// The Ultimate Harold Breakdown//

Took my first class at The Annoyance tonight with Lilly Allison. Saying she was “no nonsense” would be an extreme understatement. I was inspired by the obvious way she loved and respected improvisation as an art form, enough to slam most Harolds performed in Chicago, likening them to Jazz bands staging a cacophony of unrelated notes.

Lilly’s been improvsing since she was 14 and has played everywhere from iO, Second City TourCo and The Annoyance, where she calls home, so she knows this city, the scene and most importantly her shit. She broke down a lot of improv today like I’ve never experienced it before. Everything from making choices, awareness, patterns and the historical roots of improvisation. But what blew my mind was the way she broke down The Harold, in its ideal form, as your “6th Grade Essay”:

  1. SUGGESTION (Title): “Halloween”
  2. OPENING: (Introduction) The opening is used to brainstorm and communicate with the ensemble. This is where the many ideas are presented as a team and ideas are identified to be used as AMMO for your Harold.
  3. ACT 1: (Body Paragraph 1) State your ideas and explore
    1. SCENE (Supporting Evidence 1): “Dress Up”
    2. SCENE (Supporting Evidence 2): “Neighbors”
    3. SCENE (Supporting Evidence 3): “Candy Corn”
  4. GAME: Narrowing of THEME. What did these disparate scenes have in common? What were some themes reflected? (“Youth gone by”)
  5. ACT 2: (Body Paragraph 2) Repeat/Heighten your ideas and explore
    1. SCENE (Supporting Evidence 1): “Dress Up”
    2. SCENE (Supporting Evidence 2): “Neighbors”
    3. SCENE (Supporting Evidence 3): “Candy Corn”
  6. GAME: Narrowing of THEME. What did these 2nd Beat scenes have in common? What were some themes reflected? (“Disillusionment”)
  7. ACT 3: (Body Paragraph 3) What are the natural connections/collisions in these worlds?
    1. SCENE: “Dress Corn”
    2. SCENE: “Neighbor’s Candy”
    3. SCENE: “Dressed up neighbors”
  8. CLOSING: (Conclusion) A group closing, a monolog, a phrase, a song, whatever that can restate our Thesis.

This might be a super wordy way to look at it, but it makes a lot more sense as far the Harold or any long form piece as being an improvised comedic exploration of a word and its associated themes. Until today, I looked at the Harold as a structure to perform improvisation within, instead of it being improvisation itself. The Harold is a Choice, Awareness of that choice, the exploration and heightening of that choice and repeat.