"How do you do that . . . ?"
One of the most frequent comments we get after our shows is . . . “how do you do that?” Our audiences are interested in which parts of the show we know about in advance and which parts we don’t. So we thought we’d take you behind the curtain for bit, and share a show with you on video.
Most actors rehearse and perform scripts. Improv actors rehearse and perform forms (or formats). A form is a sequence of performed events, and that’s what we practice and memorize - a sequence of events. A script is also a sequence of events, but with a script what happens in those events is predetermined. Not so with improv.
SUZANNE ANDERSON AND KAITLIN CHIN IN AN IMPROV SCENE AT BRIGHT INVENTION REHEARSAL
Our form is a called The Sun and its Planets. It is unique to Bright Invention, and it was developed over a year or so, led by Artistic Director Benjamin Lloyd. It follows one central relationship through three “acts”, as the pair in that relationship evolve and meet some interesting and occasionally hilarious people along the way. That central scene is “the Sun scene”. The other actors who appear around it are “the Planets.”
Here is the Sun and its Planets sequence every member of Bright Invention knows by heart:
SUZANNE ANDERSON AND KAITLIN CHIN IN AN IMPROV SCENE AT BRIGHT INVENTION REHEARSAL
BENJAMIN LLOYD AND SHEA SONSKY IN AN IMPROV SCENE AT BRIGHT INVENTION REHEARSAL
Sun scene act 1 (actors A & B)
Dueling monologues (actors C & D)
Sun scene act 2 (actors A & B)
Dueling monologues (actors E & F)
Sun scene act 3 (actors A & B)
Final monologues ( actors ? & ?)
Ideally we have six actors for this form (we can do it with four): two as the Sun scene, and four as the Planets. The content of the form is inspired by a conversation we have with our audience before we begin. We perform this form again and again . . . and we’ve never done the same show twice!
Now here's what we don’t know before we perform The Sun and its Planets:
which of us will be the Sun scene and which of us will be the Planets.
who the characters will be in the Sun scene, how they are connected, where they are, and what they are working out together.
who the characters will be in the Sun scene, how they are connected, where they are, and what they are working out together.
who the Planet characters are, when/if they will appear in the Sun scenes, and what they do or talk about.
who will do the first dueling monologues and who will do the second dueling monologues and who they will be and what they will talk about.
Want to learn more? Consider joining us this summer for our Summer Improv Jam on Thursday nights!
Meanwhile - here’s a video of The Sun and its Planets as performed on April 6th, 2019. It features Benjamin Lloyd, Kiersten Adams, Aimee Goldstein, Eric Walker Jr., Shea Sonsky, Bob Stineman and Suzanne Anderson.
