5 Tips For Improving Your Improvisation!

Yours Truly, Bobby Keniston

So today at Theater is a Sport, I'm talking about improvisation and how it relates to theatre, particularly in school and community theatre. 

To answer the first question you must all be thinking.... WHAT IS IMPROVISATION?

In simplest terms (or, at least in the terms I think of it), improvisation is the act of creation with no (or very limited) preparation.  It is diving in and just creating.  It's being spontaneous. 

Because of this almost freestyle nature, improvisation can make many newcomers to theatre nervous.  Scared, even.  Heck, even I get nervous when playing improvisation theater games from time to time. 

It's acting without a safety net (the safety net being lines written for you).

But, then, here's another question:  WHY IMPROVISATION?  WHAT'S THE POINT?

However, I'm a firm believer in improvisation and its uses in character development and really digging into questions of motivation and "as ifs".  Not to mention, it can be SO MUCH FUN.  It's a great way to learn to trust yourself, and trust your cast mates.  And, if you can become proficient at improvisation, it truly comes in handy when you get on stage and something goes awry. 

In a sense, I believe Improvisation to be the purest form of acting, really.  The goal of any play should be to appear like it's happening right there in the moment, and the performers should appear to be creating their own lines and actions.  It's trying to create the notion of improvisation, only you've had rehearsal and lines written for you. 

And, my favorite thing about improvisation is that it makes the two biggest rules of acting come to startling life:  LOOKING and LISTENING.  And then, REACTING.

So here are a few tips for spontaneously creating a scene when playing theatre games or learning to improvise.  Hopefully these tips will help you to keep a scene going:

TIP #1:  I did not invent this, and anyone who has ever had any experience with improvisation has probably heard it:  YES, AND...  What this means is that you should take what your partner gives you, and treat it as fact.  And then build on it. 
For example:    
PARTNER A:  Boy you sure are getting fat!
PARTNER B:  It's the Ho-Hos, man.  They call to me in the middle of the night.  It's like I'm cheating on my wife with snack treats!
That's accepting what your partner is giving you, and building on it.  This scene could now go in different directions, with the subplot of the wife o what-have-you.
Now, Partner B might be as skinny as a rail, but not in the truth of this improvisation. 

TIP #2:  ESTABLISH YOUR CHARACTER ASAP!  When improvising a scene, it's a good idea to cut the malarkey and get right into it.  Audiences will want to know who you are from the get-go. 
For example:
PARTNER A:  Doctor, help me!  My arm was just cut off!
PARTNER B:  Careful!  Your dripping blood all over my examining room!  Don't you have any manners?
Right away, Partner A has established him or herself as a person in dire need of medical attention, and Partner B has built on that, making his or her doctor a bit fussy and unfeeling.  This scene could build in many interesting ways. 

TIP #3:  Some call this setting up a BLOCK and some call it DENYING, and both those terms are true, but I'll put a more positive spin on it:  GO ON THE JOURNEY WITH YOUR PARTNER.  Remember that in an improvised scene, it is not about YOU.  It's about you and your partner(s) working together as a team.  Blocking or denying your partner is a way to kill a scene very quickly, which, obviously, is the exact opposite of what you want to do. 
Here is an example:
PARTNER A:  Doctor, help me!  My arm was just cut off!
PARTNER B:  Your arm is right there.  And I'm not a doctor.
And another:
PARTNER A:  Is this your first frat party?
PARTNER B:  What are you talking about?  I'm in the supermarket!
And another:
PARTNER A: (miming holding a puppy)  Do you like my new puppy?
PARTNER B:  There's nothing there!
See what I'm talking about?  Go with your partner.  This is all part of Yes, and... to an extent, but it's more than that, too.  It's about moving in synch with the person you're performing with, and not shooting down their creations. 

TIP #4:  KEEP RAISING THE STAKES!  Just like a scripted scene, a performance is more interesting if the stakes keep going up, and the action keeps rising and rising.  Scenes are interesting if they build.  No one wants to see something stay on the same level for too long.  It's boring.  Part of the point of improvisation is for you and your partner to keep building, just like a written scene should keep building.  Now, fun improvisations often go off and build in a somewhat exaggerated or surreal fashion, but that's okay, too.  As long as it builds.

TIP #5:  RELAX AND DON'T BE IN YOUR HEAD TOO MUCH!  You're going to be a very nervous improviser if you stay in your head too much.  If you keep worrying, "I don't know what to say, I don't know what to say, I don't know what to say...", then guess what?  You're not going to know what to say.  But if you really look, listen, and put trust in yourself and your partner, then you can do this.  Don't worry about being as funny as the Upright Citizen's Brigade, or Drew Carey's Improv shows.  In fact, right now, don't worry about being funny at all.  In fact, don't worry.

Just make a scene.  Relax.  Create.  You'll be fine.  No one's life is hanging in the balance.

Remember, improvisation can be a really great time, if you can let yourself go. 

And also remember--- theater is a sport.

Any questions or comments?  Let me have 'em!  Share them with me below, or send me an e-mail at theater.is.a.sport@gmail.com!

HOW TO WRITE A PLAY or HOW TO ENJOY REPEATEDLY BANGING YOUR HEAD AGAINST THE WALL, Lesson 2: Let's Write a Monologue!

Greetings, my theater friends!  Welcome to Theater is a Sport.  It's Tuesday, so you know what that means... it's playwriting tutorial day!  Or, as I like to call it:  How To Write a Play or How to Enjoy Repeatedly Banging Your Head Against the Wall.  Again, it's not really as bad as all that.  In fact, beating your head against the wall over and over again can be a beautiful thing!  

Today we are going to focus on writing a monologue.  I'm going to assume that you all read some plays over the week since our first lesson, and have also been checking out the structure of your favorite TV shows.  And while we will be discussing dramatic structure a great deal on this blog, we are going to focus today on how it all comes together in the creation of a monologue.

First off--- what is a monologue?  A monologue is a long speech given by a character in a play, sometimes to other characters onstage, sometimes directly to the audience.  A soliloquy is another example of a long speech, though usually given by an actor alone onstage.

For the purpose of our exercise, we are going to be writing monologues for a single character, and our monologues are going to be complete pieces in of themselves, with a beginning, middle, and end.  Yes, a monologue can be a play all by itself. 

How do we write a monologue?  Well, first, you need to remember that all drama is about conflict.  When you have a single character, the conflict is within the character herself, or perhaps the character and some external limitation. 

Let's look at an example, shall we?   And if we're going to look at an example of a great monologue, let's look at a great example from one of my playwrights, Anton Chekhov.   Here is a link where you can read his monologue (which is its own play) called "On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco":  http://method.vtheatre.net/doc/tobacco.html

(Note:  This piece is in the public domain, and this is the only place I could find the full text online.  Aside from a few spelling errors, it is pretty close to the versions I'm familiar with.)

Now, I'm not expecting you to read this first and then come back and read the rest of my blog, but, if you do not, you will have to be ready for some spoilers coming. 

The reason I like to use this monologue as an example for writing monologues is, other than being quite funny, it is an excellent example of conflict.  Our character, Nykhin, informs us he is going to give us a lecture on the harmful effects of tobacco.  However, the monologue is not about tobacco at all, is it?  We learn quickly that our lecturer is prone to digressions, and the very digressions are what make up the bulk of the monologue.  Hence, we have some conflict already:  we are told we are going to hear a lecture on tobacco, but what we really hear is our lecturer share his comically sad existence with us, ultimately purging himself, until the very end, when he entreats us to tell his wife he gave a very fine lecture on tobacco. 

Certainly, one does not need to mimic Chekhov in tone or subject when writing a monologue.  But there are lessons one can take from this piece when writing their own.  Here are some examples:

1.  Character:  right away from the first stage directions ("worn-out flock coat", "bows majestically to the audience"), we as an audience get an idea of who this guy is.   The spoken text that follows takes us on a journey with him.

2.  The Dramatic Arc:  Nyukhin tells us he is going to lecture on the harmfulness of tobacco even though "I myself smoke, but my wife told me to lecture on the harmful effects of tobacco, so what's to be done?"  In that small line in the beginning, we get the first indication that our lecturer might possibly be a bit hen-pecked.  As he continues with his lecture, and things seem to be moving in the right direction... "When I lecture I blink my right eye.  Take no notice.  It is simple nervousness.  I am a nervous man".  This digression gives the author permission to go into WHY he is a nervous man, and thus, the rest of the story builds... the boarding home, his daughters, his wife's nest egg, etc.  So this action continues to rise, with the character purging himself, until, near the end, we learn he is a broken man with broken dreams, who longs only for "peace".  Of course, Chekhov ends the piece with the Lecturer becoming aware his wife is looking at him from backstage, so he hastily concludes with a last remark about the harmful effects of tobacco.
This trajectory is very effective for a monologue.  We meet a character, get an initial first impression, the character reveals more about themselves and their life, the focus changes, grows to a climax and then... we are back  to the beginning, knowing our character will never change. 

3.  Stakes:  stakes are tremendously important in any dramatic writing, especially a monologue.  In order for us to remain engaged by one person talking to us from stage, the stakes to rise and rise and rise.... (if you don't like the word "stakes", you can also think of it as "complications"). 

So, what I would like to give you for an assignment is this:  read through the Chekhov monologue, noticing some of the things I have talked about.  Then, I would like you to try writing your own monologue.  Make sure it is about something that is interesting to you.  It's fine to draw things from your own life, but I would suggest that as a jumping off point, and then letting you creativity take the stakes higher.  Your first monologue needn't be as long as the example I've given you:  you can have a good monologue with a beginning, middle and end in one or one and a half pages, even.  And think about this as your write:

1.  The character should reveal something about themselves that perhaps they are not even aware of themselves, and
2.  A goo way to create conflict is to have a character start out believing one thing, but by the end realize they have shifted to the exact opposite belief. 

If you would like to share your monologue with me (I can't promise an immediate response, but I will try to read them as quickly as possible), you can e-mail them to me at theater.is.a.sport@gmail.com 

If you would like to become a fan of Theater is a Sport on Facebook, click here:  https://www.facebook.com/#!/TheaterIsASport

If you would like to read a sample of a monologue I wrote called "Falling (And Not Getting Up)", click here:  http://www.brookpub.com/default.aspx?pg=sd&st=FALLING+(AND+NOT+GETTING+UP)

Thank you for joining me today at Theater is a Sport.  I hope you enjoyed your second playwriting lesson!

To go directly to LESSON 3, simply click HERE

Until tomorrow, please remember:  theater is a sport (and, banging your head against the wall CAN be enjoyable)