Advice to new Maude writers and actors
Someone actually did ask for this, so I’m not just on a high horse (I mean, I am literally, not metaphorically; I’m riding a horse right now!). A lot of new people got put on Maude teams late last night and I thought I should share some things I’ve learned after being a writer on Thunder Gulch for two and a half years.
- Pay attention. Yes, we are all individual writers, but just because your sketch is not being read or ran through does not mean you shouldn’t be paying attention. Your fellow writers need your eye and comedic voice to tweak and offer jokes. Your actors need your comedic fan brain watching and reacting to them.
- Your first drafts will not be perfect. Do not be insulted or indignant when you bring in the sketch that killed in your 201 and it gets notes. It’s getting the notes for a reason. Listen. Also do not kill yourself trying to make a first draft perfect. It’s a first draft. Give it your all, and bring in what you have. A killer first page is absolutely enough for the rest of your team to generate ideas.
- Cut back on the jokes. Right now, new writers, you might not be used to having actors actually read the words you have written. You also might not be used to having your stuff put up in front of the great crowds Maude night brings in. I am personally guilty of falling in love with my words and cramming way too many jokes into every chunk of dialogue; the audience will not hear them because they will be laughing at that killer other joke you wrote. Find the best jokes, keep the best jokes, cut the mediocre ones or the ones you only put in to please yourself. Keep it clean and tight.
- Writers, your actors are comedic geniuses. They were put on your team for a reason. Remember that, in the UCB community, odds are your actors are also writers themselves. If they have a joke pitch, take it seriously. If they go off book and riff, relish it. When your actors are running through your sketch, watch it like you are watching it from the audience. If something they add genuinely makes you laugh, keep it in. It is absolutely an honor that they love your sketch enough to put themselves into it like that, do not squash it by being married to your words. This is a team.
- Actors, know when to play and when to work. Add your lines, play with your character, but when it comes time for the final dress rehearsal and tech, know your lines. The time for riffing is done, it’s time to run the show and buckle down on perfecting the awesome sketch shows you just wrote.
- Be fearless on stage. No matter how bad you think a sketch is going, know that the one thing the audience REALLY hates, even more than a bad sketch, is seeing fear. The worst sketch, acted with the utmost confidence and joy, can still be fun to watch. The stage is your battlefield, you are an ACTOR on MAUDE NIGHT. People paid money to see you. You are amazing.
- Don’t fight the notes. You hired your director to direct you. Let them do it. Will they always be right? Probably. They should be. Maybe not. If you disagree with a note, keep calm and talk it out like adults (cause we are all adults, what what!). This is practice for the Real World where you might have to work with higher ups that you don’t agree with.
- Be Brian Craine. That’s my shorthand way of saying, be the person on your team that everyone loves. Help out when asked, be positive, help out when not asked, show up on time, hang out afterwards, be a friend, be the best you you can be. Be Brian Craine.
- Respect your tech. They are also there at the theatre with you, running through a show well after midnight. Unlike you, they are probably doing it anywhere from 4-8 times that month. Respect them. Give them your sketches in show order, print a tracklist for the tech CD, if you have crazy DVD/slide show/sound cues, email them before hand and make sure that the crazy idea you have can actually be done on stage.
- Swagger.
- Have fun and enjoy it. You may forget this, but none of this is under your control. You don’t really have much of a say as to whether or not you or your team stays on Maude Night. Take pride in the fact that you were chosen and give Maude Night everything you can while you can. You are now on a team with people who are going to become your best friends, your family; you might just be doing what you were destined to do for the UCB. This is it. Rock it out.
- And take lots of photos.
