Hey, guys ... I was really proud of the effort everyone put in this
evening ... got lots of positive feedback from folks in the audience
afterward as well ... my mom and dad were impressed, and my sister
thought 'we rocked' ... Just wanted to capture some thoughts on the
routines we did this evening.

 1. Conducted Story (All) Good starter. I was glad it didn't go too long
    ... from my perspective (flat on the floor), it sounded like
    everyone got some good ideas in, and Dan did a good job of mixing up
    the later players. And Leslie won ... who'd 'a thunk that, eh?
 2. Two Lines (3 players) I thought this was was pretty good ...
    Overall, there is sometimes a bit of reluctance for the 'two lines'
    players to get in, and advance, and the 'speaking' player gets a
    lot of responsibility dumped on their shoulders ... unfortunately,
    I think Martin kind of wound up in that situation in the early
    stages. Alan and Leslie had a nice recovery at the end and found a
    good way to exit, and Martin did a great job carrying the majority
    of the scene.
 3. Hidden Agenda (2 players) Call me weird, but I always enjoy this
    one. Kudos to Dan (both of 'em) for taking some difficult
    suggestions and letting us run with them. Please tell me who
    suggested my agenda, though ... I believe I need to pay them a
    private visi^H^H^H^Hcompliment sometime in the near future ...
    Dan S did a great job of setting up the scene ... picking a men's
    wear shop (that is where you were establishing, I believe) was a
    great choice, and it made my entrance very easy. This was a fun
    scene to do, and I believe I may have discovered a possible
    career alternative as male stripper, if this Algonquin thing
    doesn't work out ...
 4. Sentences (3 players) Leslie, Julia and Sheila did a great job in
    establishing the setting ... and were doing a fine job of
    incorporating the various lines scattered on the floor. I actually
    thought the idea of leaving the lines on the floor worked well ..
    it allowed a greater flexibility for grabbing the next line. The
    only thing I noticed was a couple of moments when I wasn't sure
    what the line being read actually was ... I think one of Leslie's
    lines got lost, and one of Sheila's as well. Good characters,
    though ... it made coming in as the Count at the end very easy, and
    a logical choice.
 5. Say Again (2 players) I've long believed this is a pimp-o-rama, but
    Martin and Alan did a masterful job of taking advantage of the
    audience commands. The only suggestion I might offer (on behalf of
    Dan ... ) is that the reason for the two characters being in the
    Arctic got a bit lost in the beginning ... nevertheless, Martin's
    idea of the golden walrus, and Alan's use of it as a visual gag was
    excellent ... one of the strongest audience reactions we got all
    night, in my opinion.
 6. Police Station (3 players) This is a fun one, too ... I have to
    admit, that for the first few moments, I was enjoying playing along
    with Dan and Julia so much, I kind of forgot that I was supposed to
    be guessing a crime and accomplice. The offers you made ... with the
    cigar, the gas station washroom, etc. worked well, and led me to the
    right ideas.
 7. Scripts (1 player) Lord, I think I'm gonna hear about this one for a
    long, long time. Martin did a great job playing off my mom's offers,
    and while I never thought I'd ever imagine him trying to pick up my
    mom, especiallyas an Iraqi weapons inspector ... well, I guess
    that's what improv is all about, eh? Or something like that ...
 8. Fairy Tale in a Minute (3 players) This is a fun game to watch.
    Alan, Dan and Julia did a fine job of interpreting the Billy Goats
    Gruff ... and showed an excellent recovery for the situation of not
    knowing exactly what the story involved. It was fun to watch. Only
    suggestion for the future is perhaps to eliminate one of the replays
    ... perhaps 60 seconds, 30 seconds, 5 seconds, and end it.
 9. McGuyver (3 players) Great character play by all three folks in this
    one. Dan does a great beaurocrat, and both Sheila and Leslie do
    excellent slightly loopy characters, which was exactly the right
    choice for this scene. The items got used to solve the problem,
    though the false teeth got maybe a bit lost in the presentation ...
    but the scene told a nice story, and all three of you found a very
    clever way to wrap it up. I really enjoyed watching it unfold, and
    it was pretty much exactly the right length.
10. Mundane Olympics (4 players) This is a fun one, though probably the
    pimpiest one we do. I had actually hoped to give Sheila and Julia a
    bit more opportunity to interact and do their competition ... I
    thought I might have been talking a bit too much. Sheila and Julia
    had excellent characterizations, and the replay gimmick worked well.
    Great commentary by Alan ... a silly game, but high energy, and it
    seemed to go over well with the audience
11. Tabloid Headline (3 players) Good work with a pretty thin (sorry!)
    headline. I thought you guys worked it about as far as you could,
    and found a nice way to end the scene before it started to run out
    of steam. Great interplay between 'Will', 'Grace' and the director
    ... and educational too, for those of us who aren't up to speed on
    the latest sitcoms.
12. Tabloid Horoscope (3 players) Man! Talk about an on-the-spot
    recovery. The transformation from what we discussed in the huddle to
    what we actually presented was pretty dramatic. Fortunately, Leslie
    and Dan both were very quick to accept the attributes given, and, if
    nothing else, it was an example of a good recovery from a slightly
    screwed-up huddle. I thought the characterizations were good ... Dan
    does a good manly-man, and Leslie does a strong slightly domineering
    bartender. A good illustration of the dangers, and the fun of improv
    ... scenes don't always go exactly (or even close) to the way they
    were initially envisioned ...
    
Overall, I thought it was a show we could be very proud of. Hopefully
everyone got a chance to chat with Terri Moretti, Johnson's wife
who came out this evening. Her comment was that she thought Johnson
would be very proud of what we do, and I agree. I think sometimes when
some of thepractices get a bit routine, and the progress seems a bit
lacking, we forget how much fun improv can be. I hope everyone had fun
this evening ... I had a blast, and I think everyone watching enjoyed
themselves, too. If I don't see y'all this weekend, I'll see everyone
next Thursday. Good job gang ... we broke a bunch of legs tonight.
Chris