The longer I teach improv, the more I see that some improv “rules” get in the way of students’ improvising. I don't even like to call them rules because that implies that if you're not following them, you are doing it wrong. I try to use the word guidelines. One of the goals of improvisation […]
Improvisers have all heard that we need to add specifics to our improv scenes. Specifics are the fuel that keeps scenes going. The more specifics we use, the easier it is to figure out what’s going on. Without specifics, we’re in “Vaugue-land” — not a good place to take our scene partners or the audience. Specifics […]
When we watch an improv team or a person on stage who loves improvising, it can be contagious. If we are having fun, the audience is having fun. But often, I forget to bring the joy and bring the love to what I am doing, both on stage and in life. In my improv classes and workshops, we […]
Improvisers are told all the time how important is to "give gifts to your scene partners," but are rarely shown how, leaving them dazed and confused. I am no different. At times I am confused by it, too. Certainly, I been around long enough that I know a good gift on stage when I see one, […]
Nothing frustrates me more than watching a perfectly good scene be ambushed by an unnecessary walk-on. We are all familiar with the scene where a couple is out to dinner at a restaurant and then the zany waiter ambushes the scene and the scene ends up becoming all about the zany waiter and has nothing […]
We have all been that person stuck on the back line during an improv show terrified to step out and do a scene. We stand there, unable to move our bodies. We’re paralyzed, convinced we have been crazy-glued to the back wall, and we only become unstuck when the show is over. Sometimes we are […]