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Death and Life was a theme in Bogota.

Ahhhhhh Bogota Colombia. My time has ended here but the memories give birth to inspiration and new ideas. The International festival featured individuals from Germany, Argentina, Colombia and Canada.

One of my fondest memories was the show on Friday night.

If you have never heard an audience truly  connected in varied states of emotional reaction then you haven’t really felt the power that improvisation has.  There were moans of sadness, screams of anger, oceans of laughter and other varied pockets of emotions for the show. It’s everything an improvisation group would hope for.

The audience left with big smiles and a warm glow. Many audience members stayed behind to meet the cast and hang out with each other at the front entrance of the theatre. Creating the environment where people don’t want to leave means they will likely return.

On stage an Improviser comes up with an idea.  IT’S A GREAT IDEA!  But… the story on stage changes and no longer fits with the story in the improvisers mind.  The greedy improviser holds on to his personal vision and the scene dies.  The smart improviser kills his idea to make room for the birth of the new story.

One of the nice elements in the show was the balanced fight for the integrity of the scene versus the playful nature of the improvisers. It’s exciting when there is danger that the whole train might go off the tracks and over the edge of mayhem but it is pulled back just in time.

The improvised play where a man battles death and finally embraces it after a long battle had the audience emotionally engaged on many levels. Equally engaging was the gibberish play in Japanese Gibberish of a man looking for the meaning of life and finding it in love only to lose it and find it again in death.

The audience was given the choice to see the ending of just ONE of the two plays above.  They wouldn’t alow that choice to exist.  They yelled until they saw both.

During one of the workshops, one of the students came to an understanding that Improvisation can be more than gags and cheap laughs. He asked how they could re-train their audience to see the worth of a complete meal of improvisation where they had become used to evening of just candy.

I suggested they shouldn’t be scared to kill their audience.

By working towards what would inspire themselves to grow, they might lose some audience members but would eventually gain a crowd that would come back more healthy week after week after week for something that fed them on many levels rather than something that became predictable.

The Theatresports match on Thursday was a great learning experience for the audience and cast. The show built slowly and in a perfect arc that shows should have. The audience went from passive theatre watchers, to people who yelled at judges and cheered for their favourite performers.

Seeing people who have never performed before bravely risk standing on stage,  giving birth to what will hopefull be long lives of stage improvisation was a pleasure.

In the note session after the show there was some comment from people feeling they didn’t get enough time on stage.  In the discussion that followed  I hope that there was a realisation that the show was for the audience. Where the performers can kill their ego and fear to enhance the audience experience, then the improvisers will have grown to a stronger state.

Everyone involved in Lagata’s international Impro festival felt a sense of loss at the end at the same time they felt gifted with the tools of new inspiration to create new and equally inspiring work.

Now it’s done. What comes next?

For me…  Peru.

Here I am in Bogota Colombia.    I’m playing with the improvisers here in workshops and a festival set up by LA GATA.  Nice nice people…

Latin Americans have a very nice quality about them.  Warm and spicy – yum.  It’s interesting hanging out with them to see how they socialize in a way that’s different from Europeans, Asians and North Americans.

Sure it’s a generalization but they seem to be willing to let moments become whatever the moment wants to be.  More often than not you will be sitting around these Colombians and hear passion and laughter but when that evolves into ‘calm nothing-ness’, there’s no panic to protect the social moment from ‘boredom’ or awkwardness.  It’s all ok.

On stage, improvisers panic when the scene and show hit the quiet moments.  We shouldn’t.  In the natural quiteness that comes in the varied states of our being why don’t we calmly accept the state and not force what is not there?  

There are a couple people in the workshops who fill all the moment all the time with all the ‘energy’ they can.  What we get is a white noise hiss of sound.  No chance to breathe, relax, sit back and take things in.

On stage, try being a little Latin.  Fill your life with passionate expression but, equally embrace calm presence.  Be aware of what the moment offers.  Be aware of what state your partner is in and let the moment guide you honestly…

This Sunday at the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, Canada a group of improvisers will get together for a good cause. They will hold a benefit performance to aid in the rebuilding of The Court Jesters home in Christchurch, New Zealand.

If you remember, Feb 22, 2011, Christchurch was devastated by an earthquake that killed many and destroyed a large chunk of the city.

The Jester’s home at the Court Theatre (http://www.courtjesters.co.nz/) didn’t survive the quake.

Emma Cusdin, a member of the Jesters, had been living in Calgary and exploring the Loose Moose when she had the idea to put some spontaneous entertainment together to raise cash and bring the plight of her home back to the public’s attention.

We hear about the initial devastation and then we move on to the next sexy disaster, forgetting about those still in the messes of Earthquakes, famine, disease and any other disaster.

Improvisers are in a perfect position to help those in need.  We can mobilize quickly and adapt to almost any condition to put on a show that people will willingly come to.

It’s a common belief that performers are generally a self centered bunch, happy to get their time on stage and complain when their dressing room is missing a stocked bar.  We know this isn’t true (of everyone).  But it is a little surprising at how rarely we donate a show, a moment or a piece of our time and talent for a good cause.

Consider an idea being developed at the moment at the Loose Moose.  “Thursdays for a Cause”.  One day of the month would be given to a cause to aid in benefitting the community at large. In reality it takes little effort on the theatre’s side because the benefitting organization will take up the administration and the performers just need to drop in for a couple of hours and entertain.

There is a movement growing that looks at the win/win mentality of idealistic partnerships in the corporate world.  Altruism is not all that it appears to be.  When we give to others, the obvious outcome is a financial boost to a needy group and a focus of attention on their cause.

The unseen benefits include a broadening of the theatre’s audience base. (Consider the massive mailing list that the Cancer foundation or Alzheimer’s society advertises their programs to.)

There’s also the media possibilities as your company benefits from the ‘altruistic’ connection you are creating. There are other hidden benefits that make this more than a “freebie” but in fact turn it into a beneficial marketing venture.

And in the end, the idea of building a strong relationship with the community will only benefit you in the long run.

“Improv Meets Autism”  was a successful  fund-and-awareness raising Improvisational event put together by two German improvisers Christiane and Deniz Döhler whose son Luka has autism.  http://www.artistsmeetautism.org/English/index.html

Reading about the SonRise Program which had great success with autistic children, Christiane and Deniz noticed that the program had similar qualities as improvisation; support, seeing offers and adding to them.

“After having overcome an initial shyness, I started by telling one workshop participant about the parallels between the pro-gram and improv and she immediately volunteered to come and play with our child. Two months later, it was ten improv players and we always explained the program in improv lingo. We kept looking for appropriate improv games and techniques that could help us reach our goal. And Luka’s development skyrocketed.

Search the internet and you will find numerous improvisation groups tackling issues and concerns to make the world a brighter place for everyone. Consider reaching out and offering your skills to a cause.  You might discover that your own benefit is greater than the expense.

There’s a final note about the Christchurch fundraiser.  Unexpectantly,  Emma’s father passed away a few days ago and Emma was on the first flight home.  She tossed in the towel for the benefit show.  There was too much to do and she understandably wanted to be near her family.

Before her plane set down in her home of Christchurch, a group of improvisers in Canada had already taken up her cause.  The show will go on for Christchurch.  Take care Emma.

On September 26 in Bogota, Colombia, the fast and physical La Gata will be hosting a mini international festival with Nadine Antler from Germany and Shawn Kinley from Canada.  For 10 days we will play and perform in a slightly different kind of a get together.

What we usually expect from an improvisation festival is a partyfest of shows, groups and get togethers, with a smattering of workshops.  I don’t mind these things but I always leave feeling like I didn’t meet everyone I wanted to, nor did I get enough time with the people I met.  On top of that, where some festivals program so many shows on top of each other, you rarely get to see everyone work… especially when groups perform only once or twice.

LaGata’s get together will be focussed a little more on the mixing and sharing of ideas, concentrating on the relationship of fewer people. 

In 2010, the Loose Moose hosted a similar event at “The Summit”.  It was a two week event with La Gata and Teatre Isenkram from Oslo, Norway.  It was great.

The focus was on exploration and workshops.  Keith Johnstone was in for a couple of days and we all hosted days of workshops with each other.

The thing I like about these gatherings is that you  get to play with each other.  You learn some skills and you get to work with each other multiple times on stage.

In a reality of increasing costs for flights and accommodation, this might be a reasonable alternative to the multi-group events that see each group perform only once or twice per visit.