Don't be the improver who initiates a scene by running to center stage and delivering a premise. Don't be an improviser in a scene where two players stand shoulder-to-shoulder, cheating-out, and talking about something not in-the-moment. Don't be a point in the arch of a group game where improvisers stand in a semi-circle and discuss […]
Here's a scene from a Pack show I did with Nick Leveski, a seasoned Chicago improviser. This scene evoked a huge laugh from the audience. Like many stage-to-video improv moments, the laugh gets lost in translation. But I believe I know what the audience liked. We didn't explain the scene; we lived the scene. When […]
Feeling about active endowments. That's Improv As Improv Does Best. It ain't easy. That balance between making up imagined details and committing to feeling about imagined details is tough to manage. Already we're trying to see our world's details instead of thinking up details, but we also have to care about those details in-the-moment. Like […]
Acting. Webster's defines it as: the art or practice of representing a character on a stage or before cameras. Fine. You're acting when you're pretending to be someone else. Then what's "good acting"? Representing that character better. What's "bad acting"? Representing that character worse. How does that relate to improv where the character only exists […]
An improv stage can be anywhere. On it we can do anything. You could be in a submarine on Mars raising talking chickens. Often improvisers are good at labeling the moment. But you need more than words; you have to be in the world. This exercise focuses on attaching emotions to the scene's active elements […]
Your scene partner initiates, telling you, "You're terrible." Does that make you sad? Does that make you angry? What if your scene partner is just "some stupid kid"? Maybe he says, "You're terrible" and you just laugh; "Yeah, okay, I'm terrible." Making a choice about a relationship and relative status can help inform reactions and […]
Objective: To establish and heighten organic group games collaboratively as an ensemble.
Objective: To establish and heighten organic group games collaboratively as an ensemble.
A solid show from The Johnsons. They do a To The Ether Opening followed by 4 first beat scenes (though the 4th tends to have a group game quality about it) and then a run of scenes leveraging old material and focused on patterns and games. [wpvideo 5csEl2f5]
Objective: To build scenes by exploring and heightening committed perspectives.