I’m Jen from the Maydays, in Brighton, but when I’m not Mayday-ing, I do other actor-ing. At the moment I’m playing a pregnant lady in ‘Future Development’ by impro theatre company Fluxx, then I start re-rehearsing for Twelfth Night and through all of this I’m doing street theatre with Dodgy Totty. In fact, two weeks ago I was an elderly dry-land synchronized swimmer being chased by a land-shark and this weekend I was puppeteering a mouse puppet acrobat in a World War II show at a sheep fair.
What's the best improv call-out you've ever heard?
Let’s put it this way, the reply from my colleague was "Sorry, we’ve already had ‘fisting’". This was directed at the teenage children (audience) of a mother who was in our student showcase.
Which improv course are you doing, and what made you choose that one?
I’m doing two because I’m greedy like that. Annoyance for one week (John Cremer and George from the Maydays did it before and said it was great, I’ve had Mick Napier’s book for ages and I haven’t read it properly so I thought the best way to find out what was in it was to ask him personally).
I’m also doing Second City’s Writing course and Improv workshop (I jammily got a scholarship for some of it). I talked Mark Brailsford of The Treason Show into running a sketch-writing course a couple of years ago for me and some of my students, but as I’ve barely written a thing since then, I realized I need another kick up the arse to get on with it, so this is it.
When/how did you start planning your trip?
About January I think – I had wanted to go for ages but didn’t think I could afford it. Then I realised you couldn’t let a little thing like money get in the way of something this big. People always say things like, ‘I could never afford kids’, but then they have kids and, yes, they drain your money away but you still end up with kids. Chicago’s like that, it will drain my money away but I’ll still have Chicago (only Chicago won’t hate me in 15yrs time or wish it had never been born).
What are you most excited about?
Everything, too much, I don’t know where to start - everything. Learning new stuff, doing wall to wall improv, seeing loads of shows – the shit and the good, seeing a new city, hanging out with improv chums.
Are there any shows you HAVE to see while you're over there?
Well, I’m going through NYC on the way there and back, so I desperately wanted to see Asssscat, but it seems I’m on the wrong bloody days! So in Chicago I want to see Whirled News, TJ and Dave, Too Much Water Makes the Baby Go Blind (not improv but highly recommended by friends), Timprovisation, Improvised Shakespeare, The Armando Diaz Experience. I also wanted to see The Reckoning but they’ve only gone and moved to LA.
I’m researching a female sci-fi writer who called herself James Tiptree Jr. (Alice B. Sheldon). I found out recently that she was born in Chicago so I may find myself in the City Library or visiting her previous homes or something. I only have 2 weeks so I’ll have to prioritise. The plan is I write a play about her – her parents were explorers, she became a CIA agent, fantastic painter, writer, married twice then shot herself and her husband in the head when he got past it.
Oh yeah, and the Thrift shops and second-hand bookstores.
And I have to buy ‘Butterfingers’, apparently.
How do you think the trip will change you?
I don’t think I’ll be a better improviser in a couple of weeks, but I think I’ll be a better teacher and I’ll have more sense of what I’m aiming for when I’m improvising. I think it’ll put some of the work we’ve done with visiting USA actors into context. I’ll also be poorer and fatter by the end, I should imagine.
Do you think you'll go back another time?
I certainly hope so. I’d also like to spend more time in NYC and maybe LA, but only for the improv, mind. I’ve put off going to the US because I’m terrified of flying (the nice calm bit where nothing happens is the worst – that’s when I imagine the horrors that may await me).
If you could name a new impro group anything you like, what would it be?
The Now People
Jen performs in The Maydays and Fluxx.
Follow all the UK improvisers going to Chicago at #ChicaGoUK.
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