Write an Improvised Scene

Sit down at your typewriter, writing desk, or word processor. (Sit down at your computer.) Now, write a two-person scene, but do it in this way:

■ Get a timer and allow yourself five minutes.

■ Never ever ever stop typing. (It is hard and your fingers will be tired at the end of the five minutes.)

■ Do not censor yourself or self-edit or worry at all about punc tuation or spelling. Just keep typing fast.

To go even faster, name your characters A and B. You should hit between three quarters of a page to a page and a half in five minutes, depending on how fast you type.

Do not worry if the scene is bad.

Do not worry if the scene doesn't make sense.

Purpose

This is a writing exercise as much as an improv exercise. If you truly do this without corrections and without stopping, your mind and words will go places that normally wouldn't occur to you. This opens up a different, creative side to your mind that can't emerge if you are measuring what you are doing while you are writing. I really like this exercise because it just gets your ideas out there furiously. You can always go back and apply structure. After some practice, you may amaze yourself with how you can differentiate and heighten two different characters' points of view, at the same time acknowl­edging and heightening what the scene is about. But don't stop typing.

Songs

I do this exercise way too much. I think there's something wrong with me.

While at home or strolling down the street, improvise a song. This is quite scary for some people; for me it is a disorder. How do you improvise a song? Seriously, just start singing. As with impro­vising a scene, you will discover the melody and what the song is about all at the same time. Rhyme or not, but over time learn to rhyme. Also, practice not commenting on a bad rhyme. Just keep in it, and don't pause or comment on it. (The reason I say this is that in performance, improvisers often condition themselves to laugh or comment on the evidence that they can't rhyme, as opposed to finding the fun in rhyming well. Unfortunately, they often get laughs, which reinforces the behavior.)

Purpose

If you keep improvising, there is no way in hell you will escape having to improvise a song. You can either maintain the conversation with yourself that you're not a good singer or can't improvise music and be in pain, or you can start learning how to do it well today. (Psst, wanna 'nother edge in improv? Start taking singing classes this afternoon.) This exercise will also help you if you're called on to improvise a poem.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-08