{"id":17685,"date":"2023-10-05T16:07:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T21:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/?p=17685"},"modified":"2023-10-10T14:46:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T19:46:32","slug":"cooperation-and-comedy-joel-mccrary-shares-techniques-with-students-during-improv-workshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/05\/cooperation-and-comedy-joel-mccrary-shares-techniques-with-students-during-improv-workshop\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooperation And Comedy: Joel McCrary Shares Techniques With Students During Improv Workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Texas A&M University students experienced the art of improv on Sept. 29 during a workshop session with Joel McCrary, a veteran actor and improv comedian, at the Black Box Theater in the Liberal Arts and Arts and Humanities building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants learned that improv is the \u201cart of cooperation,\u201d according to McCrary, who engaged in in-depth improv scenes and one-on-one techniques for three hours with the students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the Los Angeles-based professional’s roles include Prime Minister Motaz in \u201cThe Princess Diaries\u201d movies and in TV shows including \u201cKickin\u2019 It,\u201d \u201cMalcolm in the Middle\u201d and \u201cSeinfeld.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The workshop was sponsored by the Texas A&M School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts<\/a> and its Performance Studies<\/a> program. Dr. Michelle Simms, lecturer, and Anne Quackenbush, assistant professor of practice, served as facilitators for the session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it was a huge success,\u201d Quackenbush said. \u201cThe students were able to hear his backstory and have the input of someone who has made it in the industry \u2014 to acknowledge it\u2019s something that is achievable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Photo by Jeremy Galindo, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before the fun and games began, McCrary shared the origin of his love of improv. Each Christmas Eve, his family would gather in the living room of his grandparents\u2019 house and put together a performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery year I would do a sketch of \u2018Saturday Night Live\u2019 or a sketch from \u2018The Carol Burnett Show,\u2019\u201d McCrary said. \u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t write it out. I would wrangle my mom, my sister or my cousin \u2014 but somebody different each year \u2014 to perform a skit with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initial reaction from his grandfather, known as \u201cBig Slick,\u201d forever resonated with him. \u201cBig Slick\u201d had an injury that left him in chronic pain in his back and legs. Because of the pain, he had a constant scowl on his face, McCrary said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was improvising a scene with my mom, and everybody was laughing,\u201d McCrary recalled. \u201cIn the midst of that, I have a snapshot in my head of seeing \u2018Big Slick\u2019 laugh, and there was no pain on his face. I felt like I was seeing my grandfather\u2019s face for the very first time in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCrary said it was a life-changing moment. He realized he wanted to dedicate his life to performing and giving people a sense of relief through laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs performers \u2014 whether it is dancing, writing or anything else \u2014 I want you all to know it is a noble profession,\u201d McCrary said. \u201cAll of the arts are important. People need it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Photo by Jeremy Galindo, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Members of Freudian Slip<\/a>, Texas A&M\u2019s student improv-comedy troupe, participated in several sketches with McCrary. \u201cMy Movie\u201d was an improv game in which four people stand side-by-side and repeat \u201cMy movie\u201d three times. McCrary then called on one of them to say a made-up movie title. If he deemed it interesting, the group would then improvise a scene from the made-up movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another game was \u201cExpert,\u201d in which someone portrayed an expert in a topic chosen by the audience. McCrary acted as the interviewer and took questions from the audience. Govind Joshi, a first-year graduate student in computer science, volunteered, and the audience requested that he be an expert in time travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCrary asked what type of \u201cbeing\u201d he was, and Joshi said he was an alien.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCrary’s question for the alien time-traveler: \u201cOften we see in films that you can\u2019t travel back into time and see yourself, otherwise all existence will fall apart. Is that true?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou all have gotten dangerously close to the truth,\u201d Joshi whispered in reply. \u201cAnd what you mentioned is true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshi said he participated in the workshop after hearing about it in his Special Topics: Improv class, instructed by Simms and Quackenbush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the workshop, Joshi said he learned more about himself through McCrary\u2019s lessons about using storytelling skills as a form of communication, listening and responding to offers and being definitive in responses. Joshi said he is hoping to apply the communication skills he learned in improv to his social life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to learn to think on my feet,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd coming to this workshop, I think a lot of the fears that you have, you have to placate them. As a weird comparison, it\u2019s almost like a vaccine. You face the difficulty in a controlled environment, and then when you are out and about in the real world, you have to face whatever comes at you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simms said it was rewarding to see the students move out of their comfort zones to be present in the moment, especially those who were new to improv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is the beauty of the arts,\u201d she said. \u201cImprov is a different soft skill set that is so valuable. Whether you are majoring in this or not, you can translate it to everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"College
Photo by Jeremy Galindo, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas A&M University students experienced the art of improv on Sept. 29 during a workshop session with Joel McCrary, a veteran actor and improv comedian, at the Black Box Theater in the Liberal Arts and Arts and Humanities …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"featured_media":17707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[58,144],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCooperation And Comedy: Joel McCrary Shares Techniques With Students During Improv Workshop - Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Participants learned that improv is the \u201cart of cooperation,\u201d according to McCrary, who engaged in in-depth improv scenes and one-on-one techniques for three hours with the students.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/05\/cooperation-and-comedy-joel-mccrary-shares-techniques-with-students-during-improv-workshop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cooperation And Comedy: Joel McCrary Shares Techniques With Students During Improv Workshop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Participants learned that improv is the \u201cart of cooperation,\u201d according to McCrary, who engaged in in-depth improv scenes and one-on-one techniques for three hours with the students.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/05\/cooperation-and-comedy-joel-mccrary-shares-techniques-with-students-during-improv-workshop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tamupvfa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-05T21:07:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-10T19:46:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SEHD3436-web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"robclark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@tamupvfa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@tamupvfa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"robclark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/05\/cooperation-and-comedy-joel-mccrary-shares-techniques-with-students-during-improv-workshop\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/05\/cooperation-and-comedy-joel-mccrary-shares-techniques-with-students-during-improv-workshop\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"robclark\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/9f6f92d18d5bc0deccbeb90ae781afb8\"},\"headline\":\"Cooperation And Comedy: Joel McCrary Shares Techniques With Students During Improv Workshop\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-05T21:07:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-10T19:46:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/05\/cooperation-and-comedy-joel-mccrary-shares-techniques-with-students-during-improv-workshop\/\"},\"wordCount\":856,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Performance and Visual Studies\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/05\/cooperation-and-comedy-joel-mccrary-shares-techniques-with-students-during-improv-workshop\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/05\/cooperation-and-comedy-joel-mccrary-shares-techniques-with-students-during-improv-workshop\/\",\"name\":\"Cooperation And Comedy: Joel McCrary Shares Techniques With Students During Improv Workshop - 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