Call me a little crazy but both were really opportunities that I could not miss. For one thing, NaNoWriMo only happens once a year. The Improv Workshops happened every couple of months, except in December I planned to go back home for vacation for 2 weeks. Thus, December wasn't a good time for Improv and since I had always wanted to do Improv since University, I decided not to procrastinate any longer and do both.
Suffice to say it was a pretty crazy month, but I learned a lot. In particular, I learned about the universal rules of being good at Improv. They're fairly simple rules and although they don't apply to everyone (veterans that know why the rules are in place break them all the time), they definitely applied to me and the other newbies of Improv that were gathered inside that workshop.
Every time you do an improv scene, you are always with another improviser. Rarely do you ever see Improvisers working alone. I had already heard of this before but Donovan, our facilitator, told us that acting isn't really acting, it should really be called reacting because you are always reacting to something or someone. In the same way, Improvisers work off of each other's ideas - always 'raising the stakes' as they call it.
Each scene is fairly straightforward:
Two actors are up on stage and basically they are telling a story. They are in a particular setting or environment. They are each a particular character (if they want to but this is optional). They then have a problem. Each of them then works together in order to overcome that problem. Now that I've laid down some context over what is involved in a scene, let's take a look at a few rules and see why it's good for you.
"Yes!" See how easy that was? The big reason for saying "Yes!" all the time to ideas (which are continually fired out back and forth by the Improvisers) is to move the scene forward. Saying "no" to ideas (especially perfectly good ones) do not move the scene forward.
2. Nothing can be wrong
You are improvising a scene that most likely has never been done before. Too often, people are stuck on the different choices involved in a scene. If it's a sci-fi environment, where could you be? In a lab, on a space ship, on a different planet, in an underground research facility? The possibilities are endless. Think about it this way though, none of them can be the wrong choice! In other words, anything that you choose is right. It has to be - the audience doesn't know any better!
3. Don't ask questions
Questions? Is there a better way of stopping scenes from moving forward? In the middle of a romantic drama, one person turns to the other and asks "Do you love me?" The other person is then forced to decide on a plethora of answers, often slowing down the scene until the person can decide on an answer.
Better: "I know you love me, you must after having my child."
Our facilitator told us that whenever you catch yourself about to ask a question, figure out in your head what the answer would be and then answer it yourself in a statement. See how the scene moves forward (into the ideas of pregnancy before marriage and it gives some context as to the reason they might be in the situation now) when you answer the question yourself?
4. Be positive
This is particularly important. I remember that the first few improv scenes we did as a class, a lot of the scenes turned into arguments and fights. Nothing stops the scene from moving forward like getting into a big argument over who ran over the cow or which person should be the tail end of the zebra they are playing.
Our facilitator demonstrated to us very well: any time he was in the scene and it looked like there was an argument or contest, he would lose almost immediately. It was funny, but at the same time, he was trying to demonstrate to us that every scene loses momentum quickly when it becomes an argument. Much better is to lose right away so that the actors can then continue on moving the scene forward (remember, each scene is about telling a story. Anything not relevant to the scene should not be introduced - otherwise the audience will wonder about the object introduced)
5. Raise the stakes
This is definitely what makes doing improv fun. Everything that you do in improv should be the most important thing ever. If your partner gives you a rose, that rose is the most beautiful, precious flower ever. If your partner hands you a gun, admire its brilliant workmanship and gleaming bullets. Once something is incredibly important in your eyes, the audience will begin to think the same thing. At that point, it will be incredibly funny to snip off the thorns of the rose and then accidentally snip off the flower itself or to pull out your gun but be useless in a sword fight.
Although this is what makes improv fun, this is also the hardest thing to do while you're in a scene. When you're in the scene, you're not only actively listening to your partner (which happens a lot to me since I don't have great ideas ;) but you're also trying to figure out how to introduce crazier and crazier ideas into the scene to make it interesting.
I started out one scene getting a door to door clergy member telling me about their services for sermons and prayers and while he was busy listing his services off, an idea popped into my head and I just went with it.
"Hey! The $1000 option comes with a free massage"
Immediately, the scene moves forward into me deciding on that package and getting a free massage in the process. If the scene was longer, we could have introduced a problem or conflict and then went about to resolve it.
Phew! A lot of rules to remember during improv!
I also learned a few things myself in improv:
- Whenever you do an improv scene, you don't have to go out of your way to make it funny. In fact, it can be completely serious and just the fact that it is serious could make the scene really funny.
- Humor in improv isn't about coming up with funny puns or corny jokes, it's more about introducing a scene and having different elements of the story contrast each other. I think that irony is more prevalent in improv because you can improvise a whole scene that seems very familiar in the audience's eyes but then have it go in a completely different direction at the last minute (for example, during a marriage proposal scene, I bent down on my knee to receive a ring from my fiancee).
- It's an incredibly fun way of becoming more spontaneous - whether it be in your daily life, in conversations with friends or strangers and especially if you are a creative individual.
Give it a try some time! Remember: say "Yes", everything you say is right, be positive, don't ask questions and always make sure you raise the stakes.
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