Hey Everybody game mechanics allow a group to build a focused direction out of disparate parts. They are so named because, though they have wider applications, they are useful to a player in navigating a scene initiated with a rush of players to the stage. When Townsend Hart starts The Johnsons' group game with "Emergency […]
Mikael Johnson, Jason Saenz and I are Best Friends. And our Best Friends format is one of my favorite. This show was the only show we taped. And while it isn't our best, it'll suffice to document our Slideshow Opening and our Three Character Format. Enjoy "Drunk Camping."
Be careful changing a scene's reality. In improv we're building something out of nothing. So if improvisers make a choice on stage they're moving forward and to negate that choice threatens to stall that forward motion as they scramble to justify the contradiction. Not only do contradictory choices disrupt the scene for the improvisers, it […]
Something fun happens in the Cat Pelts organic group game performed by The Coalition's Fall 2015 Patterns and Games class. Four improvisers enter stage together and navigate the chaos by Seeking Symmeteries. And the audience stays with them through the initial uncertainty because they're comfortable and committed. Watch. [wpvideo 9mROMiIK]
Just imagine. I bet this video is cleaner than your imagination. In fact, this example group game runs on so much enthusiasm and support it's (almost) downright wholesome. [wpvideo tOWnHhPa] Player are: Shahenn Ali, Teddy Armstrong, Amber Hendrix, Jesse Hill, Meredith Hughes, Laura Kelly and Christopher May
Don't solve problems in improv. If there's a fire on stage we want to throw gas on it, not water. A lot of group games start with problem statements. "We need to..." "Let's figure out..." "Brainstorm time!" The problem with problems is that when we're focused on working up a solution we too often deprioritize […]
A solid Hey Everybody example. Watch it. What do you notice? [wpvideo HrEK7Y9P] 1. Repetition is heightening. Laura didn't need to do anything more than repeat "I'm a North Carolina State Mom" to get a laugh at the start of the second pass of the game. In fact, the audience also laughs with a sense […]
"A Massage Convention's an HR hotbed." --> "If OSHA says this is wrong, I don't want to be right." With Hey Everybody mechanics in our back pocket we can confidently jump into chaos knowing that all we need to do is each stick and heighten our individual perspectives while collectively sticking to the order of […]
I am immensely proud of this show and the group that created it. It comes from The Coalition Theater's Fall Patterns and Games Class. In a Patterns and Games, success and failure hinged on the collective performance of the group. And…this class succeeded. Watch them all support each other through a performance that runs the gamut of games – rubric […]
When building Group Games, trust simplicity as The Coalition's Big Bosses did in this To The Ether game. Why? When a pattern is this clearly established and heightened you can reach the point where you don't even need to finish the sequence before the audience is laughing uproariously, having completed the pattern in their own […]