Workshop Day 10 - This is the End and the Beginning.

This is it, Day 10. Our final day with Keith. Up early and packing, heading down for our final breakfast. Out of the room by 9AM. The day is beautiful, like it has been for the past week. I've tried not to do too much processing while I'm here. I'm absorbing. I will have time when I'm home to process my notes. I'm not usually a big note taker, but in order to keep this blog I had to have some reference point. After hearing Keith speak that first day I knew that I had to record his views. I hope that these posts have been useful. I'm not sure how many people are reading, but I'm interested to know what you think. If you're curious about what I'm writing, about the experience I had with Keith, then sign up for the workshop I'm hosting at City Theatre this fall. I'm going to give a straight up review of the highlights of my journey. I will do this by using the dynamics of the group to impart techniques for successful story telling, relationship building and spontaneity. But that's the future. Right now we prepare to exit. I tell you I would follow this man around the world. His basic tenets are obvious and extremely practical. I should know all these things. I do, deep in my bones, but life and crisis and ego have clouded my vision. What a perfect thing it would be to have a pocket Keith there to remind me of the obvious. In my circle of probability being a Keith-Head is not practical, so I rely on the hope that I have absorbed enough of the obvious to take home with me. I truly look forward to sharing this process. For the last two days Erik van der Liet, Frank Totino and a boy named Honus (like our very own Honus Wagner, he didn't know who he was...) have been filming Keith as he teaches. In turn we have been filmed too. What a thing to be forever connected with Keith's work. An honor. This last class was wonderful. There was a great ease about everybody, as if we'd come through together, successfully, an ephiphany. Keith asked us what we wanted to do for the last class. I was determined to play the two games that had plagued me most during this process, "What Comes Next?" and "The Hat Game." I believe all these games can be found in Keith's books, Impro and Impro for Storytelling. Group "what comes next?" is challenging because there are so many people thinking on stage. Usually the game is played with two people. The hope is to stop thinking and give the other person exactly what they want and by proxy tell an interesting story. The group struggled with both versions. Keith suggests playing this game everyday, even if alone. This is what children do all the time. They are natural story tellers. Adults edit too much and want to tell the best story every time. Kids's stories are always the best because that's not their purpose; to be the best. They just create worlds without judgement. We failed, we succeeded. But, that's not the point. We try. We move forward. We understand how we got in our own way. We try again without trying. The result is not important. Who cares? It is the practice. The doing. I have been so blessed. This gift will feed me for a long time to come. I leave here a different person than when I arrived. Keith has taught me so much. A wonderful person, an inspiration, a gift to the theatre world. Thank you Keith, wherever you are. I hope that we meet again. And finally Keith's words: Stop being proud and arrogant to rid yourself of fear. You need a bad scene occasionally. Bad scenes allow the audience to see that improv is difficult and that you’re practicing an art form. It is deeply embarrassing if you do a bad Life Game as the person is there. If you’re trying to honor your guest you will have a successful Life Game Life is continually teasing us just to fuck us up. You have to get the bad stuff out of you. Ask yourself “what would be the easiest thing to write?” The ask yourself “why aren’t you writing that?” If it spews out of you it’s coming from somewhere deep and it will be of use to you. If it’s painfully gotten it’s of no use to us. Get out of your own way so that something better is able to arrive. Whenever I’m really conscious I’m thinking about people’s opinion of me. The trick is not to do your best. Try to find whatever’s easiest. Try to find the obvious. It has to be you on the stage. Nothing, nothing, nothing is not boring. Improv is drama, not documentary. Creativity is easier than everyone thinks. Everyone is taught to be clever. What a pity. Creativity and cleverness is not the same thing. If I’m stuck without an idea I’m really suppressing what I don’t think I want to do. You can’t help but to project onto people. Sometimes if you do nothing you have a lot more power. Lack of physical action is sometimes more interesting. Think without thinking. You can have thinking without planning. Be attentive. Spontaneity is a state of trance. In trance there is no stage fright. The voice and the head STOP. Verbal thinking. If you do your best, you’ll get some form of stage fright. Be obvious. If you believe you’re good already, you don’t need to do extra stuff to impress us. Your best work comes when you’re absorbed; because then your ego is away. Lunch. Our last meal together. Then we go back home to all over the world. Sergio to Madrid to perform in an International Improv festival before heading back to Chile. Bill, back to Germany to apply these teachings to his business. Gabrielle, to see his brother in France and friends all over Europe before he gets back Chile again. Frans, to Holland where he already has a ton of workshops lined up. Keith (the student) to France to play MacBeth. Stef, to Belgium and his applied improv company. Pita back to Brazil to finish her PhD (dissertation on Keith's teachings.) Regina and Matthais off into the sunset? To Austria, Canada, California, Turkey, Denmark and Home we go. Me, I go to Copenhagen with Mia, where she's a writer, director and journalist. She's amazing. She's going to show me the city. Pittsburgh, I'll be home in 51 hours.