Spotlight! E-news from Theatrefolk
Issue 5 - ImprovWelcome!
Welcome to our fifth newsletter, focusing on improvisation.In this issue:
- FALL/WINTER 2005 CATALOGUE- Get our latest catalogue.
- ORDER COUPON- Exclusive offer for Spotlight readers
- THE SCRIPT BANK- Our innovative new licensing program is now on-line!
- FIVE IMPORTANT IMPROV GAMES FOR BEGINNERS- Second City Improv Instructor David Pearce gives you some fundamental tools for introducing Improv in the classroom.
- CREATING AN IMPROV PLAY- Lindsay Price gives some tips for creating your own play.
- AN ACTOR IMPROVISES- Lindsay and Craig discuss how an actor can use improv skills.
- EXERCISE BONANZA- Great resources for improv exercises.
- BOOK REPORT - Lindsay reviews The Second City Almanac of Improvisation
- YOU ASKED FOR IT - We answer your questions.
- CONFERENCE ALERT - Meet us in person.
- IN THE NEXT ISSUE - What you can expect next.
- STAY IN TOUCH - Contact info/Read our blog.
Fall/Winter 2005 Catalogue
Our latest catalogue is now available.What's New?
- Ten New Scripts - Something for everyone.
- The Script Bank - More details below.
- Free Shipping on orders of 8 or more scripts.
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Five Important Improv Games for Beginners
Dave Pearceis an Improv Performer Extrodinaire. He is currently an instructor with the presigious Second City Training Centre here in Toronto and is a member of Slap Happy Improv , three-time winners of the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Improv Troupe. We knew Dave was the best person to ask about Improv Games for Beginners.
There are excellent resources for the budding improv teacher, including the seminal works by Viola Spolin ( Improvisation for the Theatre ) and Keith Johnstone ( Impro for Storytellers ), so take this top five list with the grain of salt it deserves. Still within these five games are the seeds of solid improvisation, particularly in terms of accepting, teamwork, physicality, and scene construction.1)Yes, Let’s
How it works
Someone suggests an activity (with an emphasis on ACTIVITY... watch out for the "funny” student who yells "Let’s Stop!"). Everyone else in the group yells "Yes, Let’s" (thus the name) and proceeds to mime the activity. This continues until another student suggests a new activity, to which everyone again responds "Yes, Let’s", and the cycle continues anew.
Students should be encouraged to treat each suggestion with the same level of enthusiasm, regardless of their personal feelings about it.
What it teaches
The students learn the joy of leaping into each suggestion (or "offer") with enthusiasm. By embracing each idea as it emerges, they train themselves to look for possibilities. The overwhelming acceptance of an offer teaches the student giving the suggestion that their ideas are valid and useful in building a scene.
For advanced students
Have them embrace the activity, but colour it with their own emotion. Perform the sport or task as if it were an Olympic sport and they were the best in the world, or as if they had never done it before, or as if they were furious, elated, depressed, etc.
2)Yes, And
How it works
Level 1: In a circle, have all the participants tell a story, with each subsequent student taking the next sentence in the story. However, each sentence after the first must begin with the phrase "Yes, and…"
Example: The teacher would start with "Today I went to the store." The first student might say "Yes, and I bought an apple." "Yes, and it had a worm in it". "Yes, and I was angry."
Level 2: Have the students perform the exercise in pairs, and act out the action as it occurs.
What it teaches
"Yes, And" is the central tenet of most scenic improvisation, as conveyed in the phrase "bring a brick, not a cathedral". It reminds the students that they are responsible for only one offer, reinforces the idea that they don’t have to be clever, and demonstrates that the construction and performance of a scene is a collaborative effort. To further reinforce the value of "Yes, And", the teacher could start the exercise by using "No, but", "No, and" and "Yes, but", to demonstrate how these common thoughts prohibit creativity, and stop people from making valuable offers. With these phrases, it’s unlikely that the story would make it around the circle because so much disagreement about details will occur. Accept the offer, and build on it, don’t judge it.
For advanced students
Coach the performers to find a "platform" (who are they, where they are, what’s happening), then to get into trouble, then to a resolution by using "Yes, And."
3)Tableau
How it works
Level 1: The instructor provides the title to a "sculpture" or "photo", then has three students step forward and become that tableau. To encourage full participation, one of the three students can then pick the next three participants. Titles can be drawn from such fill-in-the-blank suggestions as "A Day at the ___" or "My new _____" , etc.
Level 2: After the students have formed the tableau/sculpture, another student steps forward and outlines the details of the piece, justifying each position. While maintaining the fill-in-the-blank suggestions, titles can also be strings of nonsense words, forcing a higher level of justification.
What it teaches
Tableau can teach many things, depending on what your emphasis is as an instructor. A) It demonstrates the value of taking a risk when making an offer, as the more outrageous poses draw an immediate response from the audience, and forces the "describer" to make some very strong choices in order to justify the pose. B) That any offer can, should, and will be supported by the other performers, as the students describing must use all the details of the poses. Also, any posing student who finds themselves uninspired could support someone who has made a very strong choice by copying that pose, or complementing the pose. C) That physical offers are very important ones, and that a physical offer in a scene should be noticed, and "Yes, And"-ed.
For advanced students
Combine this exercise with "Yes, And", to perform "Slide Show". Two students will tell a "Yes, And" story about their trip to some exotic locale or interesting cultural festival. Whenever they’re about to describe what happened, they yell, "click", whereupon two or three other students form the "slides" from the trip. The students telling the story then justify the details of the slide, thus providing the truly interesting details of their trip.
4)Gibberish Storytelling
How it works
Level 1: Students pair up. Each thinks of a TRUE story that happened to them in the past little while. One of the pair tells the other the story for about a minute. Then, the receiving partner tells that story back to the original teller, but in a made up language. Then, switch.
Level 2: Still paired up (with new partners), the students tell their true story in gibberish. Then their partner tells the story back, but in English. Then switch.
What it teaches
By relating a story back to the original teller in gibberish, the teller will see where physicality and emotion are important pieces of information when performing. Thus, the only recognizable parts of the original English version, once we switch to gibberish, are the more emotional, physical parts. In the second level, students are focusing on being actively physical and emotional, to more accurately convey their story.
For advanced students
Poet’s Corner. Have one student perform a poem or short story as if they were a performance artist. Another student translates each line. Coach the "poet" to be specific in their choices and to use the "translation" as if it were an offer to be "Yes, And"-ed. i.e. the translator is always correct, even if they misread the poet’s intentions.
5)ABC
How it works
This is a very artificial layout of story structure. Person A physically conveys the "Where" of the scene, without dialogue. Coach the student to think of both an activity, and the environment around them. Person B enters, and in one line of dialogue, sets up both the "Who" and the circumstances of the scene. e.g. "Dad ( who), I need the keys to the car ( circumstances)." Person A then responds with another, complementary "Who", and creates a problem. e.g. "Sorry Jimmy (who 2), the car’s in the shop. ( problem)" Person B then makes the problem worse, either by adding another problem to the first or by raising the stakes of the situation. e.g. "But I’m going on a date with Jennine tonight! (PROBLEM WORSE because of the stakes)" Person C then enters the scene and solves everything. e.g. "Hey, Jennine just called and she’s dumped you" or "Hey, Jimmy, I can lend you my motorcycle!".
What it teaches
Essentially, almost all story structure follows some element of this very artificial template. Students should be aware of where they are in the story, and what’s missing. Do they know the Who, What, Where? Is there a problem to be solved, either between the characters or otherwise (environment, the supernatural, internally, etc.)? Are the stakes of the scene high enough? Is there a way to end the problem? While having a third person enter with a solution smacks of Deus ex Machina, it does teach the students that even when they aren’t in the scene, they should be looking to help itby adding any missing elements.
For advanced students
Have the students extend each of the above sections. The person indicating setting should more fully explore the environment and any activity they have. Rather than immediately setting circumstances, once the second character arrives, the two performers can explore the relationship. Once problems begin, the characters can try and solve it, only to fail, and be forced to resort to different tactics. This time, the resolution should come from the two original characters, not from an external source.
In Summary
Obviously, these aren’t necessarily the only five games to teach, nor should you necessarily start with the first and move the fifth (though they are provided in order of difficulty). Still, each of the ideas of Acceptance, Advancing, Physicality, Risk and full scenework are covered here, so any class could use these five exercises to leap into improvisation fairly quickly.
Creating an Improv Play
On more than one occasion we have had teachers call us up with the following scenario: They had the idea that they would improv a play with their students, but a month later it's not working out at all and they need a play pronto.Creating an original work with a class is a great idea, but definitely a great challenge. It's not as simple as playing a few improv games with a script magically falling into place.
I have two plays that were created directly from improvisation. The first was certainly haphazard: I was with a group (a long, long, time ago) who was going to perform at a benefit. Of course we left the planning to the last minute! We knew we wanted short, snappy scenes. We started talking about our own answering machine messages, so we used that as our theme, which grew into phone calls in general. We brainstormed ideas and scenarios, then wrote them down in the car on the way to the theatre. That benefit performance was the genesis for This Phone Will Explode At The Tone . It was an incredibly short process! Luckily we had worked together a lot and had formed a effective and efficient working relationship: an absolute must when dealing with this form. When you are comfortable with your partners it's so much easier to develop ideas.
The second play was more planned out and purposeful. I was directing a play for a group but didn't get the right combination of numbers to cast the play I had chosen. Instead of letting go those who had tried out, I decided that we would do an original work: We would improv scenarios based on specific themes, which I would then craft into a play. This turned into Among Friends and Clutter . Each week I would come to rehearsal with one of the three themed sections of the play (friends, family, and love), we would have a discussion about the theme, and then break off into groups to create scenes based on the conversation. This format worked because the themes were narrow. It allowed all the actors to be on the same page and in the same frame of mind. Also, there was a definite leader in the group: it was always clear that I would have the final say of the structure of the piece.
So how do you use improv to create a play? Here are a few rules to follow:
1. Create a comfortable working environment
Students need to feel comfortable working together. There is a definite rhythm within an improv group. The more in-tune the group is, the more risks they will take, and the more interesting ideas will appear. Before your group starts working on a play, they should be very familiar with all the standard improv games and exercises.
2. Choose a specific theme
The more specific the better. That way, students aren't sitting around thinking of things to do - they have a direction. You can go even further and have a brainstorming session to create a list of ideas before you break into groups, and then give each group something on the list to focus on. Always start from a narrow place. This way your group can work toward success instead of floundering in too vague of an idea.
3. Choose a format
Are you going to do one twenty-minute, single-plot play? A variety of short scenes on one theme? Two themes? Three? Will there be a prologue and an epilogue? Will there be a narrator? The more specific you are about the form of the play, the easier it will be to focus on the content. Also, everyone will know ahead of time what they are working toward.
4. Choose a length
Seems like something obvious, but again it's all a part of specifying the form. If everyone is on the same page, it's much harder for things to fall apart.
5. Character and Story
Even in improv it's all about character and story. The more specific the characters are, the easier it will be to improv with them. The more specific the story, the easier it will be to take it off the page.
6. Someone has to be the leader
Improv plays don't write themselves. Someone needs to make the final decision on where the scenes are placed, if any additional material needs to be written, and is responsible for a log of what the group does at each rehearsal. Some tasks can certainly can be delegated to students (for example, voting on the use of a particular scene) but there should always be that “final say” person. It allows an project to keep moving forward. I would suggest that if a particular group does a scene that everyone agrees is going into the final product, then that group is responsible for writing it down.
An Actor Improvises
My Theatrefolk partner (and professional actor) Craig Mason, has used improv in varying forms: He has used it in class, performed it (very briefly!), and used it as part of the play rehearsal process. I talked to him about all three uses and how they differ:You took a number of the Second City Improv classes. Why did you take them?
First of all, I took the classes to see if I was interested in performing improv. I love watching it, I have friends who do it and I have great admiration for them.
Also, I was auditioning for a lot of commercials and in almost every commercial audition there is an element of improv - it was a natural choice to take the classes.
And what actually happened?
It ended up making me a better actor! When I think back on the classes, I don't actually think about the specific exercises, I remember the rules, such as “Yes, and.” Improv is very big on accepting everything, which is a difficult concept to learn but once you do it's liberating. Let's say, for example, something goes wrong on stage. Because of what I learned in my improv studies, I now see the incident as an opened door instead of a big problem. If something goes wrong on stage, you can't ignore it. The audience knows something has gone wrong and if you don't notice it, something rings false.
A play is firmly grounded in the written script, but in performance, there are so many things that happen that a script cannot possibly account for. Improv is all about keeping the balls in the air and moving the scene forward, so I feel quite comfortable now being able to do that on stage.
Some members of your class took it upon themselves to do some improvisational shows. How did that differ from class work?
Well, doing improv on stage in front of an audience is actually much harder than doing a play! You have only your skills and your partners to rely on. You can't blame the script! When improv goes bad, it goes very bad. And we were bad!
Most of the people in my class thought that we would be able to transfer doing improv in class to doing it on stage rather easily. It's just not so. I had performed enough to know that we weren't ready at the time. But, having said that, you only get better at improv by doing it over and over again. The really good improv groups are good because they work so much together. In a sense they are very rehearsed.
Tell me about a play where you used improv in the rehearsal process.
I played Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dreamand we used a lot of improv to support the script.
In one rehearsal, we went scene-by-scene in the play and the director would put different actors in different roles. Even if you didn't know the lines, you had to get through the scenes. We also did “out scenes” where we improvised situations that involved the characters but don't appear in the script. For example, we looked at the moment where Helena fell in love with Demetrius.
Do you find Improv useful in rehearsal?
Sometimes the playwright doesn't give you enough information. This is not to say that the play's not well written, but sometimes an actor needs more. For example, the playwright puts you in an intense relationship with another character right at the beginning of the play. Perhaps two characters are in love, or warring, etc. The actors need to build those relationships through improvisation so that the intensity is believable.
It's also a great tool if a scene is not working. Sometimes you need to shake things up and improv can be useful for that.
What is the difference between Improv on its own and when used in rehearsal?
In rehearsal it's a means to an end, and on it's own it's everything. For me, I like using improv as a tool as opposed to a performance form all to itself. But I'm am extremely grateful that I learned the skill. It's something every actor should do.
Exercise Bonanza
Want an Improv exercise? The Internet is your oyster! There are hundreds of pages out there with descriptions of games to try. Here are just a few:http://www.humanpingpongball.com/
This website offers the Improv Encyclopedia. A free downloadable 152 page collection of categories, games and references.
http://www.unexpectedproductions.org
The Living Playbook (produced by Unexpected Productions) professes to have the web's largest collection of Improv games.
http://www.learnimprov.com/
This page is divided into warm ups, exercises, handles, long form, and how to ask for suggestions from an audience.
http://www.fuzzyco.com/super/improv/games.html
Fuzzy's Game List has some interesting category lists such as: Literary, Venting, Music and Game Show.
Book Report
The Second City Almanac of Improvisation Anne LiberaNorthwestern University Press
Evanston, IL
2004
“Improv scenes generally succeed when you have (1) abnormal people in normal situations, or (2)The first text that always gets mentioned when it comes to Improv textbooks is Keith Johnstone's Impro , which was first published in 1981. I assume that everyone has read that book (if you haven't, go get it!) and thought I would look at something different.
normal people in abnormal situations.”
Frank McAnulty, pg 8
At first glanceThe Second City Almanacis a very useful book. It is comprised of anecdotal essays from past/present cast members, directors and instructors, with further discussion and development from the author. I'm very fond of learning through storytelling; a number of the essayists talk about their own improv teachers, which is an interesting read.
Each section that is discussed (such as Characters, Environment, Finding Your Voice) has a number of exercises that can be used. Because the exercises are scattered throughout, you have to read quite a bit to glean what exercises might be good for you.
My favourite exercise in the book is “Goon River” (pg 71) described by Nick Johne. It is based on Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology.
“The premise of Goon River is that the five people doing the exercise are the dead inhabitants of a small town and are recounting their lives and the events leading up to their deaths... The exercise itself can be broken up into three parts. In the first part the characters introduce who they are and what their job or significance is in the town of Goon River. ...In the second part they describe one relationship with one of the already established characters. In the third part, the characters recount the events leading up to their deaths. This is done with the eyes closed.”
Throughout the book as well there are lists of Improv guidelines such as “Silence creates tension. Don't be afraid to use this white space.” (p 23) At the end there are also instructions for how to create your own improv show - You could go so far as to recreate the provided running order (p174-176) which would make for an interesting final exam.
Second City performs a specific type of improv with a clear philosophy. It's not about being the funniest in the room, which is a good thing to learn. However, I did find that the philosophy aspect of the book took a strange turn as the book moves along. For example, the guideline sections start out with simple and practical points: (“Always agree, never deny.” pg 23) and then move into points like this: “All masks are empty until they are put on and inhabited by the actor.” (pg 60) Is this necessary for an Improv book?
You Asked For It
Q: Do you offer perusal copies of your plays?You are more than welcome to purchase single copies of our plays for perusal purposes. Buying a single script in no way obligates you to perform the play.
We also have free sample pages of all our scripts available for download online. For example, visit the page for Apostrophe's . Under the graphic on the left-hand side of the page there is a link to free sample pages. Our sample pages require the Adobe Acrobat reader, already installed on most computers. It's available for free at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
Conference Alert
Here's our upcoming conference schedule. If you're attending, please drop by and say hi!
In the Next Issue
Due Out in January- Shake Up Your Shakespeare - Tips and articles to get more of the Bard in your classroom.Stay in Touch
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