» mechanics

Looking for another exercise to help players drill Organic Group Games?  Look no further.

Improvisation: Making it up as you go along. A group of players gets on stage without previously rehearsed lines or blocking and acts out. The audience understands that this show is constructed from nothing before their eyes. In these aspects, improvisational performance differentiates itself from any other performance medium. Improvisation then is at its best […]

THE SELF CONTAINED EMOTIONAL STATEMENT How do you start an improv scene? My answer was forged from the perspective of giants' shoulders. Mick Napier, of The Annoyance Theater, says we start with just one thing. - Assume a posture. - Grab an object. - Start a motion. - Engage your environment. - Embody a character. […]

OFFER, SET, CEMENT: THAT'S GAME! Some definitions: Pattern - a sequence that can be repeated / a structure that can be reused Game – a sequence of actions, related by rules of cause-and-effect, that heightens with repetition A rocketship, A thumb and An aardvark. That's a fine pattern. A rocketship, A thumb and An aardvark. […]

When we whine that we don’t want to do group game work anymore, we ask, “Can we just do some two person scenes?” We want to breathe. And we equate “two person scene” with “time to breathe up top.” There’re just two of us; there’s less impetus to force our voice into the scene. We’re […]

Pop quiz, hotshot. When do you add on to a two person scene in progress? A. When you have a funny idea B. When the scene needs to be saved C. When there are holes in the information on stage D. When you want to get in on the fun E. When you can heighten […]

Pop quiz, hotshot. What do you take as inspiration in initiating subsequent beats of a scene during a long-form show? A. This makes me think of that B. If this then what C. If first beat is "a day in the life," then second beat is "the day when X happens" D. If a character […]

If beauty is defined by symmetries and proportional asymmetries – and it is – then we can craft beautiful trajectories in our scenes through pattern mechanics, employing triggers and caps to link heightening personal and scenic games. A scene that ends where it began - with a reformed character returnng to an old habit. A […]

We play with the three core elements of improvisation - The Details,  Emotional Reactions and Patterns - in balance.  We don't over-rely on being clever, which works as long as we are clever and fails us the moment we aren't.  We don't over-play our emotional range with erratic characters that, at best, the audience just can't follow and, at […]