Bailing on a Point of View

It's so tempting and so easy to shift your point of view in an improv scene, and ninety-nine percent of the time it pulls the rug out from underneath the scene.

It takes a while for improvisers to learn that they can go longer with a point of view, character, emotional state, and so on than they think they can. Improvisers make a choice at the top of a scene and then judge their own creation and attempt to change their mind. If they don't get laughs right away or other affirmation from their audi­ence, they are sometimes quick to throw their whole bloody idea away.

There is a particular moment in improvisation, a threshold improvisers reach, when they must decide to pursue or abandon an idea they have created. Experienced improvisers have learned not to freak out when that uncomfortable threshold arises, but to take a breath and persevere.

Penetrating through those fear thresholds and sustaining your creation will reap you greater benefits on the other side. It takes guts and experience to hold on to your own vision, on stage and off. We're so conditioned to change our minds if something doesn't work out immediately that we bring this behavior on stage. In our contract with the audience to make more of the truth we have created, we must sustain our visions and creations regardless of how afraid we feel in the moment.

A tidy way to practice holding on when you feel like shifting is to restate your claim. I'll explain.

Improviser A: I don't feel well.

Improviser B: Well, you're going to school anyway.

Improviser A: Yeah, but I don't feel well.

Improviser B: Get your coat on.

It's at this point in the scene where Improviser A has to decide whether to hang on or shift. The "I don't feel well" thing isn't cutting it. A lot of improvisers might give in and respond:

Improviser B: Get your coat on.

Improviser A: Okay. I have a math test.

Or whatever. It's the "Okay" that signals you've changed your mind in the scene and dilutes that which you have already created. In those moments you want to restate your position and up the ante:

Improviser B: Get your coat on.

Improviser A: I think I'm dying. Yes, I'm definitely going to die.

You can go to school or not but you must hit that beat hard with your point of view and persevere. If you feel like bailing in an improv scene hit it even harder, instead. After a while, those moments won't be as scary and it will become second nature for you to get through that fear threshold.

Some might say that by holding on to "sick," Improviser A is blocking and resisting the course of the scene. I say, not if that's what the scene is about from the get-go. It would be a far greater violation to shift what has already been declared as true: that Improviser A doesn't feel well.

The above are some common issues I've noticed improvisers share. If you can first identify them and then go through some growing pains making alterations, you will end up on the other side.3 stronger, more powerful (and funnier) performer.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-08