Breaking the Plane – Players define where their characters are in relation to each other by choosing where to “look” for that character. Using this ability, there are so many different cool ways for us to fracture our improv stage - enabling new heights, depths, distances, and other spatial relationships. For example, in a baseball scene, […]
Understanding the atomic structure of patterns can help a group collaboratively build complex and evolving molecules. Devotion to pattern analysis will foster Pavlovian pattern recognition. Pattern – a sequence that can be repeated / a structure that can be reused Game – a sequence of actions, related by rules of cause-and-effect, that heightens with repetition […]
Walk-ons – we can enter a two player scene in progress as another character, offering a move that contributes to the progression of the game(s) at play. Two high school boys are feeling self conscious in the hallway so Player 3 enters as a mean girl to point out their foibles. Two players are arguing over […]
“Cut-to” – when players doing a scene refer to a particular moment (from the past, future, etc.), a player comes onstage and announces “Cut to: that moment” and we see the moment. A comfortable ensemble can perform the “cut-to” (also called flashback, show me, etc.) without telegraphing the move by shouting “Cut to.” As with walk-ons, a “cut to” […]
Tag out – a “tag out” allows the audience to see how a character from a previous scene will react to another character/scenario/etc. To perform a tag out, a player enters a scene in progress and literally tags the player that he/she will replace on stage. The player tagging in should work to be clear in […]
Scene Painting/ “We See” – we can come in from offstage to describe (and physicalize) a previously unseen “visual” aspect of the scene. For example, a pompous character is painted with a monocle, “#1 Boss” button, etc. For another example, a scene with a child bemoaning having to do his/her chores is painted with a window […]
Pivot (Swivel/Barn Door) – Rather than Tag Out and Tag Back In, the Pivot allows two scenes to happen without players having to leave stage. For example, Player 1 is telling Player 2 all about his success in last night’s date. Player 3 enters stage on the other side of Player 1 from Player 2 to […]
https://videos.files.wordpress.com/jcgR04oo/johnsons-and-detective-walk-on-off-w-split-screen_hd.mp4 Split Screen – To heighten a two-person scene, Player Three and Player Four initiate a new scene - on the same stage, but existing in separate physical spaces. For example, a scene about a married couple fretting over money can be heightened by a couple of mice fretting over cheese. These two (or more) separate […]
Mapping – Exploring an idea through the filter of another scenario's language and objects. For example, player one is a businessman being bothered by player two, a salesman. If in trying to get the salesman to leave him alone the businessman uses language that we all recognize from a “break-up scenario,” such as “it’s not you […]