Chris Reblogs

improvnonsense:

Here’s things that I bet upper level improv teachers/coaches would be uncomfortable to say:

• “Being funny is good in improv!”
• “Characters should feel comfortable saying no!”
• “You should know a lot of things if you want to be a good improviser!”

But all of these things are true.

Semantics are tricky.

I am reminded of taking my first UCB 401. On the second day, the teacher told us to do an “Organic Opening.” We did a lot of “whoop whoop” and were probably gorillas at some point. Because we did a Sound And Movement (and, yes, not a good one). He stopped us right after and said, “What was that!?”

“Um, an organic…” we responded sheepishly.

“No! That is not an organic opening! You are doing it wrong.”

We felt dumb. But here’s the thing: that is what we were all taught what an organic opening was. All of us. From various other teachers. Because, sure it is the base of an organic. It is the “idea” of the organic opening.

This is an extreme case since “Organic Opening” can have a whole lot of different definitions since it is, in its very nature, anything.

But how we use words is darn important, especially when teaching and coaching. We can’t use short hand if we don’t already know that who we are teaching don’t understand what we mean by those words.

Anywhozits…

“Funny” is not the same has “Jokey”, “Not committed,” and/or “Selling out your scene partner(s) for the laugh.” I never use “Don’t be funny” (unless it is for a specific exercise where I want them to relax into a scene or am trying to make them not “work” so much or just want them to play “natural” for a change.

“No” is not the opposite of “Yes” in “Yes/And.” “Denial of the reality of the scene is.” I don’t think I ever say “Don’t say no” or “You said No. Don’t do that.” I am more like to say “Don’t say no to the scene.” Because that is what we mean. It is not the word “No” that is bad. It is the player’s attitude to the scene.

I actually hardly ever see the last one being a problem. “Knowing is great.” Know what you know. In life, don’t say no to learning things. You should also know what your teammates know. I mean, not share the actual knowledge, but have an awareness what their knowledge base is. (How you use that knowledge in scenes…separate issue. Specifics should be in service of the scene/set and not the other way around. (I have a whole rant about how making someone Donald Trump can be destructive to a scene while stating that someone “just came from a business lunch with Donald Trump” is powerful. But that is for another day.)

Also being aware of things you don’t have knowledge of is good. I have never been that into music. I am not good at retaining names, song names, lyrics, etc.. I am not going to spend my days pursuing all that…because it doesn’t interest me. However, I will continue to expand spend and hour reading up on different types of oats. So there you go.