The other night in a Laughter for a Change improv class, the students spontaneously created a parody of "King Kong!" That’s right, and in the third class of the session. And the whole piece, complete with final scene on the Empire State Building, lasted about a two minutes! It was hilarious.
In talking about it afterwards, I said that the only real problem was it was so noisy and there was so much screaming (the girl, the airplanes, the Great Ape) that it was a little hard to follow. Not enough listening, I said. One of the players said “But it’s improv. Isn’t the nature of improvising something that big and with that many people that it will be very noisy?” “NO.” I answered. “Not if you’re fully committed to the moment, as you guys were, AND listening to the other players and to the space at the same time. It’s like music.” I’ve thought about that moment a lot since then. Trying to put into words what exactly was necessary to really make that almost glorious moment truly glorious. Then this morning, Super Bowl Sunday, in the New York Times, there was an interview with Bruce Springsteen, talking about his performance later today at the half-time show and other big performances he does. “Those moments are an opportunity for a very heightened kind of communication” he said.
That’s what I’ll tell them next week when we re-stage our mini-epic improv version of "King Kong." It doesn’t have to be noisy. In fact, moments like that – in our little theater, in a two-person conversation or at the Super Bowl – are an opportunity for “a very heightened kind of communication.” Thank you, Bruce Springsteen, once again, for supplying the right words at the right time.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
“DON’T FORGET THE CIGARETTE”
In a Laughter for a Change Improv class on Thursday night, one of the players created a character that was smoking a “space” cigarette. Good choice – the way he handled the cigarette gave a lot of detail to the character. It was a real example of how a space prop and physical acting can bring reality to an improv. In the midst of the improv, the player became so excited, gesturing wildly with his arms, that the space cigarette totally disappeared. His commitment to the character was there, but his attention to the “physical reality” of the cigarette he created flew out the window. I coached him – “Don’t forget the cigarette” and he refocused on it, harder than before. That’s when the scene got funny.
His attention was not on trying to create a funny character, but just to give reality to the physical choice he had made, and when he truly did that, the scene took on new life, the character got richer and the laughs started coming. With his attention to the space work, all this “business” with the cigarette came to life spontaneously. He discovered how to make the character real, which is to say funny, by staying true to the physical reality he had created.
Incidentally, the FDA has determined that smoking imaginary cigarettes is not harmful to your health.
His attention was not on trying to create a funny character, but just to give reality to the physical choice he had made, and when he truly did that, the scene took on new life, the character got richer and the laughs started coming. With his attention to the space work, all this “business” with the cigarette came to life spontaneously. He discovered how to make the character real, which is to say funny, by staying true to the physical reality he had created.
Incidentally, the FDA has determined that smoking imaginary cigarettes is not harmful to your health.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Laughter for a Change Improv School Opens
Last night was the opening night of the Laughter for a Change Improv School. I love the first night of new improv classes. You have a group of people who don’t know each other and in eight weeks will be a team -- friends, some friendships that will last a long time.
Once, in a twelve-week improv class I taught at UCLA (one three hour meeting per week), there were two students who met as strangers the first night and twelve weeks later -- engaged to be married. In last night’s class, at 7 o’clock there were fourteen strangers, slightly tentative, politely introducing themselves to each other, and three hours later, laughing, joking, discussing surprising connections of mutual friends, similar histories and shared beliefs.
Class finished at 10 pm, and at a quarter to 11, I wandered out with the half dozen former strangers who were still hanging out in the theater. No one wanted to leave – that’s always a good sign.
Once, in a twelve-week improv class I taught at UCLA (one three hour meeting per week), there were two students who met as strangers the first night and twelve weeks later -- engaged to be married. In last night’s class, at 7 o’clock there were fourteen strangers, slightly tentative, politely introducing themselves to each other, and three hours later, laughing, joking, discussing surprising connections of mutual friends, similar histories and shared beliefs.
Class finished at 10 pm, and at a quarter to 11, I wandered out with the half dozen former strangers who were still hanging out in the theater. No one wanted to leave – that’s always a good sign.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
What's the Game?
“He’s (or she’s) got game,” “put on your game face,” “I’m game” – just a few of the expressions in daily life that express positive and active states of being and doing through the use of the word “game.” This sense of the game aspect of life is crucial to the forward movement and clear thinking necessary to achieve the objective at hand.
Earlier this past week, I was feeling pretty unfocused. Started out with a little flu, a little fight with a loved one and a lot of procrastination on boring tasks that needed to be completed – long story short, I was “off my game.” Fortunately, like a super-hero come to save the day, my inner improviser kicked in to ask -- “What’s the game here?”
Just like you do in improv – find the game and the scene will reveal itself. “What’s the game?” Once the question was on the table, I was able to take a simple “adjustment” – there’s a game here, and I have to get “out of my head” and “into the game” -- back to that state of play, where the difficult tasks at hand had a definable purpose, a clear focus, and a playful sense of self-competition, as in – “Okay, self, I dare you to get this done and enjoy it.” Once I had “found the game” I was “on my game” and moving happily and productively forward!
Earlier this past week, I was feeling pretty unfocused. Started out with a little flu, a little fight with a loved one and a lot of procrastination on boring tasks that needed to be completed – long story short, I was “off my game.” Fortunately, like a super-hero come to save the day, my inner improviser kicked in to ask -- “What’s the game here?”
Just like you do in improv – find the game and the scene will reveal itself. “What’s the game?” Once the question was on the table, I was able to take a simple “adjustment” – there’s a game here, and I have to get “out of my head” and “into the game” -- back to that state of play, where the difficult tasks at hand had a definable purpose, a clear focus, and a playful sense of self-competition, as in – “Okay, self, I dare you to get this done and enjoy it.” Once I had “found the game” I was “on my game” and moving happily and productively forward!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Tavis Smiley on Jazz
This week, on Tavis Smiley's PBS talk show, Ben Ratliff, jazz critic for the New York Times talked about Jazz and improvisation. At the end of the interview, Tavis said what he loves about jazz is that in playing together, "everybody finds his own voice."
This is the beauty of improvisational acting as well. As you work with the other players, as you focus on your interaction with others, you find your own voice.
That's what we do at Laughter For A Change -- encourage and celebrate people finding their own voice.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
THE POWER OF MISTAKES
THE POWER OF MISTAKES:
Mistakes are the improviser’s friend. They are not bad. They are not just another chance to beat your self up. Mistakes are opportunities for discovery. Playing the mistake, making something out of it, can be a great moment in an improv. When you make a mistake, the audience laughs. Play the laugh. To often, what happens is – player makes a mistake, audience laughs, player thinks, “Oh, my god, I messed up, they are laughing at me, this is not good!” MISTAKES ARE GOOD! The mistake is a gift to you and to the audience. It shows that you are human. The audience is impressed that you have the courage to make the mistake in front of a room full of people. They are impressed and they are empathetic because every one makes mistakes and the audience identifies. The sound of their recognition and identification is laughter. Your mistake has created an EMPATHIC CONNECTION between you and the audience. Congratulations!
"An imbecile painter is painting. Color drops from his brush. A gaudy stain spreads over the page. The imbecile painter, in despair, tears up his sheet and starts over. On the contrary I am, if I may say so, a painter of talent and as the stain spreads, I smile, look hard at it, turn the sheet over and over again and, deeply moved, begin with sheer delight to take advantage of that accident. It is from that blot that inspiration is born." -- Pablo Picasso
So, when a mistake happens on stage, “DON’T LOSE IT, USE IT.”
Mistakes are the improviser’s friend. They are not bad. They are not just another chance to beat your self up. Mistakes are opportunities for discovery. Playing the mistake, making something out of it, can be a great moment in an improv. When you make a mistake, the audience laughs. Play the laugh. To often, what happens is – player makes a mistake, audience laughs, player thinks, “Oh, my god, I messed up, they are laughing at me, this is not good!” MISTAKES ARE GOOD! The mistake is a gift to you and to the audience. It shows that you are human. The audience is impressed that you have the courage to make the mistake in front of a room full of people. They are impressed and they are empathetic because every one makes mistakes and the audience identifies. The sound of their recognition and identification is laughter. Your mistake has created an EMPATHIC CONNECTION between you and the audience. Congratulations!
"An imbecile painter is painting. Color drops from his brush. A gaudy stain spreads over the page. The imbecile painter, in despair, tears up his sheet and starts over. On the contrary I am, if I may say so, a painter of talent and as the stain spreads, I smile, look hard at it, turn the sheet over and over again and, deeply moved, begin with sheer delight to take advantage of that accident. It is from that blot that inspiration is born." -- Pablo Picasso
So, when a mistake happens on stage, “DON’T LOSE IT, USE IT.”
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Rebel Without A Cause
REASONS WHY IMPROVISERS SHOULD WATCH “REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE”
- To expand your reference level – it’s an iconic film.
- James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and Beverly Long who plays Judy’s (Natalie Wood) best friend and is in my Senior Improv Class
- Archetypal scenes can be used for improv (great to stick your own version of them into the middle of Harolds) – for example, James Dean’s fight with his father, the knife fight in the parking lot of Griffith Observatory, the “chicken run” scene. And all those moments showing kids not getting along with their parents – makes for great parody.
- James Dean’s throw-away impersonation of “Mr. Magoo” who was voiced by Jim Backus, who plays his father in the movie.
- The way the story is put together – action sequences mixed with Actor’s Studio moments that never leave you bored. Keeps moving forward and raising the stakes. Great screenplay by Stewart Stern.
- Did I mention James Dean – talk about commitment!
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