Eileen Tumlin is a performer, show director, and teacher with Synergy Theater. Ed Schriger is a fellow student. We talk about their starts in improv, their challenges, and where they hope improv with Synergy Theater will take them in the future. We may have different ideas about creating believable characters, but we agree that we create the best characters when building on each others' ideas.
And Synergy Theater has big news!
The Vukasin Theater inside the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California is where Synergy Theater performed full-length improvised plays before the Lesher shut its doors, temporarily, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I talk with General Manager Scott Denison about the history of the Vukasin Theater, its possible future when the Lesher reopens, and Scott's own view in bringing us all back to in-person theater. ...
What is it about villains that we like so much? How do we overcome the instinct to deny our guilt and plead our case when being painted as a villain in a scene? What role does status play in the hero-villain relationship? These are the themes that Arastoo Darkashan, Reggie Harris, and I have fun discussing. Arastoo is a regular performer with Synergy Theater, and also pursues acting, writing, and music. Reggie uses what he learns in Synergy Theater classes in his professional voiceover work. Reggie's company, Better Together, offers coaching on how to use improv principles in on-the-job settings. The truth is, every good dramatic story needs a villain. Get in touch with your dark side, in service to the story, with Reggie and Arastoo! ...
In this long-overdue episode, Kat, Maggie, and I discuss how Kat became a highly-successful Improv practioner and owner of an Improv theater house with a colorful past. Maggie describes what its like to be loved and snubbed by her favorite Improv partner - her cat. This episode, with all its unexpected and unintended moments, was so good that I had to make it a two-parter! Please enjoy! For your reference: Deifinition of a "preist hole" Maggie from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Improv College of Montreal The Mopco Improv Theatre koppett.com More links and contact info to follow in Part 2! ...
