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.
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 […]
Learn rigidly. Play loose. The Johnsons are the most dyed-in-the-wool Improv As Improv Does Best group there is. Makes sense. I coach them. They were taught the contents of this website. They learned the mechanics of spontaneous collaboration. But the desire has never been for them to conform to one style of improv as dictated by […]
A monologist shares a personal story. Ideally one recreating their emotions about a specific moment with rich details. Performers then replace the speaker on stage with a series of scenes inspired by the monologue. Ideally not just scenes reenacting the recollection but scenes that heighten the ideas of the monologue through new contexts. Maybe the monologist […]
Looking for a fun character-based Opening for your long-form improv format? Try a Duologue or, like The Johnsons do, try several. Here are two examples - [wpvideo gLsIn4rT]
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 […]
Ask your troupe what they want to work on. A comment by Alan Volmer during a Johnsons rehearsal led to this move being added to the group's bag of tricks. THE BODY SNATCHER: A third player takes over either Player One's or Player Two's character. If Player Three chooses to take on Player Two's character, […]
The Johnsons hosted a BBQ and everyone came. But they spaced out their arrival to allow time to heighten the sequence between new entries. Check it out. [wpvideo jJJTjvrC] To clarify: That last line out of Jonathan is "I brought the hounds of hell." The Johnsons are: Scott Beckett, Shawn Hambright, Townsend Hart, John Hilowitz, […]
As a warm-up exercise or a short-form performance game, Four Corners is a fun way to explore two person scenes and subsequent beats. Check out this wonderful example from The Coalition Theater's class showcase. I am particularly fond of the players' choice to enthusiastically agree and trust in the power of emotion alone when met […]
Mirroring/repeating language, details and rules heightens a group’s work while keeping it cohesive. INVOCATION – Players stand in a half circle. On the count of three, a “god” appears before them that they will worship in three phases: First, they will describe it physically; “Oh, God, with your fowl beak.” Second, they will address its […]