere in the world, and I hope these episodes will shed some light on how it runs! This is the first in a two part series of interviews from Flock Festival in Amsterdam, with the first one focusing on local talent and members of the Flock Community. This first episode features interviews with: Gael Doorneweerd-Perry Laura Doorneweerd-Perry Tanine Dunais Mark Bulthuis Mateusz Barczyk Hal Munger Thom Roelofs Babbette Hinterleitner Jeroen du Chatinier Rosanne Eschweiler Daniel Potts Gerit Scholz
Dr. Mark Smith joins the podcast for the first episode of our GOATs Series, where we interview great improvisers to try to understand how they got to where they are today. Mark is the artistic director of the Liverpool Improvisation Festival, has a very substantial body of work in improvised and scripted theater, and he wrote his doctoral thesis on how improvisation can be applied to devised theater. If you are interested in the blending of improvisation and theater, this episode is for you!
A duo show, recorded live at the Unscripted Shakespeare Festival featuring Hal Munger and John Mistele! This is the audio of the show that we are bringing to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. Julian is adjusting to his new job, so he will be back on the podcast soon to begin an exciting new series but in the meantime I hope you enjoy the Flicker of the Flame: Video Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyOKc7C5lu0
For the final episode of our A New Play series, Julian interviews Hal about directing A New Play.
Apologies for the upload delay, Hal was running the UnScripted Shakespeare Festival! We are right back at it debriefing the final two nights of A New Play! Our intro music by Sebastian Blue Hochman famously comes from night four! Night Three watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y_G9zNJv3Q Night four watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5lApi_65io
We rewatched nights One and Two of A New Play and talked through how they went!If you haven't seen them go check them out! A New Play Night One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjeb4BI1o-0 A New Play Night Two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2qDjmWah6g&t=19s
Our third episode about the physical improvisers gets deep into the specific techniques that we developed for A New Play. Many of these techniques never made it into the performances, so this is the first time they are available to the world!
Live interviews with the cast of Taxi Tales from the Liverpool Improvisation Festival! Taxi tales was an incredible show created and directed by Dr. Mark Smith that tells the story of twelve taxi rides over the course of one night. An enormous thank you to everyone involved with LiF for making this such a magical experience! You can find out more by following @liverpool_improv_festival on instagram or visiting https://www.liverpoolimprovfestival.com/ Guests: Josie Throup @josiemakesitup @Drunkclassicsmanchester Adrià Lerma @adria.lerma Samuel Pownall @samuelpownall Anthony Saldana @anthonya.saldana Diana Brown @dianalynnbrown3330 Shotgun Theater: https://thepit-nyc.com/events/shotgun-theater/ Diana's workshop: https://www.thornandpetalstick.com/event-details/rogues-ruffians-and-wiley-wits-improvising-bawdy-characters-in-the-style-of-shakespeare
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!