Celebrating the Win

Last week, TSF cashed in on a few investments.

The first was Sunday Group's big win at the Southeastern Regionals of the College Improv Tournament in Atlanta on Nov. 14. The five of us performed in two rounds -- the preliminary one in the afternoon against Mississippi State and Georgia Tech, and the final one at night against University of Georgia and NC State -- and TSF came out on top.

The Sunday Group: Brittany Walters, Brad Berghof, Jennifer Francis, Erik Voss, and Jacob Warren

Performing both shows and winning was such a blissful experience. About 25 members of TSF drove up to Atlanta to support us, which really felt great. I think their presence, combined with some quality bonding time between the five members of Sunday Group, was key to our success. Something simply clicked among us all; for the first time in a long time, it felt like we were truly connecting on stage and making moves for each other, not just for ourselves.

Here are a few highlights from the trip:

On the way up to Atlanta, we stopped at a Pizza Hut, and we had quite possibly the worst dining experience of our lives. There are simply too many atrocities to list here, but I think the fact that they "ran out of cheese pizza" sums it up pretty well.

On the night we arrived, we all got bored and started exploring the area around the hotel. Brad, Jacob and I climbed to the top of a nearby parking garage. We then spotted Brittany and Jen wandering around outside the hotel room, so we started shouting crude remarks at them ("Hey, how much for that pussy?") etc. They were frightened at first, and they thought we were hiding in a tree. The night ended with the five of us huddled on top of the parking garage, sharing ghost stories. Brittany, it turns out, has done a ton of research into real-life exorcisms. Awesome.

One of the best things about these improv gatherings is meeting other improv teams. All the groups we met at the regional were nice folks, especially the Lab Rats from Mississippi State. We ate dinner with them after the final round, and Brad and I went back with them to their hotel room to hang out. They offered us cake and we talked about how similar our improv groups are.

Good times. Looking forward to the finals in Chicago in February.

Also, we got on the front page of The Alligator in a story that combined win in Atlanta with the Unscripted show, which was described as a "celebration" of Sunday Group's win. More on "celebration" in a second, but this brings us to TSF's second big success from last week...

TSF finally had its big Unscripted show in the Rion Ballroom on Nov. 18 and 19. Our cast performed two stellar nights of long-form improv, featuring special guest speakers like an Olympic gold medalist, and a UF professor of entomolgy (insect science), and a student hip-hop music group.

The beatboxer of the Hip Hop Collective uses a flute in his beats. Amazing.

As the show's director and the "team captain" of the ensemble, I could not have been more thrilled with how the show went. Katie LeBlanc, who was the production manager, was invaluable in contacting speakers for the show and getting everything into place. Skyler Kern, the promotions manager, equally kicked ass -- the Rion Ballroom was nearly full on both nights. And the speakers were all so great about the whole thing (Student Body President Jordan Johnson once got in a fist fight over Goldfish snacks! Who'da thunk?).

Arguably the most interesting speaker (both nights) was a man by the name of Bill O'Connor, a retired New York firefighter and bar owner, who's now at UF getting a degree in journalism. I met him in my rhetorical criticism class, and from the opportunities I've had to speak with him, he's lived such an interesting life, and he's a really cool person to talk to. At the show, he regaled us all with anecdotes from when he was in boot camp, when he was a firefighter, and the people he met while he was in Vietnam.

Bill O'Connor brings the house down.

Of course, the cast blew me away. I was amazed how everyone stepped up, and how they were able to keep the audience engaged in long-form shows that lasted longer than 90 minutes each night. As a team, we were supportive, and we were very physical. In fact, we moved, leapt, stomped, and slid so much that the blocks that composed the stage started to dislatch from each other, creating gaps in the stage (some of which were about a foot wide).

Probably my favorite moment occurred in a group scene in which we were all "Garbage Pail Kids" who were trying to get adopted by a rich soap manufacturer (yuk yuk) and his skeptical wife, played by April. When we called the scene back, Filup crawled underneath the stage and reached his hand up through one of the gaps that had formed, suggesting the kids had infiltrated the floorboards of the house. Finally, in the third beat of the scene, we all crawled underneath the stage, and one of the gaps had opened up so wide, we were able to drag April down through the stage.

The stage was high enough and far enough back that the audience couldn't see the gaps. All they could see were little hands reaching up and magically pulling a character into the ground. The audience went nuts, and had any of us been on stage, we probably would have ended the show on that moment. And that was just one of the many great moments of the Unscripted experience.

I try to impart a few inspirational words before the show on opening night.

Now, a week after the show, my only regret is how quickly the whole Unscripted event seems to have faded from everyone's memory. No one seems interested in talking about the show, or any of the rehearsals, things that went well, things that didn't, things that were surprising, etc. Hell, people seemed "done with it"  during the after party.

 

Granted, this wasn't a "cathartic" event like "12 Hours of Improv," in which everyone in TSF wears themselves out on stage, all to raise money to fight cancer, or last year's "Gary" show, in which we lost sleep for two weeks running a political campaign on UF's campus for a mock presidential candidate, just to kill him off on stage in a spray of blood. Both of those events were things that everyone had something to say about.

Still, this was the biggest improv show of the semester, and for those of us in the cast, there were so many memories gathered from two month's worth of rehearsals and preview shows. We experienced intense arguments, tears, and a great deal of stress within the cast and production crew, but we had a ton of laughs along the way and made some moves in improv that, quite frankly, I never would have thought performers were capable of doing. We made long-form work in front of hundreds of non-improvisers. I don't know if I'll ever have the opportunity to do something like that ever again in my career (from what I hear from Chicago buddies, some of the best iO teams may get an audience of 20 people or so... who are either improv students, easily-persuaded friends, or drunk "make me laugh" patrons).

So, yeah, it kinda bugs me to see people shrug this one off. I understand it's difficult to feel vicarious excitement for a performance that you didn't necessarily take part in (which is why it fills me up to see how ecstatic so many TSFers are over Sunday Group's win in Atlanta). But to "shrug off" an improv show -- even if it's for five people in a dorm common area -- makes me really question why we're doing this in the first place.

And I know people are exhausted, and they have exams, and projects, and other comedy-related committments they have to attend to, and that now people have to refocus on other things... I get that. I've been there. I'm there now. And I don't mean to complain. I'm just a little bummed we couldn't celebrate the win a little more. 

Thanks to everyone for their support! And have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

TSF goes Unscripted? What?

It's been a busy two weeks. Yesterday, TSF Sketch performed a sketch comedy show, and today, Sunday Group's heading back up to Atlanta to compete in the Southeastern regionals of the 2009 College Improv Tournament.

Next week, however, is a very big week for TSF, for we will be performing our big fall show: Unscripted. The show will be over two nights: Wednesday, Nov. 18, and Thursday, Nov. 19, at 9 p.m. in the Reitz Union Rion Ballroom. The shows are free, and sponsored by UF Student Government and the Reitz Union Board.

Unscripted is another cool project TSF has been working on this semester. We've put together a team of TSF's best performers to meet weekly and rehearse improv in the style of "Armando Diaz" -- scenes inspired by monologues delivered by special guest speakers. We ask these speakers open-ended questions ("What's your most embarrassing moment?") and allow them to speak for about 5 minutes. Then, TSF takes the stage and improvises scenes based on the answer. The result is a show built around the unplanned, uncensored, and unscripted words of an interesting speaker... and it's always a hilarious experience.

The Unscripted cast (from left): Maxx Mann, Cory Draper, Erik Voss, Kaylyn Brickey, Ricky Klopfenstein, Filup Molina, Jennifer Francis, Brad Berghof, and April Dudash

We've already performed two preview shows, featuring special guest speakers No Southern Accent (a UF a cappella music group) and Houston Wells (a local stand-up comedian, father, and UF professor), and both were a lot of fun. For the big event next week, we've lined up several interesting speakers to participate in our event, including:

Jordan Johnson, UF Student Body President

Bernard Williams, Olympic Gold Medalist and former UF track athlete

Chris Emmanuel, the 2009 UF Homecoming King

The Hip Hop Collective, a UF student music group

Bill O'Connor, a retired FDNY firefighter and Vietnam veteran

...and more!

It's been such a fun experience working with the team and meeting all these people. It's so rare to share the stage with non-comedy folks, and it's so rewarding to use our improv to reach out to people who otherwise would never come see an improv show.

We're currently trying to get the word out about this exciting show, so try to make it out to both nights if you can. Tell all your friends and bring them to the show! For more details, check out our Facebook event page.

TSF on the TV

So much for short, frequent blog posts! Luckily, many of the blogs I've been following haven't posted since September, either. When bloggers fail, we fail together. Blog blog blog.

It's been a very exciting semester for TSF, but we've been pretty lousy at acknowledging it. So, I've decided to start updating you on all the interesting projects we've been working on, just so there'll be a record somewhere that says, "Hey, look at all the cool stuff we did!"

Strike Force is producing a comedy sitcom for the UF campus television channel (we also post the episodes online). The show is called "Oppie's Friend, Gene," and it follows two unlikely friends as they try to settle into their freshman year at college. The show stars Cory Draper as overly meticulous planner "Oppie" and JC Currais as notorious prankster "Gene."

The show was created by longtime TSF veteran (a distinction I use sparingly) Filup Molina, who works tirelessly as the show's director, head writer and executive producer. Also pouring his soul into this show is Ryan Moulton, who is the show's director of photography, editor, and a writer/producer. The two of them are joined by an army of writers, actors, musicians, production crew, financial backers, and fans and viewers -- all of whom have made this incredible project possible.

The show's fourth episode, "The Rushing Buffalo," is currently online. Check it out: http://vimeo.com/7335149

Yep, that's me, as a sassy political blogger in episode 4: "The Rushing Buffalo."

Making a TV show is something TSF has talked about doing for a long time, and we've finally done it. Tell all your friends about the show, become a fan on Facebook, and check oppiesfriendgene.com for new episodes.

Also, I don't want to give too much away, but OFG has gotten the attention of some fairly noteworthy names in the entertainment industry across the country. This could be a very big deal for TSF and for all of us working on the project, so we're pretty excited.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Erik

On the "Oppie" set: Director Filup Molina watches through the viewfinder as Cory Draper acts a scene from Episode 2: "Wirelessness."

Sunday in ATL: Part 4

So, we're all back in Gainesville and looking back on a fun weekend in Atlanta. Some general highlights:

The best part of any of these trips are the bonding opportunities with other members of your team. I got a chance to hang out with the two newest members of Sunday Group, Jacob and Brittany, who rode in my car on the way home. I'm glad to have the two of them in the group, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester.

While on the way back, the three of us had several interesting conversations -- one of which dealt with the general "weirdness" of the improv culture that we're a part of, and how rarely we notice it. When we start doing improv, we're encouraged to make spontaneous decisions and embrace absurdity. After a while, we get swept up in the savage, bohemian spirit of improv, screaming our lungs out in warmups and pretending to be monkeys humping each other in organic openings, then later describe the whole experience in terms of "exchanging gifts" and "emotional commitment." And one day, we'll be in an audience, trying to find meaning in a group of people mooing at each other, and say, "Wow, how did I end up here? I've become the kind of person my older brother used to make fun of."

Improv's funny like that.

All in all, we took some great workshops, met some great people, and saw some great shows. I can't wait to tell all my TSF friends about the details and introduce the things I've learned into the groups that I teach/coach/perform with. It was also cool to network with some of the people from other colleges... the TSF name is getting out there.

Thanks so much to all the people who put the festival together -- executive producer Matthew Faulkenberg and all the folks from Let's Try This. You guys were courteous, hospitable and professional, and you gave everyone such a great experience. Hopefully we'll see you guys soon!

Erik

PS -- All weekend long we kept running into people in costumes and brightly-dyed hair walking around our hotel. On our way out, Jacob finally got the guts to walk up to one of these people to find out: apparently, across the street, there was a big anime convention going on. All this time...

Sunday in the ATL: Part 3

Before I begin, I forgot to mention a funny moment from Sunday Group's show on Friday night. Jen and Brad were playing a married couple in a scene: Jen had made Brad dinner, and he insisted on eating it alone. However, instead of "alone," Brad stuttered:

Brad: "I want to eat it malone."

Jen immediately caught on: "Malone?" We then went on a segue in which it was revealed that Brad received special training to eat dinner for two from some mysterious man named "Malone." We soon brought Malone out on stage, who gave Brad some important advice to save his marriage. No mistakes in improv.

Okay, now on to Saturday. After a complimentary breakfast, it started pouring raining in Atlanta and never let up all day long. We arrived at Georgia Tech just in time for our morning workshops. Jacob, Brad and I took "Solo Improv," in which we learned some cool stuff about eye contact and playing clear characters. Jen and James took a "Conflict Resolution" workshop. Brittany, meanwhile, was malone in a "Death in a Scene" workshop, in which she was told that those who kill people in scenes are just trying to sabotage their fellow players, and that if you get killed, you should get revenge by either monologuing for a long time or by collapsing on the killer and locking your arms around him, forcing him to deal with dead weight.

For lunch, we hopped over to the Varsity, an Atlanta landmark and the largest fast food restaurant in the country. There, we slid on the greasy floor and scarfed down some chili dogs. I also got a chance to meet up with my sister Suzanne and godson, Alex.

Sunday Group at the Varsity.

After lunch, we returned to campus for a musical improv workshop called "Selling It." Easily one of the most fun workshops I've ever done. The people from a Chicago musical improv group called "Recapitulation" taught it, and they were wonderfully supportive. Their piano accompaniast is freaking amazing and has great comedic timing, despite having only done improv for a year. As far as musical improv goes, I learned some handy tips about staging and simple choreography.

James, Brad, Jen and Jacob left the musical improv workshop early to go to a nearby bar to watch the Gator game, leaving Brittany and I to finish the workshop (we did complete opening numbers!) and do the Harold workshop, taught by UCB Touring Company's Chelsea Clarke. While "Selling It" was the most fun workshop of the festival, this Harold workshop was probably the most valuable. Chelsea provided a clear and simple UCB-approach to the Harold: Essentially, you look for the "first unusual thing" in a scene, i.e., what makes the scene funny, and you follow that. She also cleared up some questions I had about second beats and using the suggestion.

Chelsea also brought up a concept I'm gonna start using: "If this, then what else?" It's the idea that, now that we know this much about a scene, what does that tell us about everything else in the scene? It was really helpful in cutting out unnecessary wordiness and invention in a scene.

After this workshop, Brittany and I had some time to kill before the football game would end, so we hung out with some people from Eckerd's College and Clemson while we got some free pizza. Those kids were great.

An hour or so later we met up with the rest of the group (some of whom were a little tipsy from the bar) and watched a round of shows in Georgia Tech's more acoustically friendly Rion Ballroom. During these shows, the tipsy Sunday Grouper hovered between passing out during shows to shouting out belligerent suggestions for another show.

Host: "Can we get an emotion?"
Person: "Pedophile!"

(You have to be careful making comments about shows during improv festivals. It's just standard ettiquite to avoid saying anything bad about other groups. Sunday Group has a policy that we save the negative comments for when we get in the car or back in the hotel. So, to carefully recap the shows we saw... some were good, some weren't so good, though all of them, for one reason or another, were funny somehow.)

We got a chance to see the musical improv folks from Recapitulation peform their set, and then we hopped over to the Drama Tech theatre for the "big show." There, we were greeted by "Black Box Man," which is the festival's mascot. It's essentially a guy in a suit, wearing on his head a black cube with a smiley face painted on it. He vamps between sets and bosses the audience around. Yeah.

The big show featured a set by the local group who won the BBIF Championship (the guys we talked to the night before). Following them were the folks from The Naked Stage from San Francisco. There were two women and two men, one of whom was Tim Orr (from Three For All). They performed a Mamet-style show as a dysfunctional family in a treehouse on Thanksgiving, and it was one of the most rewarding improv shows I've ever seen. Their awareness and control were incredible, and they got a lot of applause with space-object work malone.

Closing out the festival was a set by the UCB Touring Company, which was everything I was hoping it would be. There were four of them -- three men, one woman -- and they were hilarious. Their ability to find and play games was impressive and inspiring at the same time. I never wanted their show to end. They took the suggestion of "frat house" and came up with scenes such as a perverted captain of an exploratory space fleet going from planet to planet to steal panties from alien females (for sniffing and dancing with, of course). I wish I could come up with terms such as "double-clitted Nargons" in my scenes. One day, hopefully.

There were flyers circulating about an afterparty, but in addition to the party being 45 minutes away, the flyer mentioned that it was BYOB (the festival ended at 12:30 a.m.... good luck there), one-kegger, limited parking, and in a quiet neighborhood. Great flyer.

Although we were a little bummed about not getting to hang out with the people from the festival, hunger, sickness, sleep deprivation, and intoxication got the best of us, so we grabbed some dinner at the most ghetto Applebee's in Atlanta.

All right, that's all for now. I might be missing some stuff, but I'll be able to recap it all in a final blog when I get back to Gainesville tomorrow.

Sunday in the ATL: Part 2

All right, so here's a recap of the day's events.

The road trip up pretty fun -- Jen and Brad rode in my car while Jacob and Brittany rode with James. Jen and Brad were a good source of entertainment; Brad, of course, played Whitney Houston every time it was his turn with the iPod, and Jen, it turns out, hates country music. At one point we saw a sign advertising something called "Goo Goo Clusters," which inspired the three of us to start singing made-up songs. Then, Brad cheated and sang:

"Read me a book. Read me a storrrrrrrry!"

To the tune of Simon and Garfunkel's:

"I am a rock. I am an iiiiiiiiiisland."

He stole the melody. Not cool.

While at a lunch break at a Chik-Fil-A, we hushed racial slurs and brainstormed creative ideas to heckle a traveling Tennessee fan. Brad's idea involved blue and orange balloons we found in the restaurant.

We could tell we were close to Atlanta when the traffic turned to complete shit. The traffic, combined with my inept driving, made for some tense moments.

Jen: "Drive fast! Drive fast! Drive fast!"

Erik: (Thinking) I know you want to snap at her, but you shouldn't, because she'll feel really bad and it will make your show awkward tonight. Man, my tongue is bleeding...

Jen: "Oh, look! That woman's asleep behind the wheel!!!"

Erik: "Jen, shut the hell up!"

Our cars became separated during the confusion. James made a wrong turn, and the other three of us made it to the hotel, but not before Jen threatened to rape Brad and me:

Brad: "Erik, don't turn down that road. That road will fuck you."

Jen: "I'm gonna fu-- (realizes what she's saying, and trails off)"

Still, more confusion. After the other car finally made it to the hotel, we realized that there was a problem with the reservation, and that we needed to relocate to another hotel. In the meantime, Jen and I had to get to Georgia Tech to register Sunday Group before it got too late (it was 7 p.m., and we were scheduled to perform in three hours' time), while the other four checked in to the new hotel. After more traffic, we arrived at Georgia Tech's awesome campus, registered in the lobby of the Drama Tech theatre, and headed over to the Under the Couch theatre on the other side of campus.

(BBIF has really grown a lot from two years ago; now, it has three performance venues: the Drama Tech black box theatre, another ballroom theatre, and the Under the Couch theatre.)

The UTC theatre is a lot like a larger version of Gainesville's 1982 bar, but with seats, an elevated stage, better lighting, and a soundproof green room. Jen and I arrived just in time to see Clemson's Mock Turtle Soup and Eckerd College's Another Man's Garbage perform long-form sets. Then, we saw a "semi-final" round of the BBIF Championships -- which was a short, long-form cage match between several local teams.

Soon after, we met up with Brad, Jacob, Brittany and James. Brad immediately took a big dump, which he called a "boom boom."

We watched the first half of Georgia Tech's Let's Try This before going back to the green room to warm up. While warming up, we were concerned that our show would be a little lower-energy (the audience had been on the small-side), but when we got out on the stage, we had a very receptive/supportive audience. Jen, it turned out, had talked with the people from Eckerd College, who came back to see us perform. And there was a gator fan in the audience -- a woman from one of the local groups came to support us too. And the people from Let's Try This were extremely gracious hosts.

As for our set: I think we did well. We missed a few potentially awesome callbacks and some edits, but we cashed in on some games and interesting characters. We called it down a little early (21 minutes), but I think it was at a good time. And it was well-received.

Brad makes a boom boom on stage.

We watched another semi-final round of the BBIF Championship, talked with those performers afterward,  and then we regrouped at the Drama Tech theatre, where a lot of improvisers were meeting for an open jam. Anyone who wanted to participate could write their name on a slip of paper and have a chance to be one of the lucky ten to jam in front of the rest of the group. Everyone in Sunday Group put their name in for consideration; our own Brad got selected. And he was wonderful...

Yeah Brad, touch that stranger!

Afterward, we filled out our name tags, which have spaces for your real name and your "superhero/supervillain" name. Below are our super-names:

Brad: Dr. Boom Boom

Jacob: Where It Does? (an inside joke from when those other four were in a car together)

Jen: (nothing)

James: Mr. Road Rage

Erik: Ricky Klopferstein

Brittany: Spin Cycle (no clue)

While outside, we spotted a familiar bench, and decided it was a good place for a photo:

We all made fun of Jen's diaper bag.

Now, we're back at the hotel, figuring out sleeping arrangements, snacking on popcorn and watching Men in Black. Jen's wandering around the suite, gasping at all the standard features:

"There's a dish washer!"

"A fireplace! We should set a fire!"

"The refrigerator's white!"

Everyone's gone to bed, and we have to get up early tomorrow for some workshops and shows. Hopefully we'll have a chance to see the Gators destroy the Vols. And I heard good things about TSF's Gator Nights show... sounds like it was a good night for TSF.

More to come.

Sunday in ATL: Part 1

Here we go!

The Sunday Group, TSF's varsity long-form team, will leave for Atlanta within the hour to participate in Georgia Tech's Black Box Improv Festival. We'll perform a 25-minute set tonight in the "Under the Couch" theatre (GT's version of the Orange & Brew, I suppose), immediately following Let's Try This, which is Georgia Tech's home improv team.

While I'm always excited to perform (my sister and brother-in-law will be there to see me... pressure's on!), I'm most looking forward to a few of the shows and workshops in the festival. The BBIF people pulled in some awesome people this year: in addition to a collection of great performers from all over the south, there are some  people from the BATS community in San Francisco, and headlining will be the Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company.

Last year, TSF received a free copy of a "short-form glossary" published by BATS, and it was a really helpful guide. I'm interested to see them perform and teach some workshops. And for those of you who aren't really familiar with UCB, you should be -- it's an improv/sketch training center & theatre in NYC that's the comedic hotspot right now for actors and writers. For the past few years, SNL has gotten all or most of its writers from the UCB theatre in New York (the last time I saw UCB TourCo, Bobby Moynihan was performing with them... now, he's on SNL). Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Horatio Sanz, Andy Richter, Tina Fey, Matt Besser... all are UCB alums (and current performers). It should be a lot of fun to watch them perform, but I'm really looking forward to a Harold workshop I'm taking with one of the UCB TourCo members. 

Traveling to festivals are always fun for a team -- you're stuck in a car for a long time, forcing a lot of bonding and crying (Brad knows what I'm talking about). You crash in a hotel together, and after more crying, you do workshops and watch shows with a bunch of other people who are as obsessed with improv as you are. You meet a ton of interesting people, and you get a lot of memories.

All right, that's all for now. I gotta gas up and drive to our rendezvous point. We'll be taking two cars (mine and James'), and we'll be staying in a hotel whose name escapes me at the moment. a 6-hour drive to the city with the south's worst traffic lies ahead of me... should be great.

More to come

PS -- We'll be performing at 10:10 p.m., which is roughly the same time TSF will take the stage tonight in the Orange & Brew at UF for their Gator Nights show. Break a leg guys -- I'll call you afterward to see how it went!