Purpose

Many, many, many improvised scenes are about status. It's a powerful thing to know how to play. Status and point of view go hand in hand. Either a character is trying to get more status or is fighting to hold on to their status or lying about their status. Status is often what the scene is actually about. Practicing all the permutations of status will help you when you come across it in a scene. Improvisers also tend to make the same choice: either high or low status, each time they improvise. Analytical people tend to improvise in high status, often objectifying what's going on in a scene. (I used to be this guy, so I'm really aware of it.) For example, one character says to another:

"Let's go play in the sandbox." The other character might say:

"OK, Billy, I'll bring a shovel." or objectify the experience by saying:

"You play in the box and I'll watch."

Objectifying is often clever, but it sets you outside the scene, commenting on the experience, as opposed to playing within the experience. The objectifier usually takes on a high status role. Some people find more strength in creating higher status for themselves in scenes; others get a lot of mileage from low status. The ability to play from either status, or everything in between, is the best possible tool to have. Think for yourself which status extreme you tend to play more, then challenge yourself to play the opposite.

Heightening

Stand. Start a scene, with words. Doing only one characters dialogue, heighten your own character's point of view. Pretend there is another character speaking gibberish. Constantly put fuel on your own fire, adding to and heightening the energy or point of view you have already created. Pause for the other improviser's "dialogue." For example:

Me: That's a cool-looking dog.

Pause

Me: Three-legged dogs are rare.

Pause

Me: Damn thing's name is Rexy?

Pause

Me: It's standing next to a cat with one ear.

Pause

Me: Never seen a green cat and a three-legged wiener dog.

Pause

So you get the idea. You just keep improvising your half of the scene, bringing more and more to your initiation.

Purpose

Even though improvisation usually involves two or more people, improvisers must learn to bring heat to their own initiations. This exercise will help you maintain and heighten your own thing, while sustaining your ability to filter anything else that happens in the scene, or anything your partner says and does, through your character.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-08