Robert Bateman Improv Team - October 15th, 2010

Hello improvisers

My apologies for updating so late. When the weekend began, I thought 'Dang, a whole weekend! Sweet deal!' Now, I wonder 'Hey...what happened to that weekend I was supposed to have?' Such is life, I guess.

On a less depressing note, here's my reflection.

Darling If You Love Me

...Won't you please, please smile? My gratitude to Graeme (I hope, now, I am spelling your name correctly) for suggesting and then running this game. It seemed like it was a great deal of fun for everybody!

Coon-Jah

I learned how to play this game not two days before running it. Everybody chants 'Coon-Jah, Coon-Jah' repeatedly. Somebody says 'Bunny Bunny, Bunny Bunny' while opening and closing their hands at themselves and then somebody else. When that person receives the 'Bunny Bunny', they begin their own 'Bunny Bunny', and so on. The two people next to a person saying 'Bunny Bunny' must yell 'Toki Toki Toki Toki' while waving their arms and jumping. During this game, at any given point, somebody is saying Coon-Jah, Bunny Bunny or Toki Toki.

Rather than put words in everybody's mouth (an action I am striving to do much less when coaching Improv), I will ask: What makes this game easier to play? When do you feel supported by your teammates?

I certainly have my own ideas. I am interested to hear your ideas!

Mirror

This exercise served two purposes. Primarily, it was to have everybody feel what it's like to directly lead and to direct follow. It's a good, tangible exercise for showing that certain actions and motions can make people feel more supported than others. (For example, I recall hearing that people found the exercise easier to follow when the movements were smoother.) Think about your experiences in the game. When did you feel as though you understood your partner's intentions?

The second purpose of the game was to switch up the partners, and to have everybody work with somebody new. Hence why Brian and I distributed cards at the beginning of the game!

Number Call

Six people go on stage, each with an assigned number. The host calls out two numbers at random, and those two corresponding people begin a scene.

I enjoyed this game a lot. Personally, I enjoyed the scenes when there were clearly defined viewpoints right from the beginning. Wink. Remember the example I gave, during which I kicked down the door only to yell 'Who are you?!' dramatically? That's a terrible way of beginning a scene because there is no real information given. There's much more (for the audience, your scene partner and you) in kicking down the door and shouting 'Dad, my car's been stolen!'

This example makes me think of the variation I introduced to Number Call:

No Questions

First, I must apologize. I asked everybody in the audience to scream when a question was asked. What I didn't anticipate was the volume of the screaming. Don't be concerned that I asked everybody to stop screaming. I should have realized that asking people to scream gets very loud. From now on, when I run this game (or a game like this game), I will take on the responsibility of politely reminding improvisers to stray away from asking questions.

Now then. I asked that Improvisers try doing scenes without asking questions. This request seems simple enough, but is very, very difficult in practice. And now I'll tell you why it's difficult.

Asking a question puts the decision-making responsibility on the other person in the scene. It's much less trying, thinking-wise, to ask 'What are you eating?' rather than simply stating 'I see you're eating KFC's Double Down sandwich.'*

When you are forbidden to ask questions, then you must make every decision that comes your way yourself. You can't toss the ball back at the pitcher if you didn't like the pitch. Rather, you have to hit every pitch that comes your way. That can be very, very tough. But it will also lead to some exceptionally entertaining Baseball games.

Clearly I don't understand enough about Baseball to keep this analogy from falling apart.

I remember once, I was playing this game (At the McMaster Improv Team, we used to call this game Statements Only) with Carson (you'll meet him if you come to the Workshop on Thursday!). The scene began with us building a house, but ended with us having an awkward encounter about our unspoken feelings for each other. The scene wasn't anything we could have planned for, but it was very entertaining. I would hazard that it was entertaining and unique because we continually forced ourselves to make decisions.

Admittedly, this game has some limits. Realistically, you can ask question in Improv. In life, people ask questions all the dang time. That's life, that's real. In good Improv scenes, improvisers will ask each other questions, and no one in the audience will bat an eyelash. Heck, you've probably scene wildly entertaining Improv scenes where improvisers do nothing but ask questions! (Remember the game Questions Only?) Asking questions becomes inappropriate when improvisers use them as a means to avoid making decisions. Hence why we practice getting out of that comfort zone by encouraging improvisers to avoid questions of any kind.

It's a tough skill to work on, but believe me when I say that the rewards will be plentiful. The quality of your scenes will sharply increase when everybody makes decisions.

~

I think that's just about everything that we did on Friday. Once again, I apologize for updating the improg so late after the fact.

Your homework, as always, is to Reflect and to become Inspired. Watch videos, read books! Check out the Improv Encyclopedia! (Found in the 'Links Awakening' section on the right-hand side of the improg.)

Thanks for a great session, gang. I look forward to seeing you all this week.

Cheers,

Cliff



*delicious