Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average Improv
Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average Improv, is a podcast that teaches Long-form, Narrative, Theatrical, Improvisation, or as we call it: Muprov. The hosts, Hal Munger and Julian Bernado are experienced and innovative Muprovisors, who are excited to spread the word about their favorite ways of doing their favorite activity. On the show they provided practice plans that you can use for your ensemble, teach fun formats, and chat with guests who bring a wide variety of perspectives! Intro Music By Sebastian Blue Hochman
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Why Mu?
1) Mu is the greek root of words like muse and music. Ancient poets would invoke the Muses before telling an Epic story. Like an Epic, our shows are long and follow a continuous narrative.
2) Mu is a statistical symbol that represents the population average. We come from a lineage of students of Patricia Ryan Madson, who teaches the improv maxim: Be Average.
3) Mu is an important word in Zen Buddhism, meaning nothing or no. While most improv centers Yes, we believe that sometimes the best was to say Yes is to say No. Our practice involves emptying our minds to that we can be present and react our stage partner.
A NEW PLAY
Our 90-minute improvised stage play, The set, costumes, props, music, lights, and sound are all created on the spot!
Episodes
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Hal is the “guest” this week to explain how they created their patented Shakespearean Narrative Flowchart™. We kind of get into the weeds on this one and pull back the directorial curtain on how you can boil down existing scripts into improvisable narrative structures. Once the sausage is made you get this simple flowchart: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19399esYCwajyfkgl6sbIS4FiAPQ2i0iL7yRp3NdPgzo/edit?usp=sharing
Link to a New Play night four: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5lApi_65io
Monday Jan 08, 2024
Monday Jan 08, 2024
Every show has to start somewhere, but on this episode Julian and Hal break down how some real Shakespearian Comedies begin and how that unsettles some of the usual heuristics for evaluating the openings of narrative improv shows! The Statistical side of Mu gets some love in this one :).
I am going to leave off the flow chart till the next episode!
Monday Jan 01, 2024
Monday Jan 01, 2024
Jayda Alvarez joins the pod to talk about dramatic irony! Put the comedy in your comedies by turning out to the audience and saying your inner thoughts!
Monday Dec 25, 2023
Monday Dec 25, 2023
Happy Holidays! The Shakespeare train keeps on chugging, so turn out to the audience and let out a guttural cry and a stream of inner thoughts!
Monday Dec 18, 2023
Monday Dec 18, 2023
We dive into the Elizabethan language and grammar!
For the grammar rules you can follow along with this page:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1teSwA7-5kqL7FJa6J-FU9DyITS1Y19zDumy75gRgufg/edit
Sunday Dec 10, 2023
Sunday Dec 10, 2023
What a treat to have THE Lisa Rowland on to kick off our Shakespeare series! She is truly the Shakespeare GOAT and no one would be better to give the overview of what this format will be like!
Stay tuned! Over the next nine episodes we will be teaching you everything you need to know to put on your very own totally-improvised, Shakespeare Play! I hope this episode gets you pumped up and ready to dive into the language next week!
Monday Dec 04, 2023
Monday Dec 04, 2023
Anna Mistele joins the podcast to talk about stage intimacy and how to safely practice intimacy and touch in an improvised setting! Adding intimacy to your practice plan can really help people feel secure and confident with finding their own boundaries and learning each others!
To see this work in action check out:
Example one: Skip to 20:03 if you want to see your hosts do a grounded intimate scene on ice ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y_G9zNJv3Q
Example two: see 21:10 to see your hosts do some... dance combat intimacy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2T5TXUkEEQ
Monday Nov 27, 2023
Monday Nov 27, 2023
Matt Chapman, clown extraordinaire, movement magician, and champion of introducing himself joins the Podast to give many words of wisdom on commedia, clown, game, movement, and teaching! This one was a really fun conversation for us and I hope you have fun listening!
Monday Nov 20, 2023
Monday Nov 20, 2023
Bye Bye Hero's journey... HELLO COMBAT!!! We got a little carried away with the technical stuff in this episode. Rather than a conversation about stage combat, it is more of a detailed list of how to do space object (mime + sounds) combat with various weapons and superpowers! I am going to try to upload the the video of this one on youtube in the coming days because the visuals will definitely help!
Monday Nov 13, 2023
Monday Nov 13, 2023
Will Gutzman, Pro Improvisor, joins the pod fresh from his koi pond to debrief our recent show! We get in some meta stuff about how to debrief and give feedback in general, and also show you how we analyze a show after the fact! This is also the Sunset Show for hero's journey so we say goodbye to the format and hit the key takeaways!
Its the last time that you will hear us say quadrant theory for a while so enjoy it ;)