SCRIPT TEASE: 5 QUESTIONS WITH NAOMI SNIECKUS
Posted by KATHERINE HOLLAND at 7:31 am
May 28th, 2012
The Script Tease Project is returning to Toronto after slaying last year. The concept: 10 writers write the first two pages of a play, and these three poor suckers (Matt Baram, Naomi Snieckus, Ron Pederson) have to improvise the rest live on stage.
This sounds like the single best comedy show idea ever.
So clearly as there are 10 writers, there are also 10 shows. Make sure you're in one of them.
As a lover of all things improv, and former Second City Improv student, I had to pick Naomi's brain before she went on:
1.)
It's been a year since the last script tease project. Do you feel like
you're truly going in cold, or do you have some tricks to keep you
sharp?
Yes
that’s true, it’s been a year since we’ve done this format but the only
planning that goes into this from a creative point of view for us is
keeping our improv chops up during the year. We just got back from
Berlin where we improvised with artists from all over the world, we do
The Carnegie Hall Show at Second City on the first Friday of every
month, and we guest regularly on other people’s shows. The best trick
we have is to plan nothing. Let the playwrights tell us where they want
to go in their two pages. If we try and plan something, the audience
will know. They’ll sniff it out and then we’re really doomed.
2.) 5 minutes to curtain... Do you feel like high fiving, or throwing up?
Usually
about 5 hours before a performance I have this unpleasant feeling in my
stomach like I’m going to be sick. But by about 2 minutes into the
show, I feel like high fiving. But I usually save that for after the
show. I don't want to confuse the boys.
3.) Top 5 favourite words to incorporate into a scene.
- Hello
- Yes
- No
- WAIT!
- Goodbye
4.) When a scene is totally falling apart, I immediately...
Make my scene partner explain in detail what they think is going on in the scene.
5.) For all the bonfire parties, long bus rides, and awkward blind dates, what improv game stands the test of time?
Freeze
tag (or Switch) in which two people start a scene and at any given
moment, someone else claps their hands and yells “Freeze” or “Switch”.
The two improvisers freeze as the new player replaces one of them,
assumes their exact physical position, and then takes they scene in a
totally new direction while justifying that physical position and
incorporating it into the new scene.
The shows run until June 3rd at Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave.
For tickets, go here.
xo Holland
Photo: May Truong
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| NTOW_SCRIPT.jpg | 74.41 KB |
Categories:
