Hello! We here at Mindflowers in the past have dicussed improv basics, but here’s just a few new musings on the basics to help you get started or thoughts to keep in mind at whatever your level.
The “Story Spine”: Using the game in pairs or larger groups where you tell a story along the major points of 1) Once upon a time…2) and every day….3) until one day….4) and then… 5) until finally….6) and since that day everyone lived happily ever after…..is very helpful to get into the idea of story arc and moving a scene along. It is helpful to note that there is a period in 1 and 2 where things are going glowingly. This can be thought of the character and relationship building period where you are also very positive (!) with your partners. This holds off conflict and lets everyone find happy spaces in their relations where rapport and the seeds of objectives can be sown through the characters.
“Raise the stakes” Mounting tension to the point of ridiculousness is a fun part of improv and a fun part of life in general. This is the way that we tell our tragic stories of our days right? “So I spilt coffee on my shirt and then guess what? I had my job performance review!” Do you feel a scene lagging? It may be that there’s a fear hiding there-a fear of taking things to a more dangerous level. But remember! Raising the stakes may not always mean making the horrors more unbelievable. It may be that things get much better. Or even to “the best!” Your partner may become endowed with being “the best” pig caller in Topeka!
“Follow the gossip” There are times when in a scene, someone may go for the joke or begin to waffle and ‘gossip’ and make ‘nudge nudge’ comments more to the audience than in their scene. These comments can become boring and waffling should certainly be avoided in favor of action, but one way of racheting these moments up is by ‘following the gossip’. This may involve a ‘jump cut’ feel where someone off stage (or on stage) calls to see what it would look like if the ‘gossip’ would be played out. Use sparingly, of course. Its better to keep actional, stay away from jokey comments, or playing the ‘wink wink’ to your audience.
“Vulnerability” If I had anything to say to new improv-ers, it would be to remain vulnerable. Its the players who seem unflappable at their first tries at improv that must be reminded of this. It may be easy (easier than you think!) to step into a feeling of “I know what’s going on” when you’re new to improv and come across as an ‘actional’ player when really you may be forming the habit of bullying people around. I say this because I learned the hard way. Believe me-its been my bane. So I now keep in mind: ‘vulnerability is the beginning of ethics’ and I treat scenes like an ethical exercise. This doesn’t mean that I can’t play a sadist, or even an antagonist, but I do keep in mind that every character must be impressionable-otherwise their player is a tyrannt. First and foremost-listen to what has been said and let it permeate you. You may be a strong character, yes, but one must keep in mind that the scene is shared and everyone is directing it. A simple ‘in’ for me to get out of the “invulnerable dickhead” habit is to love on the other characters. This may mean that you play low status characters, or that you emphasize the ‘positivity’ and rapport in the beginning of scenes. I speak as one who has been burned by this aspect of improv.
“Trust” A good litmus test as to whether you are not trusting your fellow players is if your scenes feel like work. If it feels like “they’re just not playing the right scene!” you’re not trusting your partner. I have come to the conclusion that if the best improv-er ever just trusted their partner, something enjoyable and entertaining would arise. “But!” you may counter, “What if my partner is horrible?” The simple answer is trust. And keep to the basics: (CROW…character, relationship, objective, where) you’ll be fine. Scripting, invulnerability, waffling, they all come from a lack of trust. You will never come out looking bad if you give all to your partner.
“Give and take” This means sharing stage space. Talking with two people on stage will be a back and forth and most likely fall into an equal space sharing if both are trusting each other. When more folks are piled on stage, each must sit back and take a smaller piece of the pie. I was once in a scene where in a bakery we started out with a group of four and had good rapport and character and were sharing space and then we had four more characters added to our bakery. Everything fell apart. Why? Because there was now 8 pieces to share equally and that’s a tough challenge! But, if relationships are solid, you can rely on spatiality, gesture, bodies, touch, to express all you need without taking too big a bite out of the stage. In fact, some of my most pleasurable watching during that exercise was watching those who never said a word and were just ‘in the moment’ of the madness!
Hope some of these notes are helpful, and as I’m just a greenhorn myself, I will of course welcome comments/critiques!
If you want to see some bad coffee orderers, go to the mid-west. They’re not accustomed to it yet. They always had Lutheran church ‘coffee hour’ after services and the most thought they had to put into getting a cup was how to avoid the choir director’s
