The other night I ventured into the land of Improv! I’ve been trained to do Shakespeare and Chekov, Becket and Ionesco, but I haven’t done much improv. And it always terrified me. No script! No blocking! Nothing to cling to on stage! Yikes. But for the past while, actually after I saw and fell in love with Mike Birbiglia’s film DON’T THINK TWICE, I’ve been wanting to venture out and hunt me down an improv class.
And I found the best one in town.
The Hot Toddy Improv Workout
Tom Shannon (pictured above) was our fearless leader. Tom graduated from Second City in Chicago, so he knows his stuff.
When I asked him a little more about his background he said:
“I’ve been doing improv for 17 years—and running workshops almost since the beginning of that time. Before I really knew anything about improv, I would invite the other students I knew to practice and work out weekly—ideally we would all run the workshop and share exercises, though it most often ended up being me leading the group. Since 2008 I ran a weekly workshop at Bang Theatre in Los Angeles.
“About four years ago when I moved to Utah, I didn’t see anyone else teaching improv so I started up the workshop first at the SLC Library and later at BEAU (Broadview University). After a short hiatus I restarted the it at the Toy Shed Studios.” https://www.facebook.com/ToyshedStudios/
So there we all were at the Toy Shed. We started the workout with a bunch of warm up exercises – the name/gesture game (we go around in a circle and say your name adding a unique gesture and everyone repeats it until we all feel like we’ve been friends since kindergarten – which did wonders for easing my terror of being at Improv Class!)
The Games
Then we did “Zip, Zap, Zop” where you send one of the three respective sounds and all your energy to someone in the circle by pointing at them and then they pass that energy on. We also did the “Train” exercise and later on played “Popcorn” where we exploded like an over-heated kernel shouting “Popcorn” to the person next to us in the circle, reversed, passed the impetus and ran around in chaos like we were in a giant popper at specific commands.
Next we dove into the actual “improv” stuff. Two people went up in front of every one. One initiated a location – they’d start digging a grave, or swimming in outer space, or warming themselves by a fire. And as soon as the other person had a pretty good idea about where they were, they would start talking. And from there a scenario would unfold. Magically.
The whole class was amazing. Talk about getting out of your head and into your body! Talk about breaking down barriers and getting to those impulses! Wow! Everything we did achieved so much of what every actor strives for—being in the moment, working off your partner, allowing your real self to be present in the moment.
Improv: Highly Recommended for Actors!
But wait, the actor might say, I don’t have a script! How will I know what to do? What to say? Where to stand? Does improv have any “rules” or “techniques”? Great questions! Why don’t we ask the grand improvisationista herself —Tina Fey!
Tina Fey’s Rules of Improvisation
- Rule # 1 – AGREE! Always agree and SAY YES. If we’re improvising and I say, “Freeze, I have a gun,” and you say, “That’s not a gun. It’s your finger. You’re pointing your finger at me,” our improvised scene has ground to a halt. But if I say, “Freeze, I have a gun!” and you say, “The gun I gave you for Christmas! You bastard!” then we have started a scene because we have AGREED that my finger is in fact a Christmas gun.
- Rule #2 – Not only to say yes, but YES, AND! Agree and then add something of your own. If I start a scene with “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you just say, “Yeah…” we’re kind of at a standstill. But if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “What did you expect? We’re in hell.” Now we’re getting somewhere!
- Rule #3 – Don’t ask questions, MAKE STATEMENTS! If we’re in a scene and I say, “Who are you? Where are we? What are we doing here? What’s in that box?” I’m putting pressure on you to come up with all the answers. In other words: Whatever the problem, be part of the solution.
- Rule #4 – THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, only opportunities! If I start a scene as what I think is very clearly a cop riding a bicycle, but you think I am a hamster in a hamster wheel, guess what? Now I’m a hamster in a hamster wheel. I’m not going to stop everything to explain that it was really supposed to be a bike. Who knows? Maybe I’ll end up being a police hamster who’s been put on “hamster wheel” duty because I’m “too much of a loose cannon” in the field. In improv there are no mistakes, only beautiful happy accidents.
And to add some tidbits from Tom:
“As for the basics of improv, my own personal realization somewhere along the line was that it’s not about inventing stuff, trying to be funny and quick. It’s about listening and responding. DISCOVERING stuff collaboratively.”
Well, this is one actor who has officially had their craving for improv ignited. Expect me and anyone else I can drag along with me back at the Toy Shed next month. Hope to see you there too!
