fandomtownies | Improv Class, The Boards, Thursday Evening

Entry tags:

Improv Class, The Boards, Thursday Evening

"Good evening," Jono greeted from where he was standing on the stage once it seemed like everybody who was going to show up had arrived. "This week, we're going to play a game where you and your partner only get a minute on the stage, and in that minute, one of you has to die."

It was, perhaps aptly, called, "Death In A Minute." Ah, Improv.

"Now, different groups play this one in different ways," he continued, "some of them ending their instructions just like that, and leaving it up to players to choose whether their untimely demises are humourous, serious, or utterly mad. Others pick a setting or a prop, and their character's death has to be tied in to that. The goal here today will be to make your deaths purely accidental. Take a page from the Darwin Awards, if you will, and don't be afraid to be completely ridiculous. You'll be given a prop per pair - not really, just to mime out, because I don't want you actually braining your partner with a bowling ball or something - and you'll have to involve that prop, somehow, in the unfortunate demise of your choosing."

[Open! And it probably goes without saying that there will be make-believe pretend death in the comments of this post, but I'll slap that warning on here anyhow!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a wonder, really, that Jono hasn't gone broke supplying pastries, coffee, and tea for you all, yet.

Karina showed up, half wondering if she shouldn't given the way she kept missing rehearsals. This was basically handing Jono a chance to scold her on a platter and Karina wasn't too keen on that.

Like, not even remotely.

Today she was actually drinking coffee (which she thought was vile and nasty even though it was probably perfectly good coffee to anyone else) in order to stay awake long enough to participate in class.

This whole Fandom-to-Sternbild-to-Fandom thing was exhausting even before she added in the Heroing obligations. With them, it was a wonder that she wasn't asleep on her feet. Instead she was just mostly asleep and clutching her coffee like a lifeline.

Edited 2013-02-21 12:45 (UTC)

"Jack lives?" Jono was clinging to his own coffee as he stepped up to greet Karina, a slight smile on his face. "We missed you at rehearsal last night, luv."

Judging by how exhausted she looked, she probably had a reason for that.

Oh crap. Crap. Was she in trouble? If she was... okay, she deserved it. Though he was smiling, which was vaguely encouraging since he didn't strike her as one of those jerks that smiled right before ripping into people verbally.

Karina clung a little tighter to her coffee, wished she was more awake for this, and tried to find words. He was going to want an explanation, wasn't he?

"Wasn't my idea?" Karina said apologetically. "Some stuff came up back home."

A bank heist and then she'd been railroaded into an interview followed by a late night talk show and then, just when she'd thought she could sleep, she'd gotten another Hero call and after that, a photoshoot.

All of which she'd nailed, which was nice, but not the point. Being a Hero was busy. Being a Hero who was only in the city now and then was even harder because she had no time to breathe and yet was still expected to rack up the points.

"Stuff has a funny way of doing that," Jono replied, looking still vaguely amused. Still, he supposed he should say something that at least vaguely resembled a reprimand. "But perhaps next time you'll be absent, you could give me a call and let me know? You are one of our two leads, luv. Rehearsing is rather difficult without you, and we've only got two more before show night."

A beat.

"Please be here on show night."

Ugh. Now she felt guilty and awful on top of being tired. Karina grimaced. It was tempting to whine but whining would lead to talking and... she was okay with not talking.

He didn't seem to want details! She could work with that.

"I'll do my best," she said, swallowing another bit of coffee. "I mean, I'll be there." Hopefully. If random chance and criminals were kind. Except that criminals weren't in the first place. Her head was muddled today for sure. "I, um, have my lines down, at least?"

She was pretty sure they were supposed to be off script by now. She was!

"That is reassuring," Jono decided, nodding faintly. "Karina, luv, are you having some sort of trouble back home?"

This was the second time in a month that she'd missed something because she had to go back there for something at the drop of a hat, after all. It was slightly worrisome.

Oh Jono, why did you have to spring that one her just when she'd gotten her hopes up about not getting pressed for answers?

Karina dropped her eyes to stare at her hands while her stomach and her nerves squirmed with horrible discomfort. She loathed lying but there was no way she was telling the truth.

... Wait. Maybe she didn't have to lie?

So Karina shrugged her shoulders and gave him solemn, troubled eyes and said softly, "I don't want to talk about it, if that's okay? I'm sorry. I appreciate you asking."

Let him assume what he would. That was totally better, right? Her conscience thought so anyway.

Oh, Karina. You sneaky, terrible girl. Jono looked worried for a moment, but only a moment, before he nodded and took another mouthful of his coffee. Totally casually.

Sad Girl Eyes, damn it.

"Well," he ventured, "if at any point there's anything at all that I can do, luv, just let me know. I'm usually about."

She definitely was sneakier than most people would give her credit for. Besides, this way it would be super easy to keep her story straight, which was all for the better.

And she didn't have that many people at Fandom, yet, who Karina thought would care. It was sort of sad, since she missed her friends back home, but also easier. She appreciated that.

None of that showed on her face though, because like hell was she going to break role that easily and be caught out. Her shoulders slumped a bit, in relief, and she nodded. "I promise," she said, "if there's anything... I'll remember that you offered."

Still not lying.

Remembering wasn't at all the same thing as taking a person up on that offer, but Jono didn't bother pointing that out. He suspected that she was well aware of as much.

"Good," he said, instead, giving her a little nod. "Thank you, Karina."

"It's the least I can do," she said, smiling slightly at him. "I really am sorry that I keep missing rehearsal."

"Well, please do try to keep me informed in the future," Jono replied, sighing a little, and then frowning. "It's near-impossible to rehearse without you, luv. If I'd known you'd be gone so much, I might've given you a more understated role. I wouldn't like it, though. You definitely belong on a stage."

There. That was about as close to scolding as he could manage. And he was looking apologetic the whole time.

"Our next rehearsal is Sunday after this one coming. If you can't be there, I don't know what I'll do. You've missed all of the blocking for the second act as it is."

I'm not going to slap a thread-length limit on these things because you guys are hilarious and I want to read what you have to write for forever. Is that wrong of me? I don't care.

Pair off, draw an imaginary prop from the top hat, and then get up there and one of you die, already.

Possible Props:

A box of crayons
A single roller skate
A lava lamp
A shiny penny
A cat scratching post
A tennis racket
A push-up bra

Or come up with your own!

Karina had... a shiny penny. She tossed it back and forth in her hands as she looked around for a partner.

Was the penny a murder weapon? Another victim? (Because surely even pennies could be victims, right? Okay, that was probably nonsense but nonsense was allowed in this class so whatever.) Or a secret heirloom?

... Or all three? Because that, clearly, made the most sense.

It's possible that at least one of them was feeling slightly sadistic today.

Jono was sitting in the front row whenever he wasn't up on stage, drinking coffee.

Which, by this point, was probably not a surprise to anybody.

True story: This was always one of my favourites in junior high school drama class. In retrospect I realize this might be because I hated my classmates.

Jerks.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Improv Class, The Boards, Thursday Evening

Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

Re: Arrive/Mingle!

The Stage!

Re: The Stage!

Talk to the Instructors!

Re: Talk to the Instructors!

OOC!