Greetings from the UK! I and the rest of PGraph are in Nottingham for the Robin Hood Improv Festival this week. Tomorrow morning we’ll be teaching the first day of a 3 day/15 hour narrative intensive! So naturally I’m staying up late and putting the finishing touches on this newsletter.

[on the crafting of tools]

As a theater or school of improv evolves, certain ideas become sticky and start to take on a weight and reality of their own.

For example: At the Hideout we have a concept that originally came to us via a blog post by improv luminary Bill Arnett. The gist is this: We’ve all done twice as many shows as we think we have- there’s the show we’re trying to do, such as Improvised Shakespeare, or Montage, or some dystopian sci-fi. Then there’s another show that consists of a bunch of people on stage having a good time… that is, the improvisers creating, collaborating, laughing, and reacting to/with another. We call that “the second show.”

Over the years “the second show” has crystalized and become an extremely useful tool for The Hideout. Without it, we might simply talk about “going meta,” but that’s not quite the same thing. Going meta happens at the expense of or instead of a committed scene, and the second show happens simultaneously with the scene.

It enables us to say things like:

• “The scene work was nonsense, but the players leaned into the second show and it was delightful”

• “If you’re confused about names, pop into the second show, get on the same page, and pop back into the first show”

• “The goal of this production is to have almost no second show. So if a performer laughs, the character also laughs.”

I have a lot more to say about the second show, but I wanted to bring it up here just to illustrate the fact that over time it’s become an almost tangible object in the Hideout’s world. It is a tool, a shared point of view, and part of a common vocabulary that we all can use.

It’s also far from the only tool in my improv universe. Just off the top of my head, there’s:

• the story spine: a story framework which we use to analyze and shape narratives (from Kenn Adams)

• platforms and tilts: which we use to shape scenes (from Keith Johnstone)

• the focus ball: a way of visualizing where the attention/focus of a scene is

I’m sure you can think of some in your own sphere/school/theater. “Game” or even “Harold” have that sort of existence at many places.

I’ve been on a mission lately to identify the things that make the improv of The Hideout and PGraph distinct or unique. At first I was focused on style, but I think identifying the tools/metaphors that we reach for again and again is a big part of capturing our particular flavor.

If this motivates you to do a similar exercise for yourself (and I hope it does) feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you came up with.

[idea #2/1,000,000 - A Big, Bright, Beautiful Tomorrow]

Here’s an idea for an improv show I’ve been kicking around for a few years, mostly in my head. As such, it’s taken a few different forms, but I’ll lay down the one that’s currently coming to me.

Each week a different guest is invited to present their plans for the perfect Utopia: a future society where everything is as good as it can be, and all the pieces fit together to create the ideal society. 

The presenter might cover the government, habitats, rituals, social/family units, education, wealth distribution, etc… Keep in mind, this part is done in earnest. The guest genuinely takes their best shot at creating a better world of the future.

As it’s described, we see improvised scenes and snippets from that world, and give the presenter the opportunity to steer or course correct the scenes as they see fit.

After the presentation has concluded, we see a narrative set in that utopia, and in the classic sci-fi tradition, we watch as that shining vision collapses, and either slowly becomes or is revealed to have always been a dystopia.

Somewhere along the way we learn a little bit more about what it truly means to be human, how hope can persist in the darkest of days, and we also probably laugh a lot.

Is this idea too much of a downer? Would it be fun? I think it would be fascinating, and I love playing in highly particular worlds, but it would need to end on some silver lining. And it would need to be a satisfying experience for the guest.

[now see here - recs and such]

I think I’ve had matcha like 4 times on this trip already. But my absolute favorite matcha drinks in the world can be found at Love Lamp Matcha, located at 6910 Shirley Ave, Austin, TX 78752. The owner and employees are just the best, they make all their syrups in-house, and I go there at least once a week.

[FLIP THE SCRIPT]

And that’s that! In the UK? Come check out The Robin Hood Improv Festival in Nottingham, and come see me and PGraph perform on Thursday!

Till next time, (when I’ll be giving you the rundown of how the fest went).