Being Affected: There's power in being vulnerable enough to accept another player's perspective. Suggested Exercises: HITCHHIKER – One player starts, driving a bus, expressing an emotional perspective ("I love the South"). A second player enters the scene, boarding the bus with a contrasting emotional perspective to the driver ("The South scares me"). Gradually the driver […]
Losing: The best tool in avoiding conflict? Losing. Losing is such a powerful skill. One, it allows players to disengage from talking-head arguments. Two, the losing player wins in the audience’s eyes – don’t ever underestimate the endearing quality of a player who is willing to be affected Bite your tongue. Swallow your pride. Engage […]
Attract, Don’t Fight: Will your scene partner not agree to your awesome idea? Don’t fight him on it. Show him why what you want is superior. This not only disengages argument but it also engages active scene elements. You want your older brother to build a sandcastle with you. He doesn’t want to. Have so […]
BLIND SCENES – Player One starts engaged in the environment (with an action, object, atmosphere, etc.). Player Two, starting with his back to the stage, has the first line of dialogue. Lessons: • No justification necessary – If players’ initiations don’t align, they don’t have to make sense of why they’re together. They can just […]
FREEZE TAG – Two players engage a scene, having been encouraged to be physical. A third player calls, “Freeze,” causing the players on stage to hold their physical positions at that moment. The third player replaces a player of their choosing, assumes that same physical position and starts a brand new scene. Lessons: • No […]
Objective: A scripted actor’s whole job is to make an audience believe that the emotional reaction they’re rehearsed is real in-the-moment. In improvisation, we have a leg up; we are all experiencing what’s happening for the first time. So just react. Don’t be in your head thinking about how you should feel or why we […]
Objective: Myriad standard improv moves can be used to elevate established scenes (Walk-Ons, Cut-Tos, Tag-Outs, We-Sees, etc.). Intro Students should be made aware of these moves, their vocabulary and their execution.
ACTION PASS – In a circle, a player turns to his left and executes an action, any action. The next player observes that action and attempts to recreate it EXACTLY in turning to the player to their left. Progression: • Do it once through. Then immediately have them do it again focused on slowing down […]
YES, YES I AM – Form lay-up lines on either side of the stage. The player on stage left endows the player on stage right with a strong emotional perspective (“You think Ringo is the best Beatle”). The player from stage right accepts the perspective (“Yes, I do’) and commits through several lines of dialogue […]
HEIGHTENING EMOTIONAL AGREEMENT CIRCLE – A player makes a Self Contained Emotional Statement. It can be as simple as “I love it here,” “I hate the arts,” or “I’m uncomfortable.” Then progressively each person to the right heightens the perspective by agreeing with it – essentially with a “Yes, and.” “I love the beach.” “Yeah, […]