"Who do you tag out?" I've asked improvisers. "Keep the Crazy," some reply. Have more fun with a fun character. It's a fine thought. "Change the catalyst," I say. The audience loves watching improvisers affected by imagined reality. When we heighten the reality we force the affected character into a heightened reaction. So when choosing […]
I love Pattern Play. I love the way an ensemble, focused-outward on making each new move in the service of what they individually have seen come before, can make a group look like it has ESP. I love "the moment." I love the way an authentic reaction to a moment -that in no way could […]
Embodying the Environment. We can be set pieces. We can be crowds. We can be animals. We can be inanimate. Bottom line, we can flesh out the stage picture as Tertiary Players without adding to the dialogue. Check out this great example of players assuming the role of what other players were seeing on a screen.
Aaron Grant once took the stage across from me, making eye contact but planting his feet firmly just beyond the stage right wing. I mirrored him on stage left. He mimed the classic flirtatious fishing move. I played his fish but broke his line bashfully, the stage's distance remaining between us. I danced as someone […]
I sat with across from an executive. It was a benign conversation - a check-in meeting. Neither of us was all that engaged. Looking down at his desk, I noticed he'd arrayed files on his desk in the order of a rainbow - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple (though Roy G. Biv forever, squad). I […]
I love World Building in improvisation. With World Building in mind we can bring focus to our Organic Formats. The first scene of a show starts in a train; the rest of the show exists in that same train. The first scene of a show starts with Little League players. The next scene focuses on […]
I'm wishy washy about improv class showcases. On the one hand, if the point of going through classes is to learn to do performance-ready-level improv, then it seems sadistic to make 101 students "put it up on its feet." But on the other, nothing informs an improviser like improvising and all it entails - collaborating […]
It's all about the Set move. Remember: Anything's an Offer. A group of improvisers gather pre-show. They take off excess clothes. They empty their pockets. They ask about each other's day. One guy tells a story about an out-of-the-blue run-in with an old friend that happened that day. Another improviser tells her own story about […]
I coach The Johnsons, so they've been steeped in a rich tea of group games. They know One Person Scenes. They know To The Ether Games. They know Help Desk Games. And they know Hey Everybody Games. And that knowledge makes them masters of the Organic Game. And that unfortunately means sometimes they perform games […]
Improv As Improv Does Best leverages in-the-moment collaborative discovery. And it's extra special when the audience knows they're "getting it" at the same time as the improvisers. Take this example from The Johnsons. [videopress wP3UmYcM]