Student Matinee

As I'm typing this the Big 3 are in Washington D.C. clamoring for cash, expounding why they just need a little fix till the next big score.  Yeah.  This is to the tune of 34 Billion.  I don't know another industry that gets rewarded for a complete lack of innovation/priorities/aesthetics/pragmatism.  You could argue the Banking Industry was more aloof/greedy what have you, but American cars, for the most part, are complete balls.  

So we had the penultimate class of the term @ Second City, and, for having 12 (out of 13, which is too much) students there, vying for time, it was, for the most part, harmonious.  My sketch--husband and wife @ marriage counseling while the therapist incisively plots to bang the bride--went over very well, and far more interesting was the pulling-it-out-of-my-ass-ness while still nailing the fundamentals of the whole thing.  I suppose it's a sign of experience now, but this sketch was so close to not even happening...Arguing with my EX, and the whole still having palpable feelings for her hacked a wedge into my day once again.  When this happens it's nearly impossible for me to concentrate--even worse than my normal ADD.  But the skit was good, and we're almost there.  The final assignment is taking a trigger (meaning idea for a sketch, derived from pretty much anything) from a dream--which I think is pretty lame, and I already did a sketch about someone dreaming @ a sleep-test facility, but if I've learned anything (and I have) this term it's not to take the trigger lightly, or the source at least.  The next class (writing 4) is all rewrites, segueing into the show we put on in writing 5--a full-on revue--and we (the more talented of the group) are ready for it.  Even better: two of the more irritating/poor writers of the class are not continuing.  Score!  One of them, a blowhard to blow all hard, somehow offended gay men and all asians in one solid half an hour.  His sketch was actually so bad it created this twilight zone-esque time-vacuum where I pondered the power of something as jarring and cyanide-pill inducing as poor-writing can be--it's really an untapped comic resource.  In my upcoming Terrain Vague (a semi-autobiographical/fictional take on my life) script I really want to include a scene of poor sketches read, and exploit them for their comedic gold.

After class, my two closest friends from the program and I discussed pitching our own revue sometime next year @ Donny's Skybox Stage--totally feasible and vast potential for something really awesome.  And this medium--sketch comedy show (revue)--is the medium I enjoy most on stage, I've not really the boner for improv that some of my peers possess.

Even more serendipitous, we have a full Month Off  after our final class next week.  Apartment Hunting is a sure thing, more so in tandem with the first week of January free and clear from any soul-sucking restaurant work.  The Gauntlet is totally thrown down--yay!