Pantsuit Improv
Pantsuit Improv are graduates of Bad Dog Comedy Theatre’s Narrative Studio program, with past direction by Etan Muskat (Interim Artistic Director of Bad Dog Theatre) and training with Jess Bryson (Bad Dog Academy Director), Colin Munch (Second City Toronto mainstage), and Sex T-Rex (2016 Second City Award for Best Comedy, Wasteland). Inspired by captivating storytelling, Pantsuit creates comedic performances that mirror current film and television.
Since their acclaimed Narrative Studio graduate show Family Portrait in August 2016 as part of Bad Dog’s Homecoming Week, Pantsuit has performed at the Big City Improv Festival; received an Honourable Mention at the 2016 Blockbuster Week competition; and on Wednesday, May 17th at 9:30pm, Pantsuit headlines the final episode of Spring Binge at Bad Dog Theatre with The Magic-Er School Bus: improvised adventures with Ms. Frizzle’s new class!
Pantsuit Improv is: Hamed Dar, Brittney Drysdale, Tara Federko, Devon Henderson, Christina Nicolaou, Cecilia Serafina, Jackie Twomey, Terris Taylor and Ivan Yuen.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PantsuitImprov/
Twitter: @PantsuitImprov
Instagram: PantsuitImprov
Transcript
Welcome to episode 76 of Stage Worthy, I’m your host, Phil Rickaby. Stage Worthy features conversations in Canadian theatre with artists of all stripes, from actor to director to playwright and more. If you want to drop me a line, you can find Stage Worthy on Facebook and Twitter at StageWorthyPod, and you can find the website at stageworthypodcast.com. If you like the podcast, I hope you’ll consider leaving a comment or rating on Apple Podcasts or Google Music or wherever you get your podcasts.
My guests this week are Jackie Tooney, Tara Friderico, and Ivan Yvonne from Pantsuit Improv. Pantsuit is presenting The Magic or School Bus on Wednesday, May 17th at Toronto’s Bad Dog Theatre. So, Pantsuit Improv.
Yes. So tell me about the name. Where does Pantsuit Improv come from as far as the name goes? So, we were a class at Bad Dog Theatre Company.
In their Narrative Studio. In their Narrative Studio series program. And we had to come up with a form for a grad show.
And at the same time, Bad Dog has their Blockbuster Week, which is a festival for forms that are TV or film related. Action oriented. Yeah.
And so we had two ideas that we really wanted to do, both of them, and one of them was perfect for Blockbuster. And it was Pantsuit. It was, we brainstormed a bunch of ideas.
Someone pitched like a West Wing one that was about walking and talking. And then someone else pitched, I think it was Devin and I, pitched like a, like a Pantsuit-y one. Inspired.
And then someone said the phrase, suits, but with pants. And then we were sold. We were like, it has to be Pantsuit.
So that was the name of our form. Okay. And from that, we got a nod from Bad Dog for during Blockbuster Week, being like honorable mention, just like a wink.
And we’re like, okay, people are starting to like recognize us as Pantsuit. So we just kept the name because it was fun. And low-key feminist.
I’m curious, for somebody who doesn’t come from the improv world, when you say the form, what do you mean? So we came up with a show that was, so sometimes it’ll just be short form, which is like Whose Line Is It Anyway, a bunch of games. Sometimes it’ll be long form, which is scenes can be connected. Characters can come back.
It’s not like you do a scene and then you forget about it. And so we had to come up with an original form. So a show that has a structure or doesn’t have a structure, but has a tone or something.
And so we came up with a basically improvised Veep Meets The West Wing. Okay. And the form is like parameters in which you play.
So there are forms called Armandos, which is someone you’ve probably seen does a monologue. And then the improvisers will improvise around what they’ve heard. Or a Herald, which is a very classic form where you see three scenes like Seinfeld.
So Elaine plot, Jerry plot, and George plot. And then by the end, they’re all crossing over each other in the same location kind of idea. So it’s parameters in which you play and things to shoot for and almost like goals as to how to tell the story in such a way.
I tried to describe it to my co-workers like the content is never the same. But I guess in a way it provides a way for us to know kind of like what world are we in? And, you know, kind of help guides us more than anything else. So you guys came together in a class from a class at Bad Dog.
What was your improv background before that? Or were you completely new to improv? We had a mixed bag. I think we had a lot of and we started with I think 12 people. And now there are eight or nine of us.
So there were people that were in TV and film, I came like my background was music theatre, but then trained in improv. I don’t know if you guys want to speak to you. I did improv and sketch.
So I came from doing stuff at Second City Training Center, and just performing a bunch. I’m kind of a bad dog baby. This is how I got my start in doing classes from drop ins.
And then all the way through to the narrative series. There were a handful of us that had done a crossover from Second City. Like the long form program and the conservatory program.
There’s about five, six, seven of us, eight, eight of us. Current. Oh, so our group is nine.
Yes. So seven, seven of us have done conservatory. There’s nine people in the group? Nine.
Yeah. It’s kind of a big gang. Yeah.
It’s cool because I’m Julie Osborne, who is the artistic director of Bad Dog. She’s currently on Matt leave. So Eitan Muscat is a interim artistic director.
But Julie had said that our group was really good because you don’t see where everyone else is coming from. You don’t really see individually us in shows. It’s not like, oh, that one person is standing out.
She said the nice thing is that it really, truly is an ensemble. And so it’s just, I know how to set up Ivan to get a good story or joke and Tara can set up someone else. So it’s a yeah, it’s a nice community.
It’s definitely like sometimes when we’re all on stage together, I’m like, look at all these people. But it is like, I think even like last night we had our opening show, right? For magic or school bus in its entirety. And it was like, it worked.
Like everyone was there and I don’t feel like people were stepping on each other’s toes. And somehow it came together. I think the vision of how they put together these ensembles for the studio series is, well, the first the process is that they people audition.
And I guess the goal of putting 12 people together is people who can work well together. But I think, you know, even if you ask the people who put us together, they might even be surprised or like really happy to see kind of the result of kind of how we’ve stayed together and really thrived. So it’s been really lucky in that way.
So they put the gang together. You guys don’t like, it’s not like you like, it’s not like choosing teams in like public school. And it’s usually doesn’t work out that well.
I can speak for people that have done the Second City stuff and the Bad Dog. You don’t tend to come away being like, I’m going to work with these people forever. You like them and it’s great, but it’s a learning experience for you to then make your own groups.
So it’s kind of rare. There’s like one group that’s still performing from the conservatory and they’re, they’re a rare group, not Oasis. And then so us there.
Yeah, it’s not the norm. That’s it. And so you guys all come from different, different performing backgrounds.
I’m curious about what, before we get into the magic or school bus and a little more about that, I’m curious about the things, what draws you guys to your various performing? Like you’re from musical theatre and you’re sort of improv and you’re a Bad Dog baby. So what is it that makes, that has made you want to perform? I’m a Bad Dog baby. What has brought you to theatre and performing? I just want to be funny all the time.
I really just want to laugh. So it’s been like a journey to, you get more laughs, the more like honest it is. It’s like going for the joke isn’t the funniest thing usually.
So that’s been a good journey, but I just, I started out wanting to make everyone laugh. And I was good at building off of what other people would say in conversation. And I was bullied as a child.
So I was teased a lot. So then the way to deal with it was I’ll make fun of myself first because then they can’t. And then it was just kind of a mechanism that I kept up with.
Did you want to perform as a child or was that something that you sort of a learned behavior because of the school you’re bullying? I think it was a learned behavior. I got bullied when I was kind of young. I know I was very hammy as a kid.
And I did, I was the lead female role in the school play in grade seven. But I got teased so bad that I just didn’t do it in high school. I had no desire because I played sports.
So I was like, great, I’ll just do that. Even though I loved it and I was obsessed with film and TV. And then I also thought everyone else loved film and TV as much as I did.
And so I was like, that’s not a career. People don’t really do that. And then I realized, oh, I like it more than other people.
Like this is a thing to explore. And then in university, I did very bad in psychology. Was that your major was psychology? For a year because I was like, that’s the right thing to do.
For like family and personal reasons. I was like, yeah, I have an understanding. No, not at all.
I have ADHD. Multiple choice questions were basically the only thing in first year. And I did terribly.
And I had done film studies ever since the first year. And so it was like I subconsciously was like making sure that I could do what I wanted to do. And then I started doing filmmaking.
And then I was like, oh, I like comedy. I want to keep doing comedy. And then I finally took my first Second City class, which was stand up.
So of all the things that you could have chosen at Second City, what was it? Why did you choose stand up? Because improv was full. I was waitlisted. And I kept, I would drive in from Oakville because I was at Sheridan for a postgrad.
And I couldn’t find where to park for the drop in. And I just kept like sucking myself out. So I finally did the drop in.
I loved it. And then they’re like, oh, the class is full. And I was like, I didn’t want to wait any longer.
So I was like, I’m signing up for something right away. Also, I thought because I was funny in real life and just in conversation that maybe that stand up would help. And then I realized I do not like doing stuff by myself.
Too lazy. It’s not as fun. It’s too isolating.
It’s so much better to just riff with a group. Yeah, that’s my life. Cool.
Yeah. Yeah. So the question is, why are we performing at all? What is it that made you want to perform? Why are you drawn? First off, why were you drawn to musical theatre? And then what made you want to switch from that and come go to the improv? Yes.
Yes. To the dark side. Yeah.
So it was this like impulsive thing as a kid, like, oh, I got to perform. But I was shy. I was really shy.
People would be like, sing a song. And I’m like, no, at family functions and stuff. I just don’t like that.
I’m like, please don’t make me sing. But yeah, it was always something that was like, you want to perform, you want to do it. And I initially, I grew up in Saskatchewan.
So I told my parents I wanted to be an actor and they put me in Ukrainian dance. And I was like, thank you so much. This is a step forward, I guess.
It was like some type of platform to perform. And eventually I got into acting. And the only avenue really, because there isn’t really a TV and film industry in Saskatchewan unless you’re creating it yourself.
So the only type of industry you can do there is music theatre, like theatre. And it was like a children’s theatre group that I was a part of. And from there, it was just a series of steps.
You get into this program and you get into this program, you get into this, and then you’re able to audition for Sheridan College Music Theatre, which is where I ended up. Do you remember what it was that made you want to perform? No, I don’t. And I think in some ways, maybe it was a competitiveness.
Like being like, oh yeah, I could do that. I see that. But no, I don’t really know.
Had you seen somebody performing before? I’m always curious about what makes people decide they want to do this. No, there isn’t a particular instance where you’re like, I saw The Wizard of Oz. No, that’s not a thing that happened to me.
Yeah, no. And it was just a series of steps that led to music theatre. And then from there, improv.
Okay, so the switch from music theatre to improv, if it can be called a switch. But what was it that drew you to improv? This is such a bad answer, but it was like a lot of other people being like, try it. Just do it.
I think you’ll be good at it. And it took me so long until I was like, fine. And then I did it and got addicted.
I’m curious, were those people who were telling you you should do it, were they already improvisers? No, they weren’t. They were other theatre performers, like friends that I was in school with. And they were like, you’re funny and you’re good at this.
But it just felt like a split focus at that point. Because Sheridan, the program is very specific and very intensive. And they teach you a lot about how to be a double pirouetting, singing the right note every time, perfect pitch type of performer, which is amazing.
And it definitely leads to a lot of long standing careers for people. But it’s very tunnel vision. So it was hard for me to want to kind of split my focus that way.
And then when I finally did, I was like, I’m never going back. Did you find it difficult to try to split your focus? Yeah, well, it’s that type of thing, too, where you’re working so many things at the same time. And what is it, like master of many, master of none? Jack of all trades.
Jack of all trades, master of none. Like you sometimes start to feel that way. And you’re like, I’m really sucking at this and I’m sucking at this.
So I need to be really good at one thing. But yeah, so it’s been good. And I think what’s amazing about the improv community is that that has led to more opportunities for me as an actor than I think many like varied opportunities and things like that.
And I do a lot more like TV and commercials because I did Second City. And it’s that thing that I thought was going to pigeonhole me, like opened me up to like so many different people. Cool.
Yeah, it was cool. It is cool. Yeah.
Ivan! I feel like I liked performing and just being kind of have attention on me every now and then, I guess. We’re all whores. But I guess I only did like drama for one year in high school.
You know, I did engineering in school. It wasn’t until I guess I met my partner and we wanted to do something fun. And so we did a drop in at Bad Dog.
We had both done improv like once or twice beforehand. But it was just something nice to do together. And so in a way that competitiveness individually, it resonates in that like whatever I do something new and I like it, I really want to be good at it.
And so I guess I always, you know, for the past few years, I wanted to take more classes. I wanted opportunities to get on stage because I think that getting on stage is a chance to really practice those skills that you learn in class. But I think it kind of came more organically to want to perform and I think especially perform with this group, with Pantsuit in particular.
There’s a safety and a comfort there. So yeah, I feel very lucky about that. But yeah, I think this is just something that is just a great part of my life now in a small way.
Can I ask you about, so you took theatre in high school for the one year. Yeah. Was that the, oh I hear it’s a bird chorus.
No, no, I think I was actually interested in it really like because it was optional at that point. You know, I took music in grade nine and in grade nine you kind of have to take an arts course. But in grade 10 I took drama.
So yeah, no, I think I definitely actively or purposefully chose to do that. I don’t know why I didn’t go further because I really enjoyed it. It was really fun.
But then you went into engineering. Was that like, were you being pushed towards engineering? Not necessarily, but I think it was more just practical immigrant choice. You know, like I feel like it’s one of those, you know, I think you go to university to get a job and, you know.
Right, right, psychology. So no, I think, you know, I don’t regret it. I really like my day job, but I think, yeah, there’s a side of me that wants to create and be creative.
So yeah, I think this fulfills it. So before you were, you know, thrown together in the group that became Pantsuit, you’ve taken other classes. Have you been with other groups that didn’t quite gel as Pantsuit, your first group? Yeah, well, when we first did improv, me and my partner Peter, we were in a group that kind of took the foundational courses together.
So I guess in a way that was a group that was kind of together. And we did actually put a student show together at the end of that, which was kind of unique for that level. But no, this is the first group that I’ve been a part of.
So I guess I don’t know any different, but yeah, so it’s cool. So Pantsuit is a group of nine performers who, from what you’re saying, get along pretty well. Yeah.
And you’re creating some, so you had your Veep slash West Wind show, which somehow leads to the Magickry School Bus. Explain for me how you go from your political show to your faux kids show. Well, so in class, to have a grand show, we had a pitching day.
So everyone brought an idea and we all pitched. And we kind of circled two ideas we really liked. And then we had a hard time deciding, so we’re like, let’s do both.
And the other one was, it was called Family Portrait, and it was like the big chill minus death. Spoiler alert. No, it’s not a spoiler.
It’s the beginning of the movie. It’s a family that goes to a cottage over the course of a weekend. And they’re like there the whole weekend.
And so it was really just ensemble based. It was a little more, I’ll say serious, but it wasn’t because we would try to be like, let’s do grounded. But we would get a family motto or just a motto from people.
And so one of them was like, when the going gets rough, get rougher. And so we just yelled the whole time. And it wasn’t grounded.
It was grounded in that it’s like, yeah, I have a yelling family. So we were drawn to that. And then for this run, it was called Spring Binge, Julie Osborne really liked her group and kept saying like, don’t want you guys to go away.
Don’t want you guys to go away. So then she finally was like, let’s have a meeting. And she’s like, I have space in the calendar.
I want a couple alumni teams to band together and have a show led by Pantsuit. And it was up to us which grad groups we wanted to work with. And so when we had that, we were like, okay, let’s come up with a new show idea.
Yeah, new pitches. Because I think too, we were all, we had done Pantsuit enough where we were like, we got this. We know what’s going on.
It’s still improv. And every time we performed, it was very different. And we were like, ah, like, hold on to your hats.
But there was a, I think for some of us or all of us, we wanted something different. We wanted a new challenge to create. And yeah, so we met for lunch one day.
Greens vegetarian. Yeah, some Kensington Asian restaurant was really delicious. Go there.
And we just pitched and we were just talking about like, what’s in the zeitgeist right now? And we were talking about that there’s a Magic School Bus reboot coming out. And we were like, holy shit, like, that would be really fun and really scary. Like to improvise shrinking and scientific facts, but still play children that are believable in relationships.
So it kind of had multiple aspects in it that were going to be very challenging and exciting for us. And to go anywhere. Yeah, literally go anywhere.
Like in a volcano. Yeah. So you had your first performance last night? Our first like full.
Yeah, because we’ve done a couple of preview shows. In its entirety. So how long is the show and how did it go? It can go up to 40 minutes.
I think ours ended up being 30, which was in my mind ideal. Because we didn’t go on until like 10.15 and then we ended at 10.45. Math makes sense. Yeah.
I don’t know. It was awesome. It went well? Yeah, it went really well.
Like, all things considered, we would rehearse and we would get to a certain point and then just be like, like consistently and we would perform in previews, but that would cut off at like 20 minutes. And so we’d be like, okay, we get to 20 minutes and then we’re like on the precipice of like, what happens now? And so all things considered, it went really well. It was really fun.
Yeah. So how does the Magic School Bus work as a show? Basically, we are Miss Frizzle’s new class. So we didn’t want to do, there’s parody shows and they’re great, but they’re a different thing.
And usually play to the joke of the character. Like you’ll say their catchphrase. If you’re Arnold, who was in the original Magic School Bus, you would say like, I should have stayed home from school today.
And it’s really just improvising to those moments. And we wanted to do basically just an improvised episode. We don’t want to play, like we wanted to play in that world and not have to be tied to characters.
And so from there, it’s an improvised. Yeah. Yes.
So we try to remember what’s next. We talked to the audience and we asked them if they remember like an elementary level scientific concept. So do you? No.
Do you remember anything? Condensation. And so then we would talk to you about condensation, such as like, what do you remember about condensation? And then from there, we sort of get a bunch of information, whether it’s misinformation or not. And sort of let that seep in.
And then other audience members chime in. What do you remember about condensation? Then we also ask, is there something in particular you remember about elementary school? Such as not making the volleyball team. Terror.
Never letting that go. And from there, we use their personal experience as well as like their scientific memory from that to inspire us. And we jump in.
And it’s pretty similar to the show in terms of format of like they hang out before school. Miss Frizzle is just always late to the classroom. So they get to like be in the classroom unsupervised and do their ABC story.
And then she shows up and is like, we’re going to learn about this today. We’re going to go on a field trip. And then they go on their field trip.
And then it’s a mix of science and ABC plot. I mean, something that we’ve refined through our rehearsals is just kind of focusing on that relationship piece. And just like having the audience get a sense of who we are as children.
And the different kinds of children, I guess, that there are. So, you know, from the very beginning, I think we might have been all just, you know, science kids, unspecific. But I think over time, like we’ve tried to kind of build that in.
Yeah. And they tend to be, we talked about like who our character names ahead of time just so that we know. And it’s not that impressive.
I’m like, who did I call you? What did I call you? Let’s just have the same character name. And then our characters are roughly based on what we were like in elementary school. We had like a chat session of like, what was grade five like for you? What was grade five like for you? And we talked about it.
There was tears. I mean, maybe from me. Because I got bullied and it was a fun memory.
And we, for the most part, our characters are tied roughly of like, oh, well, I don’t know if Ivan was a heartthrob in elementary school. I know. And it’s still improvised differently every episode.
But it’s just, you know how to play your character wants through the science. We always say the science is the metaphor. No, I’m going to screw this up.
The science is the metaphor for the relationships. There you go. Yeah.
It’s interesting to me because thinking about rehearsing when it’s an improvised show. So how does one rehearse for an improvised show? You just do it. You just get together and you look at each other’s eyes and you talk silly words and there’s no audience.
And I was thinking about this earlier. Like, this is kind of why I think it’s really hard to be a part of an ensemble and get people to show up. Because rehearsals are kind of silly.
You work on trying to hit plot points and trying to be better at telling the type of story you’re telling. But at the end of the day, a lot of it is based off audience reaction. The audience is really into Brian’s character.
So let’s highlight Ivan in this case and blah, blah, blah. So rehearsals can be trying to get people to come. But that’s, I think, what’s great about our group is people show up and they care and they want to be there.
I was about to say that that’s where it really matters that the group likes each other and enjoys working together. Because otherwise, why would you show up for that? It must be hard in some groups to actually get that happening. Yes.
And that’s not to say we don’t work on… There’s exercises. Exercises and physicalization. Do we want to do what we would call scene painting? So when we enter a scene, there’s a brick wall, there’s a piece of art on the wall, things like that.
We did a workshop with Sext-T-Rex because we knew to build the bus… Who does physical theatre. Yes, they do physical theatre and how to build the bus in a way that allows… Oh, we’re going to be this big size, but sometimes it’ll shrink. How do we physically shrink on stage and have everyone support it right away? Well, if you’re going to talk about that kind of thing, Sext-T-Rex is probably the group to talk about.
They’re great. So good. And I think, yeah, to Tara’s point, in terms of how do we rehearse, I think a lot of it is that subtle building of trust, really.
I think for a group to want to work together, I think that trust… And I think it’s not something we explicitly do exercises on, but I think the fact that we do get together and we learn more about each other, talk about what grade five was like, that kind of thing, I think, really brings people together, I guess. In improv, there’s an improv term called group mind. And that’s really what ensemble lends itself to, is just a thing of like you’ll count.
This is a simple exercise, but you count from one to 21. And you’re supposed to close your eyes or look at the ground. But if we both say five at the same time, you have to go back to one.
And it’s surprisingly more difficult than you think because it’s just that feeling of like you know when you’re supposed to speak sometimes. Sometimes you don’t. And it’s how to share your voices.
Like, oh, I’ve said like eight numbers. I should take a pause. Let everyone else speak.
And so there’s exercises like that that strengthen the group mind. So how’s your gang’s group mind? Is it pretty strong? Strong with force? I think it’s getting stronger and stronger, yeah. We just faced Darth Maul soon.
I was actually noticing just generally as I sort of like look at listings that come across my Facebook feed, because that’s where we find out about shows now. A lot of shows or improv shows or comedy shows that are based off TV shows that are currently in the zeitgeist. Like there’s a Potter improv.
Yes, Potterprov. Potterprov. There’s Riverdale, which, you know, because Riverdale, everybody’s watching Riverdale.
There’s like all these things. Is this something that’s relatively recent that’s happening in the improv world? Or is this sort of thing been going on and I just haven’t noticed because my Facebook feed wasn’t full of it? I think it’s cyclical. So like a while ago, there was Game of Thrones.
I can’t remember the bad dog. Throne of Games? Throne of Games. And they had a handful.
And then they tried to get away from that a bit. It was like Mad Men 2, I think like seven years ago or something like that. They did a bad dog.
The one was this recent past season. And there’s the girl show, which is an improvised girls episode. But it’s not like the main character isn’t Hannah, but it’s like a similar characterization.
But yeah, I think it’s cyclical. And the bad dog shows tend to be either like an improvised episode or just the tone of it in the past. And I think now and then there’s some shows like Potterprov and Riverdale and Gilmore Girlprov.
You are the characters from the show. So that I think is newer, where it’s like you’re just lifting the world and playing two jokes. And it’s good.
And I’m on some of those shows, so I’m not saying anything bad. But I’m just saying it’s like, yeah, I played Quirrell. So I knew like, okay, well, these are his tics.
We weren’t creating from nothing. I mean, I don’t know too much about the marketing of it all. But my sense is that, you know, it’s hard to market new pieces of art to people.
And so the easier the audience can grab onto a concept, then the easier it is to market. So, I mean, that’s my sense of why that is. I don’t know the history of improv, whether that’s always been the case.
But I would assume that giving the audience a shorthand of this is what the show is all about. Do you want to come see it? If you’re interested in this, you’re going to like this. Yeah.
Speaking of people who come to see the show, do you guys have a sense of who the people who are coming to see The Magicker School Bus are? Are they coming from a sense of like, I remember that show? Or are they coming because they’re friends and family? Do they have no idea what they’re coming for? Do you have a sense of if there’s people coming to the show who are fondly remembering watching Miss Frizzle and the gang on TV? I think it’s a mix of like friends and family, fellow improvisers. And then we did a preview show. And in the dark, we played the theme song, not the whole thing.
And just hearing people go, oh, my God, just that level of like, I remember that show. And there’s sometimes easy jokes. Not that they’re bad, but it’s like, why does Miss Frizzle always leave? Where it’s like the laugh is on the recognition of like, that’s true.
And less on what we’re actually doing in that moment. So, yeah, I think it’s a mix. It’s a mix, too.
And I think, too, because we’re kind of a new troupe, there are some improv people that are kind of like, what is Pantsuit doing now? Like, what are they up to? And what are their recent goals, I guess? And just kind of seeing, because it’s nice, too, to see where people are at that are at your playing level and what people are producing and how you can produce it better and how it’s all relative. For sure. I think there’s a little bit of that going on, for sure.
Cool. What do you guys, I mean, how long do you see yourselves doing the Magic or School Bus? Do you see this sort of things are going for a long while? Or do you think that you might tire of it? We’ve talked about our ambition for it. I mean, I think it’s all up in the air at this point.
I think we’ll see how this run goes and we’ll see what opportunities it presents. But we’ve talked about different places we could take it. We did talk about could this be targeted towards a more school-aged audience? So I think we want to take it to more places.
I think, too, also as much as we’ve developed it, and opening night was last night in its entirety, we haven’t stopped learning how to do the form better. And the more we perform it, the better we get at it. And then it goes into our pocket.
So if someone’s like, I don’t even know what. I want pantsuit. Pantsuit, but do your pantsuit form.
We have that in our back pocket. Pantsuit, there’s like a, I don’t know, science-themed thing. Can you guys do Magic or School Bus? That’s a part of our ammunition now, I guess.
So I think our whole goal, too, in Spring Binge was let’s develop something new. So it’ll always be kind of, I hope that it’ll always be kind of a thing where we’re developing new things and creating new things because that’s also like what is feeding us, right, to create something new and present new material and target new issues in different ways, I guess. Cool.
So when you guys were doing your previews, you only ever went like 20 minutes. So what was it like going, like, not having that 20-minute stop point, like finally going past that 20 minutes? Did it feel like the rug was pulled out from under you for a second, or was it like amazing? What happened? It kind of was amazing. Yeah, it was very, like, we were scared.
Like we were like, I don’t know what happened, but like literally it just felt like it passed through. And I think there was a moment where we were all looking around me like, we’re doing it. Like this is okay, in my opinion.
It didn’t feel like we passed 20 minutes and then we were like, now what? It was more the story just continued. It was just very free-flowing from there. Because we had the time to set up like, okay, there’s these two characters, these two, these two, these two.
So then when we were all together, it was like, I was kind of for a moment outside of it, I was like, I’m impressed with like, oh, okay, these people got some jokes. We just like, it’s that group mind thing of like, oh, Devin didn’t get a chance to say something yet. And as soon as she spoke, it was a killer joke and character specific.
And like, it was just that level of like, we knew like ebb and flow of like, yes, everyone has to, and there was no urgency of like, oh, let’s go to the next thing. That was what we kind of hammered. I think once we hit the end, like once the lights were down and we like hit our time, we were like, oh, holy shit.
Like we just did it. I think that was like the, oh, wow. Cause I think like I was ready before the lights were pulled, I was ready for the next thing.
You’re constantly like, okay, so this happened and like, great, great, great. Like, let’s keep going. So once the lights were down, we’re like, oh, okay, great.
Did you feel like you’d done what you wanted to do when those lights went down? Or were you like ready to do more? Did you feel like there was more to say? I think, I think it was pulled at the perfect moment. Cause I know internally we’re like, yeah, we can keep going. But I think in terms of story, it’s like, you always have been wanting more.
And we ended with still so much energy. But in terms of like plot and narrative, it was, it ended exactly where it should have. Yeah.
It just would have been icing. And then it, and then you kind of, it’s like diminishing results after a while. Totally.
Yeah. So when is the next Magic Cruise School Bus? May 17th. Wednesday at 930 at Bad Dog Theatre Company.
And it’s $10. And we might have buttons. Yes.
Like a pantsuit. What goes on the, is it a pantsuit button? Yes. Okay.
So what goes on a pantsuit button? It’s like a suit. Like a little lapel. Yeah.
It’s like a little like. Just the jacket, but you don’t see the sleeves or anything. Yeah.
It’s just like the neckline. You’re going to have to come and. Yeah.
You’ll have to come. Or go on our Facebook. Are you guys on the web? So we’re on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Pantsuit Improv. Okay. And there’s an email, pantsuitimprov.gmail.com. If you’re like, I want to book them.
I swear I didn’t even know that. I was like, cool. Well, it’s good somebody’s monitoring.
Yeah. Yes. What about you guys? Are you guys on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook? Ivan does not have a presence online.
I’m like a terrible social media person. He’s a blank slate. Look at that.
There’s like nothing. Not a footprint. Even your email is a pseudonym.
Yeah. Yeah. I was like, what? I don’t know.
You’re running from something. He’s got a history there. I’m not even.
He doesn’t like putting phone numbers online. Like he doesn’t want anything. I’m not even here.
Off the grid. When I said, when I said Ivan. Yeah.
On Instagram. Yeah. When I said Ivan earlier, I was like, oh my God.
Is he going to be mad that I put his name out into the. He had actually asked me before we started calling him Mr. X. Yeah. Um, yeah.
What are you? You’re on. I’m yeah. Twitter.
Twitter. Yeah. I’m.
I’m private about my social media. Okay. That’s fine.
Well, fine. Yeah. Tfitter.
Go at Twitter is fine. Sorry, which way? Tfitter. Go.
Tfitter. Go. Tfitter.
Go. Tfitter. Go.
Oh. Now try to find her. Yeah.
Yeah. Nobody’s going to be able to. So you’re safe.
It’s all good. Uh, Jackie to me. Just my name.
Um, uh, Twitter. Uh, I think my, I just made my Instagram public, but yeah. Uh, I, yeah, just do, just do that.
Do you guys manage the, the, the Instagram and Twitter like together? Is there like somebody in the group who’s like, this is who does our Instagram and Twitter. So we hired Victoria LaBerge as our publicist. Smart move.
And yes, she’s so nice and lovely and great. So we all can manage it and we all have the passwords and stuff. But for the most part, uh, Victoria manages it, which is, I can’t say how nice it is to just not have that.
Even the stress of like, Oh, I have to be posting. It’s just done. Yeah.
Thank you, Victoria. Thanks, Victoria. Yeah.
Um. Yeah. Did she put together a press release for us? Like, it’s just like, we, I guess I’m like, Hey, everyone, let’s get your bios together.
Um, and then she doesn’t like does all that. It’s hard to, to do that and still perform and stuff like that. And it’s hard to have that promotional brain, you know, as somebody who does my own stuff, like I know that it’s hard.
It’s hard shit. And sometimes you’re like, is this too much? But then she just puts it out there and you’re like, great. I don’t care if it’s too much.
It’s out there. A lot of times I think that when, you know, the performer is putting together their own stuff, you’re like not doing too much. You’re like, Oh, this is the thing.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Totally. And you don’t have like this selling. Yeah.
Of course. And I think with Victoria, I mean, like that she, her brain works in that way that, you know, is a publicist brain. Like, that’s not my brain.
Like, I don’t, I don’t know how to do that well. So, you know, I think, you know, she’s totally worth it. I get tired.
Like, I can do some funny posts, but then I get burnt out of like, how, how many jokes can I come up with? I really need like a, okay. If there’s a funny photo, then I find doing publicity easier. But I just, I do get burnt out in it, in my brain.
I’m like, Oh, this is a task. And then it kind of gets to be too much. So having someone, it’s easier to even juggle more than one troop because I’m like, I don’t have to put in as much work.
So my time is devoted to like, doing what I want to do instead of doing stuff that you have to do. Or think you have to do and how often. So now that the Magic Crew school bus is sort of on its feet, are you guys still rehearsing stuff? Or are you guys just like, just running it and you’re going to go in next Wednesday and just sort of just fucking do it? I think we’re going to do it.
Yeah, we’re going to do it. I think we’re just going to fucking do it. Yeah.
I mean, yeah, we’re continually like in talks with each other. Constantly being like, check this out. Like all that stuff.
But I don’t think we’ll, I don’t know. No, I don’t know. Yeah, we met like an hour and a half early on Wednesday and we did a run through.
We just like went over, hey, these are the like, things to remember of like, oh, when we’re building the bus, like do these types of things. And like that was good because it just got in our body. But I know most shows like a Bad Dog, they’ll do rehearsals up to their preview.
They’ll do it. And then once they’re in the run, they just don’t rehearse because it’s in their bodies. Which is also a theatre thing as well.
But do you guys do like after, since each show is like new, you know, with a theatre show, you do it, it’s after your previews, it’s locked. You don’t have to worry about it. You show up, you do it.
Do you guys like do a debrief after the shows? Like talk about what worked, what didn’t work? Or do you just like deal with it? Especially in previews, there’s like a debrief. Last night, really, and I’m very aware of my own faults. So I’m rarely like, I’m so happy.
It was perfect. I think it was perfect last night. I was so happy with it.
And so I think after last night, we were like, no, we don’t. We do not have any notes. But in general, it might be like, oh, the bus was clunky.
Hey, maybe like this is why it was clunky. Or like, wouldn’t it be cool if we also had music come in here? It’s not really… Yeah, it’s little technical elements. But yeah, I think we’re in a place where we’re like, it’s good enough.
We don’t have to stress about trying to get together on the weekend or trying to get… Yeah. I think it’s also… Oh, sorry. I think it’s also just, you know, each individually.
Like, I’m sure we kind of play back kind of our contribution and kind of overall, like how we all fit in. But I think it’s difficult to give notes back. Like, I think we’re all like, you know, I think that’s a difficult thing to do.
Especially with a performance that went so well. Like, it’s not like you can pick apart any particular thing. But individually, you might kind of reflect back.
So I know that I do that personally. I always say no notes. Like if you’re in a group together, it’s either a director giving notes.
Or you guys like a group can talk about like, yeah, hey, our transition into the bus was clunky. And it’s because the music didn’t play. And then it didn’t last night.
It played. It was perfect. But then it’s like talking about stuff as a group.
And it really is. I think viewing people individually is what can maybe be the death of an ensemble. Do you guys have… Is there an outside eye that asks as a director or you guys just like you direct yourselves? This one was a lot of us.
But Eitan Muscat, the interim artistic director, he helped out with this one. He was our grad coach when we were graduating from the studio. So he directed Pantsuit and Family Portrait.
Yes. And so he knows us very well and like is able to kind of be like, well, try this and like alter it here and stuff like that. So it was helpful.
It’s diagnostic, I think now. Totally. Because we came up with like, hey, this is the reform.
We had Sexy Rex to be like, how do we do physicality? And then Eitan, it was like, hey, we just want to figure out how do we balance basically between narrative and like stage combat stuff. Was that hard to find? Like that balance between the narrative and stage combat? I think Eitan helped a lot. For sure.
You know, I don’t know if we, without him, could have pushed through that. But I think certainly our session with Eitan was super helpful. And also the preliminary preview shows where we were, OK, so let’s just do very rough, bare bones, no talking about a form magic school bus.
OK, next time, let’s add in physical theatre. And so we were working like, oh, not clunkily, but like we were still working through the things. And I think last night it just all came together.
And we’re like, oh, oh, yeah. Like, thank God. So I’m going to ask a question that is one of those.
I don’t know if I should ask this. But now that you had such an amazing performance of the first one, are you guys worried about the next one? Or are you just like, fuck it? I’m not worried at all. But it’s that thing of we didn’t film.
Yeah, we didn’t film it. And I was like, oh, shoot, we should have filmed it. And the minute you say, oh, that’s the show we’re going to film.
Right. And you film it, it just doesn’t go as well. So I’m not nervous.
But it’s like I think it also might just be like, oh, that was special because it was our first proper run. So I’m going to try to think of it mentally less like that was perfect. But that was our special first.
I mean, I’m excited for the next one. I’m not nervous at all. I think maybe on the day I’ll probably be more nervous.
But I think that’s the gift of improv is that if it’s a bad one, you forget it. And that’s the beauty of it. And if it’s a good one, that’s also part of it, too.
Right. Like it’s that special one time only. And yeah, it was a gift.
Also, this form lends itself to bigger and better. Right. Yes.
Bigger and better. And I think last night what we found is like weirder. So we can always go bigger and better and weirder.
More dinosaurs. Yeah. More volcanoes.
Yeah. Well, that’s not if that isn’t a teaser for you. I don’t know what is.
Well, thanks a lot, you guys. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much.
