Acting while improvising

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to host Amie Roe and Kristen Schier when they were visiting Pittsburgh to perform and give a couple killer workshops (not to mention stop by Talking Shop!).

I always jump at the opportunity to stay with and host improvisers because of all the great conversations that emerge. I talked to them about a lot of topics (not all improv, I am not a monster), but I did get into a great conversation with Kristen about using more of my acting chops in my improv work.​

I had worked with some improvisers this past winter on exploring this space. For me, it was more about getting back in touch with my acting work. Some were more experienced actors and some were new to acting, so we did basic text-to-stage concepts. I was excited to play with how to improvise some of the homework an actor does. ​

Kristen, I was surprised and delighted to learn, says you don't. It's not about improvising the homework. Being able to in an instant or while a scene is progressing understand each tactic and how it will affect your reading and could affect your scene partner. Where acting has really helped her is her ability to understand her instrument.​

As an actor, her instrument is her body and her voice. Improvisers are so quick to jump to dialog and not truly understand how to emote with our full bodies. How to release emotion on vowels and with our breath, how to use our full instrument to communicate. So when we make a choice or are given a gift we are used to using our entire instrument to embody it -- that is the gift acting brings.

​I am not yet sure where to take this, but I am excited about having some direction there.

And But Because

When teaching the early days of "yes, and," I focus on the word "and." Word choice is often demonstrative, and our intentions are revealed when we choose different words. If you really listen to yourself and the sentence you are creating, the words you say after "and" will likely be different than the words you will say after "but" or "because." Sometimes I describe what those other words tend to signify, descriptions I got from a book somewhere sometime.

Recently, one of my students asked me to break that down for them, so Iooked for that reference everywhere. I even asked some other SCIT teachers. No sign of it.​

So I figured I'd recreate it from my memory and my own experience and put it up here for reference. As a bonus, if anyone knows where this is from, please let me know!

• "Yes, and" says I agree with what you're saying and am going to build on it
• "Yes because" and "Yes so" say I heard what you said but I want to follow the plot of the story rather than the emotional truth of what's happening between us right now.
• "Yes, but" says I heard what you said but I think my idea is better. Or I heard but I don't feel comfortable with where this is going

Of course, over time we focus less on words and more on agreeing to the emotional truth, the game, the offer being made. But I think this distinction is interesting early on.​

Amie and Kristen on Talking Shop in April!

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Photo credit Erin Pitts

In just two short weeks, I will be back on the mic and interviewing New York and Philly natives Amie Roe and Kristen Schier!

I am so excited to talk shop with these incredibly talented improvisers. I first saw them in Jan 2011 when Irony City coordinated a trip they took to Pittsburgh for a performance and workshop. I also made a point to see them at the Del Close Marathon last year and they were easily one of the best shows at the festival.

But don't take my word for it. The Amie and Kristen Show has won 16 awards at festivals throughout the US and Canada, and they were voted Best Improv Group by their peers Philadelphia's 2011 Witout Awards.

​Mark your calendar now for Saturday, April 20 11pm at the Steel City Improv Theater.

Notes: Paul Grondy Workshop

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​Paul Grondy

Last Saturday (March 30), I left Ric Walker's workshop and high-tailed it to Paul Grondy's. ​I have been a huge fan of Paul's ever since I heard Kevin Mullaney talk to him about Harold on the IRC podcast.

​Some great quotes from Paul:

• There is nothing funnier than the committed portrayal of someone else
• You don't make comedy, the audience does.
• Taking the comedy out allows us to slow down, take more time between line and response, and give yourself time to consider.
• I don't want to be inspired by my own brain.
• Just do acting work up front. You risk a boring scene but it leaves you room to trust in the comedy happening.
• If you match someone's crazy, it's ok but realize you are doing a shorter scene. Otherwise, give the crazy focus and fuel it.

Paul’s priorities in an improv scene:

1. Be somebody -- play that person realistically and authentically, and the audience will listen to your dialog in context of that character
2. His scene partner -- helping build his or her idea
3. Kick-ass object work
4. A good location
5. Then, saying some funny stuff

We played two versions of an exercise called "yes because." The first was about making a completely ridiculous offer into an honest and believable reality. The second was about taking a mundane offer and playing it honestly, resisting the temptation to take it to crazy town. They were very different but both really fascinating.

We finished the workshop with an Armando where the goal was to play normal people behaving normally. We were told that nothing was to happen in these scenes. I found it very hard to resist that built-in urge to heighten and play hard. But it was wonderful! The lesson (as I understand it) was not that one should never heighten but that these instincts can easily push us over the line into creating comedy or (dare I say it) trying to be funny. It was interesting how hard it was to play normal people behaving normally.

​Posted with permission from Paul Grondy.

Notes: Ric Walker's Speed of Response Workshop

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​Ric Walker

I took two amazing workshops last weekend. The first was Ric Walker's Speed of Response. If you have the chance to study with Ric, I cannot recommend him highly enough. He has a very light and fun approach that I appreciate.

This workshop was not what I expected, but I loved what I got. What I took out of it was a a better understanding of how my brain works -- particularly how it learns -- and what I can do to help it learn better and faster. With the eventual goal being to improvise smarter faster.

Here are some high level (paraphrased) quotes that stuck with me:​

• Throw yourself at the edge of failure
• Asking why helps you learn. Adults don't do this as much and it causes brain calcification.
• If you are struggling, rather than use filler (e.g. "uhhh"), just take a breath. This reminded me of Susan Messing's gem, "Umm is the pause for the thought that will never come"
• Being good at argument is counter to good brain function (uh oh)
• You want ego in the product and none in the process
• Self-awareness is another thing that helps your brain function improve

Ric said at the top not to expect a huge improvement immediately, but that he would provide us with individual and group exercises we could work on over time. And he certainly did! Here are some of my favorite new ones or new takes:

• Individual exercises
  • Jump Rope
  • Fast finger pointing
  • Ear prompter (to the radio)
• Pair exercises
  • Hot hands/slap
  • Ear prompter (with a partner)
  • Simultaneous talking
• Group games
  • Hamburger
  • Chiminy Chee

We did an exercise at the end that I really liked as well. It was about literally walking through these steps with each line/response in a scene:

• What did he or she say? (my scene partner)
• ​How do I feel about it? (emotion word, not in terms of narrative)
• ​What am I going to do about it?

I use a somewhat similar exercise I learned from Kevin Hines' ​where the first player delivers a line, second says what she feels about that, then the first says what he feels about how the second feels. But Ric's add that extra layer of action which really had a profoud effect. I definitely want to keep exploring this with my own work as well as teaching.

Thanks Ric for a fascinating 3 hours!​

Posted with ​permission from Ric Walker.