February 2011
18 posts
Character: Inside-out
Inside-out character creation generally works like this: You decide you will be a certain character, and then alter yourself in order to portray that character. It might be very open or very specific, but the point is you choose your outward appearance and actions to communicate the choice made inside your head.
I’d like to see a show in which the entire cast gets the suggestion of a single...
Genre
The simplest way to modify your improv is to add a genre. Improv is genre-less in the sense that it can encompass any genre. So instead we can narrow our focus onto one genre and explore all the tropes of it. The danger of identifying tropes is codifying them too much. We still want to have the freedom to go where improv takes us, so we have to be smart about how we use our genre.
I think...
Character Outside-in
Earlier we talked about changing the quantity of characters and the ratio of players:character. We can also change how those characters come about or what quality those characters will have.
There are innumerable ways to go about creating a character in improv, but they generally fall into two major categories: outside-in and inside-out. Either you change your body and voice and see how that...
Editing (even more!)
I think it’s tough to play around too much with editing - its general function is to end a scene and there’s not much more to it. It can become a muddy thing if you muck around too much with it. In terms of fulfilling its function, anything that clearly communicates that one scene is over and a new one is starting is valid. And within that, many different techniques have been created....
Players per Character
Earlier, we changed the number of characters per player. We can also change the number of players per character. Generally, that relationship is a 1:1 relationship; each character only has one player. Got it? Yeah man, Math. We can alter it, a character can have multiple players. And depending upon the number of players per show, we can really have some fun. A simple way of doing this is by...
Editing (cont.)
We could also limit the Edits. We could disallow a particular kind of editing, only allow another. I’ll be using the Harold in most of my examples because it has just about every moving part we need that can be modified. So, taking a Harold, let’s disallow sweep edits and only have Swinging Doors lead from scene-to-scene. When we return to second and third beats, it is one of that...
Character
Character is a fundamental piece of improv. I believe that by virtue of stepping onto stage, you are a character. It is inseparable from performing. We cannot truly eliminate character from the equation. But we can modify both the qualifiable aspects and the quantifiable aspects of it in order to create a new form.
A very simple change to make is to alter the number of characters that each player...
Editing
Before I make more new formats and shows (which I have fallen deeply behind on) I thought I’d talk about the things that could be changed or modified in order to define a new show. In general, you can take any aspect of improv and eliminate it, expand it, codify it, or limit it in some way to create a new form. By the end of discussing each of these aspects, I’ll have shown a change...
1-2-3
This format is fairly simple. It consists of three beats of scenes. However, in the first beat there are only one-person scenes. In the second beat there are only two-person scenes. And in the third beat there are only three-person scenes. In each beat we revisit the character(s) we’ve met so far, and the addition of the new character should somehow heighten the Game or deepen the...
It's Tuesday
“It’s Tuesday” is a classic improv exercise. A player gives a rather innocuous scene initiation, like “It’s Tuesday,” and the responding player must make a huge emotional choice and justification to go along with it. “It’s Tuesday,” would then be followed with something like “My god! The vicar is coming!” (Keith Johnstone described...
Penny Dreadfuls
The Penny Dreadful show is a serialized set of scenario-play improv shows. The shows will follow lurid and sensationalized stories, the kind that might be found in a penny dreadful, over a series of weeks. Gothic thrillers, highwayman exploits, or school stories will fill the bulk of the subect matter.
There will be a continuity of character from week to week, either in continuing stories or...
Staged Reading
The Staged Reading is designed to look and sound like an actual staged reading, yet it is improvised. Each player may hold a blank binder, or stand behind an empty music stand. Movement is minimal; All action and location specifics are delivered as stage directions. Structurally, the show can end up looking like a simple one-act play or a series of unrelated scenes.
Behind-the-Scenes
Behind-the-Scenes is an extremely meta form.
It opens with the getting of a suggestion. Each player then shares their first thought for their first scene move. If the player doesn’t have an idea, they will simply state that as so. The group then launches into one of the scene ideas and begins playing.
At any point, a player can break out of what they’re doing to briefly talk about...
Morality Play
The Morality Play is an improv show based on the genre of the same name. In it, players depict the struggle of Man against the deadly sins. Players are limited to only playing personifications of abstract concepts (Sin, Temptation, Knowledge, etc), an abstracted Everyman, or theological constructs (God, the Devil, Death, Angels, etc).
An audience member is interviewed about a recent hardship,...
Military Time
Military Time is a monoscene that takes place during a span of realtime in a group of soldier’s lives on a military base.
Come see it this Sunday, February 6th, 8PM at the Magnet Theater!
Groundhog Day
Everyone is always inspired by the movie Groundhog Day (which is a great movie) to come up with their Groundhog Day improv form. But what about the concept behind the holiday?
On Groundhog Day, if a groundhog sees its shadow and goes back in its burrow, there will be six more weeks of winter. Which, of course, affects more people than just the groundhog. Our choices can affect other people in...
The Personal Soundtrack
The Soundtrack was a format developed and performed by classic UCBT team Mother. In this form, the players derived inspiration from music played randomly throughout the show.
The Personal Soundtrack is a solo version of that form. An iPod or other portable music device is retrieved from an audience member. Given to the theater tech, the music player is set to shuffle and begins playing. The...
