So, How's It Go

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So, How's It Go?
The History of Let's Try This!
What Were Up To Now-a-days
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Let's Try This! does improvisational theatre.
Most of the improv we do is short-form comedy,
but we like to use all styles of improv,
including long-form and dramatic.
Here's what you'll see in a typical show
Audience members are given idea cards and asked
to write down the names of objects, emotions,
famous people, and so on. For each scene or game
that is played, the director asks for a number of
players to leap upon the stage and become
characters in that scene. (Or game, or song,
or... whatever.) In each of these scenes, the dir
ector uses ideas from YOU, the audience. These
ideas can come from the idea cards, or you can
yell them out so we all know who to blame.
Also, each scene has rules that the players must
follow, such as "You must rhyme all of your lines
with each other." Remember, improv means each
scene is made up on the spot... there's no time
to think of cool-sounding stuff to use before we
start. Yet another form of player torture some s
cenes require active audience participation.
Maybe you'll come onstage and be a referee...
maybe you'll be someone's arms! The level of
audience participation depends on what kind of
game is being played, and how fiendish the
director feels that night. Lather, rinse, repeat.
With so many diff-erent kinds of games, plus
your suggestions, you'll never see the same show
twice! (No, nor will you see the same show even
three times... geez, what a smarty-pants.)
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The story begins when Robert Lowe, a well-known
improv teacher in Atlanta, held a workshop for
Tech students at DramaTech Theatre in the summer
of 1989. (So long ago, in fact, that DT was
still in the "old church" that used to be next
door to the Tech police station.)
The workshops ended, but a spark had caught.
DramaTechies picked up the ball and ran with it--
most notably, a young man named Eddie Maise, who
would go on to become the first elected Leader of
the Let's Try This! players in the early 1990's.
The loose-knit group (known at first simply as
DramaTech Improv) grew and expanded. As LTT!,
we've hit high points such as the spin-off of a
semi-pro troupe and cable TV show, and low points
when many members graduated or moved, leaving
behind only a skeleton crew. Now, those times hav
e given way to the Let's Try This! players of
today, with over 20 full and part-time members.
Fall 1999 marked the 10-year anniversary of
improv at DramaTech. To celebrate, we held a
26-hour-long workshop, the LTT! Improvathon, on
October 1, 1999. Ironically, news of other
Improvathons sprang up from several areas,
including Atlanta, within two months.
Coincidence? Well, maybe. ? The core of LTT! rem
ains the same the advancement of our members,
and DramaTech as a whole, by teaching ourselves
the art of improv. We believe this works to help
us become truly spontaneous, truly creative, and
truly group-focused. The result... is true-ly
funny. -Wes Schrader, LTT! Leader, 1999-2000
We are celebrating our 15th anniversary by
exploding! (in that warm squishy way, not the
ouch! way, and what heathen doesnt want to get
warm and squishy?) Try this on for size Friday,
September 10th and Saturday, September 11th LTT!
and DramaTech will play host to ten college and
professional troupes from all over the Southeast
for the first annual Black Box Improv Festival
a pull out all the stops, kick your grandma out
of the way, insane improv gala. Come witness the
funny each night at 730pm with local favorites
Dads Garage and Laughing Matters headlining
respectively on Friday and Saturday. Joy!
Also starting Thursday, September 2nd and every
following Thursday this semester, LTT! we be
having their usual craziness on display for FREE
at the Student Center Commons stage at 8pm.
For those interested in joining LTT!s rampant
foolishness, we have workshop twice weekly. We
meet at DramaTech and workshop every Monday from
7-9pm and Saturday from 10am-1pm. Anyone can
come. Just show up and youll be immediately
assimilated! Or if you want to ease your way in,
we have beginners workshops coinciding with our
normal workshops every Monday. And dont forget,
you are also invited to the upcoming Improvathon
X. Prepare yourself...
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Let's Try What? LTT! and Improv
Famous Quotes from Scenes in LTT! Shows and Works
hops
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Tell people that you do comedy shows, and
immediately they start smiling, even before you
can practice one of your routines on them.
Telepathy? Nah. People just like comedy.
Laughter helps them to relax and cut loose after
a hard day in the salt mines. Tell people that yo
u do improv, and it's a different story. They
might smile -- or they might just look at you
funny, and ask, politely, if this "improv" thing
is legal in your state. But the truth is you've d
one improv before... we all have. It's thinking,
speaking and acting all at once, without
rehearsing your lines or giving any thought to
it. It's what you do every day of your life
little kids are masters of improv, only they call
it "make-believe." As a style of theatre, improvi
sation traces its roots all the way back to
ancient Greece. Players act out different scenes
and games unrehearsed, without a script or safety
net of any kind. To show you that we don't
"cheat," we throw ourselves a curve ball we get
suggestions from you, the audience members, and
build them into the very foundation of our
scenes. You know the scenes are fresh, that
we're relying on nothing but our guts, our speed,
and each other... because you helped to make the
scene what it is. That's the make-believe. That'
s the magic. That's improv. And that's us...
the Let's Try This! players. Join us, brave
audience!
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If you're the interpreter for a guy who only
speaks Semaphore, it's a tough call when to stop
translating phrases like "Ow! Agghh! Save me! The
PAIN!" and actually start to help him put out the
fire on his clothing.
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LTT!
Do you want olives on your superhero?
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TV ad showing a doctor and a patient
Doctor "Monosyllabism is a heartbreaking disease
that renders the sufferer incapable of speaking
words that are polysyllabic in nature. Please
donate generously and assist in the battle to
alleviate this epidemic, because monosyllabism is
a pernicious, monstrous, and tremendously
debilitating syndrome." Patient nods slowly "Y
es.... It is."
DramaTech Theatres Lets Try This! an
Improvisational Comedy Troupe
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Son "Daddy, I just can't shoot the poor innocent
deer." Dad thinks quickly "Why, son, that's th
e deer that ate your mama! Son wide-eyed "MOO
OOOMMM!!! Dad grinning "Lock and load, son!"
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DramaTech Theatre Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Earth Contact us at im
prov_at_gatech.edu
or go to www.letstrythis.com
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After another performer has just crushed a metal
trash can by trying to stand on it...
"Welcome back to origami class, kids. This
week...steel!"