Does practice make perfect?

brianglidewell:

benzado:

benjaminapple:

If you take your shows seriously, they can function as practices, right? I don’t mean having a nerve-wracking, “gotta do it right” mindset. But if everyone is bringing their own personal stakes to the show, regardless of whether the venue is free and we’re in front of mostly our friends, they’re going to push themselves to perform at the top of their games.

If you perform once a week, and get notes after every show, then I’d buy the argument that you don’t need an additional practice if you are in maintenance mode. If you’d just doing the same show week to week and not learning anything new, that is a reasonable way to operate.

Fact is, no indie team gets notes after performing (correct me if I’m wrong).  I really don’t think doing shows, even if you take it seriously (difficult to do with the let’s-fuck-around atmosphere at a lot of these shows), can really work as practice.  No exercises, personal or otherwise.  A audience that will be a lot easier on you than a coach ever would be and likely will reward you for quick-laugh moves.  I’m concerned that no-practice groups, fuck-around shows, etc. could possibly lead to a feedback loop in which the bar is continually lowered as far as what “good improv” is.

I feel The Creek is a mixed blessing that way.  While it’s cool that more shows are happening, there’s also literally no stakes, as no money is involved on either side (audience or those running the show).  Don’t get me wrong, I love The Creek.  It’s nearby for me, it’s fun, and my friends are always there.  But golly, does it EVER feel like there’s any consequences for a bad show?  No angry audience for paying for that, no having to pay for low attendance.

Brett’s tumblarity has to be out of control right now.

I’ve had coaches that came to watch and give notes. Especially for SMIRK - Russ comes out every time he can, and it helps enormously.

I take back what I said about shows functioning as practices. I should have said that shows and practices should be closely connected part of the same process, i.e. each practice should be a response both to the previous show and the team’s current trends, just like each line in a scene should yes-and both the previous line and the scene as a whole. If you treat practices as “ho-hum work work time” and shows as “ha-ha play play time,” instead of taking shows seriously, I just don’t think it works.

Blerp blerp blerp.