The key to sustainable, dynamic two person scenes that are most conducive to improv as improv does best is setting up patterns of emotional behavior. While in the Facebook age, the world defines their friends by who, what, where and when, we know we know a person when we can say, “That’s how he is.” […]
We enter a scene only to serve what is already in play. We enter to heighten a Personal Game. We enter to heighten a Scenic Game. We may help our fellow players by focusing them on one aspect of the scene when they're juggling too much, but in that effort we are focusing on what […]
Subsequent beats leverage an aspect of an originating scene in setting up a new scene. But… As our goal in any scene is establishing and heightening patterns of emotional behavior, initiations of subsequent beats that clearly focus attention on emotional reaction get us to our meat faster and leverage the power of pacing and pattern […]
I like formats. Playing within The Harold's dictated structure of Opening, 1A, 1B, 1C, Group Game, 2A, 2B, 2C, Group Game and 3A/B/C an improviser can spend less time on the wings worrying about what to initiate and more time focused on how to initiate. I like rules. Rules free us to play Pavlovianly and […]
Don't let becoming a good improviser keep you from becoming a great improviser. Believing in your ability is good; being open to your weakness in committing to constant betterment is great. Finding a personal understanding of what works for you on stage is good; staying receptive to the ideas of even the greenest improviser is […]