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
I adore this scene. In just over a minute 10 players flood the scene. They evolve by following and reacting. Even though a central player emerges, there is no leader. Listen to the audience's reaction. Yes, it comes at a great place in the pacing of a pattern-heavy show. Yes, the final line is a […]
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 […]
The clip embedded below shows the 1A, 2A and 3A scenes from a Harold in succession. It shows how, instead of just following plot through the beats, one character's emotional behavior - in this case, Matt Newman's reaction to learning that people close to him are sleeping together - can be heightened through scenarios beyond […]
As said best in Truth in Comedy, “The Harold is like the space shuttle, incorporating all of the developments and discoveries that have gone before it into one new, superior design.” The other way around, Harold’s learnings pack in the lion’s share of what you need to know to do any other long-form, which is […]
Seek symmetries. Empower asymmetries. Establish rules of cause and effect. Repeat. These steps help guide a group of improvisers in crafting a collaboratively-established game they can heighten together. "Simplify," is my directive to students learning how to build group games organically. If you have more than two or three perspectives each vying to be heard, […]