MAM at the Improv Slam

The weekend after Thanksgiving I found myself at Dirty South Improv getting an acoustic memory workout. The two improv teams, in their attempt to take home the gold, called on the audience for backup, putting all of us in memory boot camp.

Why so much work?
Audience participation. It's a staple of the improv slam. At one point we all participated in something I'm going to call My Acoustic Memory Shuffle.

An acoustic memory shuffle?
Right. The red team left the stage while the black team asked the audience to list favorite movie lines and favorite song lyrics. And please note, the 7:30 show was an all ages show, and as DSI promised, the show was fit for everyone from the 5-year-old to the grandparent. And that made things even more challenging. More about that shortly.

What movie line did you contribute?
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Was it hard to keep the suggestions clean for the family?
Yes, as you can see, my potty mouth got into my acoustic memory with the “d” word.

What movie line did your 10-year-old like the most?
“Dobby is free.”

Which song lyric didn’t make sense?
De Doo Doo Doo De Da Da Da

What did they do with the lines that the audience suggested?
The black team wrote each line on a strip of paper and then scattered the strips on the stage before calling the other team back to the stage.

Then what happened to the acoustic memories?
The red team came back on stage, and there was a request for the audience to name a place where people get things done. A child shouted out, “the office," but it was pointed out that people really don’t get much done at the office. Someone else hollered out “grocery store,” and the three members of the red team immediately started to improvise dialogue and mime actions of shoppers in the grocery store. As the scene progressed, it became apparent they were portraying two old farts with a grandson in tow.

Once the scene was established for the audience, they started inserting the lines from the songs and movies into the dialogue by cueing up a statement, such as, “And then he said to me…” and then stooping over, picking up a piece of paper, and reading the line to finish the sentence.

But was it funny?
Yes, it was hilarious. Uh, maybe you had to be there. And you can go, but you have to come to Carrboro, North Carolina, to see Improv Slam played Dirty South Improv style.

Can I try this at home?
Yes, please do. It would be the perfect entertainment for family gatherings during that next set of holidays that starts in December. All you need is a pencil, some paper, two teams of three people and some other random family members to make line suggestions, laugh or boo. And acoustic memories. Of course, you need lots of acoustic memories.


De doo doo doo, de da da da/ Is all I want to say to you
-Sting

Sufferin 'til Suffrage

Hey y’all, pull down your levers! It’s time to vote.

Last week my 5th grader memorized the amendments to the Constitution. I had to plead the 5th when he asked me to explain the 9th. But I’ll never forget the 19th amendment, oh no.

Saturday mornings I’d wake up and bake cinnamon rolls from a tin can and eat them while I watched cartoons in the den. Schoolhouse Rock infiltrated the mix of Scooby Doo and Lidsville. Remember "Sufferin 'til Suffrage"? You know the 19th amendment “struck down that restrictive rule.” That lyric refers to the turn of the 19th century, when women who had the right to vote in certain states lost that right. The 19th amendment ensured women would not be denied the right to vote on account of their sex. My grandmothers Elizabeth and Rose were able to vote when they reached the age of majority, but not their mothers, Lucille and Flora, respectively.

Voting rights used to vary from state to state. My current state of residence was the last state to remove the restriction that voters had to own property. That change occurred in 1856. Even in our times, it was not until 1971 that the 26th amendment established that in all states the legal voting age would be 18. So my sister was able to vote in ’74 when she was 19. She’d been waiting, too; I still remember the McGovern poster in her bedroom in ’72.

Here’s more to read on the history of voting rights, but you might want to save this reading material until after you vote—I don’t want to impinge on your voting time!

Disclaimer: There was a time that I was so turned off by politics that I was an independent, not because I wanted to remain impartial, but because I thought I was above it all that way. Now I’m affiliated with a party, and I’m humbled by my right to vote. I see it as part of my duty to model good citizenship for my children, and as a tribute to the people who came before me to ensure my right to vote.

No literacy test, no poll tax. I’m voting. Because I can.

And now we pull down on the lever/
Cast our ballots and we endeavor/
To improve our country, state, county, town, and school.
"Sufferin 'til Suffrage" Schoolhouse Rock