Thank you for being part of this journey, Feral Improviser, a sporadic series of essays where I discover my made-up thoughts on the improviser diaspora. Here, you can agree, disagree, and debate. Truth. Fiction. Semi-Fictional. Does it matter? You tell me.
part 1: FERAL IMPROVISER DEFINED (2 ADD-ONs INCLUDED)
Improvisation is the art of being completely okay with not knowing what the fuck you’re doing. - Mick Napier, The Annoyance Theater
We all begin as a feral improviser - born untamed.
feral (adjective)
of, relating to, or suggestive of a wild beasty
not domesticated or cultivated; having escaped from domestication and become wild
improvise (verb)
to compose, recite, play, or sing extemporaneously
to make, invent, or arrange offhand
to make or fabricate out of what is conveniently on hand
One does improv whether you know it or not. So you might as well know how it works and get better at it. - Marlon Fuentes, Filmmaker and Photographer
Feral improvisers are like feral cats.
Fending for one’s self. Instinctual survival. Boundaryless. Ignorant of social norms and laws of society. Reacting at the moment. Knee-jerk spontaneity.
If cats can be categorized based on their needs and emerging lifestyle, why not improvisers?
Photo by Matt Seymour
Cats’ lifestyles include true feral, street or community, pets, pets that are stray and abandoned, and inbetweener.
“... feral cat that is free-living and survives by hunting and avoiding all contact with people, to the pet cat that is happy to share our homes and company. In between the two ends of this range are cats that live alongside people with varying amounts of contact and different reactions to being near people, from pleasure, to fear and distress.”
That said, perhaps an improviser generally can be categorized based on their lifestyle. As they progress (or regress) through life, they may inhabit different degrees of being feral.
true feral
street or community
theater
indie
applied or implied
Can an improviser inhabit various feral lifestyles at the same time? Can they switch back and forth? Are there other lifestyles yet to be discovered? Yes to all three. (More later in this series)
Below, meet theater improvisers (2014), of which all are no longer theater and are part of the improviser diaspora - street/community, indie, applied/implied.
What kind of improviser are you?
Have you been?
Want to be?
ADD-ON #1 - MEET SOME IMPROVISERS
You may think of improv as a stand-up comedian who does crowd work, a jazz saxophonist riffing tunes with his band, or a soccer player navigating her field to score. Yes, these are improvisers. Let’s meet a few more improvisers.
Wicker Park Chicago’s Margaret’s and Mike’s baby boy who is due in early April 2021 [true feral]
Mark Rebillet - aka “Loop Daddy” - who improvises on his loop station and keyboard, like fully improvising with Erykah Badu and all his signature apartment performances donning his signature robes [new category, yet to be defined]
fr Instagram @kylemac705, Kyle Weber
Musician, artist, and author, Kyle Weber, who improvises musical covers on the piano by ear (sharing on tiktok @pianocoversbyear), along with sharing his original riffs. [indie, applied]
Animated genetically enhanced laboratory mice, Pinky and the Brain, continuously improvising their escape to take over the world [street/community]
Friend and bassist, Ariane Cap, who improvised Bach Me Up on her 6 string Marleaux Consat to amaze her audience [indie]
The television series character, MacGyver, was the ultimate maker of improvised gadgets to escape or thwart danger. He used a paperclip to diffuse a bomb. [applied]
Improvisational hip-hop and freestyle rapper, Anthony Veneziale of Freestyle Love Supreme, teaches freestyle rap 101 with Aneesa Folds, and delights an audience with his improvised TED talk of first-time-seen slides. [theater, indie, applied]
ADD-ON #2 - UNSCRIPTED SKETCH IMPROVISERS, MEET Jill BERNARD
Jill Bernard reminds us, from her Small Cute Book of Improv, that perhaps we can be both indie and feral (IMHO).
“You are your own school of improv. You will spend your formative years becoming a crazy quilt of every teacher you ever have and every book you ever read. Then eventually you will become yourself. You will find your style. You will still collect best practices from everyone and you will still load up your tool belt from wherever you can, but you will be yourself. You will still have weaknesses that you work on, and room to grow, and you will grow. You will have your own rules. You will find others whose schools are compatible with your own and you will build teams together. You will be true to what makes you most happy.” - Jill Bernard, HUGE Theater