USSR 1730... Vladimir Toma invents a heating device... "Yah, so, this I call...vodka..." The difference between one actor delivering all three of those lines and three improvisers delivering one of those lines apiece is huge in terms of audience reaction. When the audience sees that a player is accepting a choice given to them - […]
Nothing bugs me more than a scene where two improvisers meet stage center, stare only at each other and talk only to and about each other. I get it. Your stage partner is truly the only other active element on stage with you. But, c'mon, show some imagination. The audience likes to see us interact […]
Looking for an exercise to help with creating characters and embracing endowments? Here's one for you.
There's more than one way to build intensity over time. Both scenes work in an improv context. No doubt. But I prefer the second iteration. The second scene is more dynamic. Yes, both Bobs are altered by scene's end and both scenes progress, but in the second scene Bob's change is clearly delineated to establish […]
MY THREE RULES – Everyone in a circle. Here are my three rules. Rule #1: To pass to your right or left, you turn to that person and say their name. Rule #2: To return the pass right back to the person who just spoke to you, say YOUR name. Rule #3: To pass to […]
We want to fill our blank stages with imagined environment. We want to engage physically in that environment to help visualize the imagined. And - most importantly - we want to be emotionally affected by where we are and what we're doing. That's Improv As Improv Does Best. Our fellow player(s) and how they emotionally […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]