Bet you didn’t know there was a BADEN.  Unless you’re Swiss.  Most people think of Baden Baden.  I think the people there thought it would make them ttwice as good to have the name twice…  No… I don’t think that.

That’s insane.

3 Swissies and 1 Canuck were on stage on April 8 in a little Swiss bar turned into a little Swiss theatre.  Probably 100 Happy Swiss folk came to see us on a lovely spring night.  Only 6 reservations to start and then they came in like air through the holes in Swiss cheese.

Something interesting happens when people feel pressure.  They lose their abilities – piece by piece.  Maybe it was me that put pressure on the gang or maybe it was the staring eyes of the foreieign audience.  No, wait, that can’t be it.  I was the foreigner.  It was my fault.

Michele set up a “speed dating” game.  Character’s were given a short time to meet each other, afterwhich  they would be tagged out and two other characters would get to know each other.  It went through about 8 rounds of pairs.  EVERY ONE was NEGATIVE NEGATIVE NEGATIVE…

“I hate this place”

“You look like an idiot…”

I finally gave a very direct onstage note.  I sat down with Andy and in character said, “I’ve been to these speed dating things so many times in the past and it amazes how NEGATIVE everyone is.  It seems like the place where you would want to be a pleasant person”.  The audience laughed because they knew what was going on.  I heard Michele in the back making a sound like she recognized what I was doing and recognized they had been negative.

So those two characters went to a positive state.  The audience liked them BUT someone tagged Andy out and the audience went “ohhhhh” because they wanted to see more.  The next character  started going weird and negative so I stood up and said, I think there’s someone over here I would rather be with.  And that’s how it ended.  And the audience laughed because that’s where they would have gone too.

On stage notes are interesting.  Probably should only be used as a last resort to clarify and find connection I think.  But sometimes… they are so necessary.

Hi,

Welcome to IMPRO WORLD TOUR.  It’s about Shawn Kinley’s ongoing improvisation touring around the world.

At present I visit about 20 – 30 cities a year around the little globe of ours.  (sorry about the carbon footprint – Really!  I’ve been buying those carbon offset things… if that helps).  If you are interested in personal information about Shawn, got to SHAWNKINLEY.COM.  There you will find various info and the bloggedy blog blog stuff.

Here… visit the groups I’ve been with.  Read (if you are interested) about improvisation in Japan, Norway, Canada and wherever else the plane lands.

Any questions?  Drop me a note and I would be happy to drop one back at you!

Have a good day!  And, good improvising.

Shawn

Shawn Kinley, will facilitate 2 impro workshops in Rome.Early in the 1980′s, already performing mime, mask work and physical theatre in various countries, Shawn stumbled into the world famous Loose Moose Theatre in Canada, becoming one of the most appreciated and inspiring performers and teachers at the Moose.

The 2 workshops will focus on improvisation techniques. More details will follow.
…

Workshop 1
Class one will look at getting into a physical state for improvisers. We will cover such elements as Gibberish, Contact Improvisation, Stage fight, Mime and Cartoon Mime. We will look at techniques that trick the body into becoming active when there is a tendency to stop and get stuck in talk. We will use the body to inspire the mind into better ideas and give the audience greater variety and enthusiasm for our work.

Dates: December 10th-12th 2010
Where: Rome

Workshop 2
Class two will approach the mind of the improviser. We will look at such things as inspiration through stress and removing of stress, breaking the rules to make the scenes better, exercises on how to think about our partner and make stronger connections and inspired reactions. There are specific ways our brain gets in the way of our doing this work. Improvisation should be easy. We will work on clearing the path our mind has cluttered with fear, pre-conceived ideas and ‘intellectual-isms’. We will be doing exercises that make you feel the fun and not think about it.

Dates: December 17th-19th 2010
Where: Rome

Per info e prenotazioni tonisan@gmail.com

The Impro World Tour site has been down for a while.  If you are interested in why it’s been down, check here.

http://www.shawnkinley.com/2010/09/02/be-nice/

If you aren’t interested, I understand FULLY.  If you are interested in improvisation then look around here.  As informations starts flooding back into these pages, look for stories from the global improvisation scene, games, exercises, workshops, opinions, and other bits, and bites of improvisational ‘stuff’.

Currently I am in Germany and need to update the site about the travels to England and SHOTGUN Impro as well as work in Germany with a variety of improvisers include the Kaktussen in Wuerzburg Germany.

Talk to you soon,

Shawn