So, this happened on Twitter yesterday:
I think those of us who are already “plugged in” take for granted how hard it is for someone new to the scene to get a group together. If I want to, I’m spoiled for choice, but it took some time to get here. Most of the people I started practicing with were not classmates. You would likely never have heard of me if I hadn’t been a regular at Improdome. I never would have been a regular if I didn’t used to live so close to the PIT; I had a day job.
If “interviewing” isn’t acceptable, what’s the right way to do it? Sitting in for a practice is great, if you can afford to spend the time and money. What’s wrong with wanting to talk to the person first, to get an idea if you get along or not?
I know it’s just Twitter, where the goal is to fit as much snark as you can in 140 characters or fewer. But it’s unfair pass judgment on interviewing, or any idea, if you don’t have a better idea to offer.
Because an interview - by its nature - involves judgment. Not the “comfort-level” judgment involved with seeing how you feel playing with someone but a cold, calculated, impersonal judgment born from a created situation that bears almost NO resemblance to what the improv experience is like.
I miss the sloppy, inclusive, coming-of-age, coming-into-our-own that should automatically come with PRACTICE groups. You’re not forming a team. You’re leaning together. Not cool.
I suspect lots of new students simply don’t know the norms. I think interviewing people is silly, but I’m sure it’s not silly to someone who knows literally nothing about how practice groups are formed.
I didn’t even know about practice groups until 401. My first “practice group” was more like open practice sessions: everyone could invite anyone, all our classes got open invitations, and we assumed most people would show up sporadically. And nobody knew that wasn’t the norm. When some of us talked about starting a “real” group and maybe performing someday, it seemed like a HUGE step— like it was time to stop dicking around and start taking things seriously.
There’s no handbook. Interviews would be obnoxious coming from people who know better, but if they don’t, I guess it’s as good a guess as any.
I knew about practice groups when I first started out. You practiced with your class in between classes. That’s what it used to be.
I don’t remember knowing about performance teams until 2007? And I was taking classes at UCB since 2004. And it was two years after my first 600. I didn’t hang out at McManus at all. I used to go to the class then leave, watch a show and then leave, or do my show at UCB and leave. Ask Pat Baer. Pat was the only person who knew me because of a 600 we did together and I knew I could find him working in the booth and say hi or he would find me and say hi. It wasn’t until I started interning that I hung out and then through that found out about indie teams. I swear I didn’t know the names of any harold team or weekend team performers until I hung out (Besides the teachers I had).
I think you are all like, “Interviews?! What the fuck?” so quickly. But I agree with Hal. I probably would have gone to an interview in 2006. I probably would have thought you had to audition to be in a practice group that performs. If I was starting a practice group that performs back then, I wouldn’t have known anyone and done auditions. Sure, I met people from my classes but after the classes were over those practice sessions were over. And I was basically a ghost anyway so it’s not like a person could talk to me to ask me or I could go up to a person and ask them, or they would even remember me.
I think it’s completely understandable how that situation happened.
1 month ago • 31 notes
