10 Rules of Long-Form Improv, Part 1
There are some BIG differences between short-form game-based improv, short-form scene-based improv, and long-form improv.
The following list points out the rules that actors NEED to keep in mind when performing a long-form act, which typically consists of a 20-30 minute improvised “play” with structured and consistent characters, a goal, a climax, and a resolution. These 10 points come from the notes of Del Close, and I will interpret them.
Del Close’s 10 Rules of Long Form
1. You are all supporting actors.
There is no need to take center stage all the time. It becomes very tiring, and since improv is a team-based artform anyway you don’t want to drive the entirety of the production yourself. That’s just selfish.
2. Always check your impulses.
Unlike short-form improv, a long-form act doesn’t end quickly, and can’t easily be repaired simply by changing the topic entirely. Before you jump into the scene, make sure whatever you are doing has meaning, and isn’t just another selfish attempt to add something you think the scene needs.
3. Only enter the scene when needed.
As with rule #2, keep a keen eye out for when actors are needed to drive the scene, and when adding yourself to the scene will only clutter things.
4. Save your fellow actor, don’t worry about the piece.
This is incredibly important. Since one of the key philosophies of improv is teamwork, you need to always make sure you have your teammates supported. If they start to stumble, don’t ever hesitate to save them, regardless of where you think the scene might have been going. The worse thing an improv actor wants is to look stupid. The audience is likely not to notice, and you’ll be back on your way to developing a beautiful piece of work.
5. Your prime responsibility is to support.
Never think of yourself as any more important than your teammates. Keep your eyes open, focus on the scene, keep in mind the details of the scene and make a move only when you think you need to.
Stay tuned for rules 6 through 10 next time!
Kyle
The Value of Improvamonium
I’m going to start this off by talking about inbreeding.
Inbreeding is a bad thing in our society. Mating two creatures of similar genetic ancestry results in weaker (or deformed) offspring. These weaker offspring have a harder time finding mates of their own, or they die off to natural selection (ala Charles Darwin). They could maybe continue the process of inbreeding, but that’s not really getting their gene pool value any higher, is it?
It is important for improv groups to grow strong bonds between their members, in order for their minds to become one and their scenes more confident. The reverse side of this coin is that while the improv members may not be breeding with themselves (or at least in the opinion of “The Improv Student” and myself, we hope you don’t), there exists a possibility for these sorts of groups to become closed-minded. Closed-mindedness leads to stagnation, and stagnation leads to bad improv.
Of course, this ‘closed-mindedness’ only occurs after an improv group has maintained a stable relationship between its members: if there isn’t a steady rotation of members, and if those members are experiencing new and interesting things to bring to the table.
My recommendations to any improviser to reduce the stagnation are:
- proactively experience other improv performances,
- engage yourself in other forms of expression,
- and learn as many things as you can in order to enrich your acting experience.
Of course, RIT Improv has one big way to kick stagnation right in the jugular.
Improvamonium
Improvamonium is RIT Improv’s annual event where we collect local college improv groups at the Rochester Instititute of Technology’s largest stage venue. There we exhibit the performing groups one by one, giving each a moment in the limelight so they can express their particular talents and strengths. Then, when each group has been given a chance to perform, we mix up all of the groups for the second half and perform as one large improv super-troupe. People are acting with members of other groups they’ve never met before, surprising new connections are made, exciting new scenes are experienced by both the performers and the audience watching. It’s the greatest show of the year, and a true testament to the power of unscripted performance art.
Improvamonium 2010’s performers included:
- Nazareth’s Script Tease (Facebook)
- SUNY Geneseo’s No Laugh Track Required (Facebook)
- RIT’s BrainWreck Improv (Facebook)
- RIT’s Improvessionals (Website)
- RIT’s Comedy Troupe (Facebook)
Mix It Up!
Mixing up all of these groups felt wonderful, and it was extremely beneficial for both the veterans and the newbies to experience what other groups are up to in their respective circles. For all Improvamoniums in the future, we will be inviting them back. The more groups we get to respond, the better this show will become.
But for now, I’d say that’s a pretty good gene pool, right there.
Kyle
P.S. I’ll leave you with some photos for your enjoyment. More can be found here. Credit to Mike Bruckner.
Improvise Your Life – Part Three
“You bring a brick, I bring a brick. Then together, we build a house. You wouldn’t want to bring in your own entire house and slap it ontop of mine. Together, moment by moment, we create a scene.” – Keith Johnstone
Business is a challenging environment.
Scenario 1: You go to work, and you don’t work very hard. You work so little, that you get fired. Sad day for you.
Scenario 2: You go to work, and you work really, really hard. You work so hard, you are cutting operation time in half. You work so hard that you completely outshine your direct boss, and get to take his job. Your boss gets demoted, or fired, and gets really mad at you for taking his job. Happy for you, sad for them.
Scenario 3: You go to work, and you work hard. But instead, you work to make sure that you are accomplishing your tasks, as well as helping your boss accomplish his tasks. Your boss looks good to his boss, gets a promotion, and because you worked so hard to help him, you also get a promotion! Happy for you, happy for them.
TEAMWORK – Making Your Partners Look Good
In the previous “Improvise Your Life” sections, Acceptance and Spontaneity, I discussed how important it is to say “Yes.” Acceptance is saying “Yes” to external conditions provided to you, and Spontaneity is saying “Yes” to your impulses. The concept of Teamwork in improv is to say “Yes” to anything and everything that your teammates and partners do. This requires a bit of patience and selflessness on your part, but in the end it is so rewarding to both you, your partner, and your audience.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. ~ Author unknown
Many sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. ~ Kenyan proverb
The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime. ~ Babe Ruth
A scene, or a situation, is only as good as the people acting within it. Therefore, it is to your benefit to make sure that each and every other player on that stage is looking their best. If each actor has this mentality, of playing to improve the worth of each other player’s actions, then the piece as a whole will be greatly improved. After all, improv is a comedic art form that is based on the interactions between people. That’s the interesting thing. That’s what audiences will come in droves to witness.
To see such a simple notion as teamwork performed on a stage in such a pure fashion can bedazzle a crowd. The greatest success an improv team can achieve is to learn to work together, instead of fulfilling only their individual duties or trying to stand out from the rest. When the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, that is what we are all trying to achieve.
Conclusion
Keep in mind these three things as you venture off into this great world of ours. Acceptance is the art of saying “Yes!” to the world, and to the situations that you find yourself in. Spontaneity is the art of saying “Yes!” to your thoughts and instincts, never letting a worthy opportunity pass you by. And finally, Teamwork is the art of saying “Yes!” to your peers, working to build a team not from duty or obligation, but from harmony and cooperation.
Improvise your life, and enjoy a world where anything is possible.
Kyle
Del Close and Archetypes
Del Close is one of improvisational theater’s greatest legends. He has taught many headliners that appear on Saturday Night Live, and is famous for effectively creating the Harold form of improv. As I was going through his lecture notes, I stumbled across this speech that he presented to a San Francisco workshop in the late 60s. In the speech, he describes the connections between the purpose of theater and the persistence of archetypes in our everyday lives.
The article further presses the point that the point of theater is not necessarily to exaggerate or create crazy circumstances, but more to tell the truth or expose a realistic scenario to the audience so that they may relate with the actors as they tell the story. The best improv is not one that seeks only to make you laugh. The best improv has each member of its audience watching a different show, basing what they see on stage off of what they have experienced in their own lives. Using archetypes to reveal these “universal elements,” as Close puts it, is one way to do that.
I highly encourage you to read the article below, and share your thoughts about it. Enjoy.
Del Close’s Talk to the San Francisco Workshop
“Songs are thoughts sung out by the breath when people are moved by great forces, and ordinary speech no longer suffices. Thoughts washed over a man in a flood, making his heart pound and his breath come in gasps, and then it will happen that we, who always feel small, will feel still smaller. And we will fear to use words. But it will happen that words will come of themselves. And when the words we want shoot up of themselves, we get a new song.”
“The great sea has set me adrift.It moves me as a week in the great water.Earth and the great weather move meAnd carry me awayAnd move my inner parts with joy.”
(RESPONSES):To entertain….To communicate with each other…To stay in contact.…(etc.)
Sophocles was writing plays about your life – that the message is there for you to learn from – because the only important problems you’re likely to face have all been faced by all mankind. These plays are terms of - well, everybody’s got to live through the same patterns, and if you can find parts of that pattern that are familiar to other people who have lived before you, well… ah… things… get… easier.
Improvise Your Life – Part Two
“There are people who say Yes and there are people who say No. Those who say Yes are rewarded by the adventures they have, and those who say No are rewarded by the safety they attain.” – Keith Johnstone
My adventures in Toronto, CN
I am a horrible trip planner.
In the past three weeks, I have gone on two trips (Toronto, CN and New York, NY), with “plans” for a third (Washington, D.C.) in the works. The reason I am a horrible trip planner is because of my “see what happens when we get there” mentality. It’s fine to know what’s available, but to physically plan out where to go and at what time bothers me.
The reason why this bothers me is because of the aspect of spontaneity, which is defined as “thinking, doing, or coming from natural feelings without constraint.” When we left for Toronto, we left with one goal in mind – experience Toronto. We found out where the different iconic locations were and how to get to them, but for the most part we played it by ear. At one point we asked a local, our waiter, if he had any recommendations. That recommendation took us far away from the tourist side of Toronto, and we were able to sample the life of the Toronto locals.
In New York City, we were presented with an opportunity to go and see an improv show, which turned into another show that we were allowed to participate in. Had we had any other plans for that night, it wouldn’t have become what a great night that it was, with me and my friends performing improv, live, on a New York City stage.
SPONTANEITY – Accepting Your Thoughts for Truth
Just as accepting what life throws at you is important, it is equally as important to be at peace with your own instinct and intuition. To deny yourself the right to believe what you yourself are thinking, you are probably missing out on some pretty exciting opportunities. People know improvisation best by associating it with this free-will and ability to perform without thinking. In fact, you ARE thinking. You are always thinking. However, in thinking you are constantly replacing some ideas with other ideas, and choosing what you perceive to be the best alternative. Improvisational theatre trains you to stop those censors, and to trust your gut instinct.
My advice is this:
- Know your options. Recognize that alternatives exist. Trust yourself to make the decision among them quickly.
- Don’t second guess your instincts. If there is an opportunity that is not inherently bad for you, there is no reason why you shouldn’t at least give it a shot.
- Never regret your decisions. Of course, this could fall into a greater theory of ‘fate’ or ‘destiny,’ or, “what happens happens for a reason.” Take your result and either consider it a success or a learning experience.
- Draw from your experiences in your future decision making, but don’t let it be a hard and fast rule.
“If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never do much of anything.” – Win Borden
Kyle O.
Part Three: Teamwork (coming soon)
Improvise Your Life – Part One
The Improv Philosophy
There are a lot of mantras, ideals, teachings, and other such wisdoms that people tend to stick to when they talk about either their religion, ethical or moral codes, general ways of life. For me personally, as evidenced by my Facebook account’s “Religious Views” section, I follow what I like to call an Improv Philosophy. For those who have read what I’ve written on the various subjects of improv (such as identity and fear), or who have attended some of RIT Improv’s Improv Workshops, this is simple review. For those unfamiliar, I’d like to walk you through what this code entails, and maybe you can consider incorporating some of the elements into your life.
The three core values of improv, as I understand them, are as follows: Acceptance, Spontaneity, and Teamwork. I have spoken about these values briefly before. These form the basic foundation of what improv is and what improv hopes to achieve, which is a pure and uncensored interpretation of the mind’s process. Action without restraint. It is simple and elegant, but in order for it to work in its entirety it requires the careful attention of the person performing it to their surroundings and their company. Which brings us to…
ACCEPTANCE - The Art of Saying “Yes”
Acceptance is the concept which dictates improvisational performers to say “Yes” to all offers presented to them by their fellow actors. If an actor were to begin walking in a heavy and tired fashion, gasping for shallow breath, and wiping the sweat from their brow, I might interpret that as the actor miming a scene in a desert. For me to take the counter-approach, which is to ignore this offer, and begin swimming around as if I had a snorkel and flippers would be completely ridiculous and cause one of two things to happen:
- I throw in an “underwater” scene, which overrides the “desert” scene, and makes the other actor appear foolish. Their offer is no longer valid, and I have stolen control of the scene. Or:
- We somehow manage to have a scene in which both the desert environment and the underwater environment are merged. This would be extremely difficult and nonintuitive, and most of the time this would be unsuccessful.
Judging by the slim potential for a desert/underwater scene to be successful, simply saying “yes” to or accepting the offer from the other actor would be the best choice. There is no reason for an improviser to go out of their way to make a scene more “interesting” because they had a “better” idea. There is no such thing as a “better” idea in improvised theater.
My case for Acceptance as a part of the Improv Philosophy is that no matter who you are, or what you do, you should always remain flexible and be willing to allow others to present you with alternatives. One nugget of knowledge that I picked up from Ralph F., a good friend of mine is:
“If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it.” – Unknown
There are those out there who regret some of the things they have done. Chose the “wrong school,” dated “the wrong guy,” ate the “wrong thing on the menu at that one diner.” To those people I say that by accepting those offers in the first place wasn’t an inherently bad move. The action of making the decision to go to a particular high school or college isn’t wrong, and in fact for a lot of people is a huge leap forward. The action of making the decision to date a particular person is also not wrong, as it is a personal dedication to someone else, a redistribution of trust and time. If these decisions don’t work out in your favor, and you move past them, then what you now have is an experience to draw upon that will allow you to adapt to future offers, or even inspire you to create offers of your own.
“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.” – Brian Tracy
What you now consider your past is just as much a part of you as the present. Whatever adventures or fortunes (be they benevolent or otherwise) will be presented to you in the future are also a part of who you are. So leave that feeling of regret behind, and remember to learn from your experiences instead of begrudging them. If you think there is only one path for you to follow in life then you are ignoring the infinite number of paths that could lead to exciting new possibilities. And with that, I leave you with a closing quote.
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” - Epictetus
Kyle O.
Part Two: Spontaneity (coming soon)
Sources:
February 9
Talk about a huge leave of absence! I’ve been paying a lot of attention to my own personal journal lately, instead of broadcasting everything to the public. This is strictly AGAINST my personal philosophy of openness and honesty, and I’m sure at some point I’ll be able to reinstate my flow of updates.
With any blog, or journal or whatever, the site has to maintain some sort of theme. I guess I’m still wrapped up in my personal life currently to manage that kind of consistency. I’m not even going to publish this post to Twitter, but if you do happen to stumble across this post, I invite you to contact me and strike up a conversation! There are a myriad of ways available on my contact page.
I’ll be back soon, I promise!
Rebuilding Motivation
Admittedly,
I’ve been in a bit of a slump, lately. Stress factors include, but are not limited to: senior year, family, grad school, work, and my relationships with friends and coworkers. I’m not going to put blame on anything but my own inability to organize myself sufficiently enough to pick myself up and get myself back into gear. Therefore, I am putting into writing a promise to myself and to others.
I, Kyle O’Neill, promise to do the following for the next few foreseeable weeks, until my attitude and motivation has reached stable satisfactory levels:
- Manage my time better, utilize my calendar
- Use more lists, always carry a pen and paper
- Put priority first on my future, while keeping a close eye on the present
- Study hard for graduate school and do everything in my power to apply to as many schools as is reasonable
- Remain positive and productive when in the presence of coworkers
- Take responsibility for all actions
I don’t enjoy having little motivation to accomplish goals and I certainly do not enjoy the perception by others when that lack of motivation is obvious.
If you are one of those who saw me differently because of this, consider this my formal apology and action plan towards correcting those perceptions.
Sincerely,
Kyle O’Neill
The Preservation of Self
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It
The Problem of Lost Identity
The human experience is one that is not easily interpreted. With each post I try to bring myself closer to an understanding of what makes us tick. This week I’d like to focus on how it is that we interpret ourselves and the roles that we play.
According to Erving Goffman’s “Presentation of Self in Everyday Life“, we put on a mask that we show to others in order to get what we want in life, while we conceal our true selves behind the scenes at all times. This thought is interesting to me because it implies that no one is ever really truly themselves in front of other people. Regardless, we all inherently trust the image of the people that we meet. We assume, either for convenience’s sake or because we think they are truly trustworthy, that the way these people act is the way that they normally act under any situation. We take this image, make generalizations, place them into a camp of personalities that we can relate to, and generate a way to react to them.
What I’m trying to get at here is that I’m not sure even we know who we are ourselves. We are so frequently wrong about who other people are, what makes us think we have our own identities figured out? As with Goffman, we put on this mask to appear in front of people the way we want to be perceived, so who says that we don’t get caught up in the game and forget that there was once a different person beneath that mask?
I feel as though most people go through life living ‘as well as they can’ with the information they have. This is a pretty pessimistic outlook, but it shouldn’t be uncommon to most people in specific stages of life (high school clique-selection, college and career choices). Being a senior in college, deciding between continued education and the workforce, I’d say that I’m stuck trying to figure out exactly who I am and what that person deep down really wants.
If I were to merely satisfy the goals of the mask that I’ve put on, then what happens to the goals of the person below the surface level?
Finding Ourselves
Today I had a conversation with a recent RIT graduate who got hired as the Manager of Catering Services at the college. He graduated with a degree in Graphic Media, but claimed that he didn’t want to work in the field that he spent the past four years in college aspiring to. He came to the realization that the printing industry was not really what he wanted, and that he was super excited about “truly beginning the rest of [his] life.”
I don’t know what inspired him to take the daring move to abandon the lessons learned in college and dive into something so far from his academic skill set, but what I carried away from this was that he was happy. I can’t say it with certainty, but this could be an example of where he was able to set aside his mask and satisfy the goals from within. If he were to go into the printing industry, what would become of that desire to work in dining services and event planning? Likely it would be repressed to the point of either regret or forgotten entirely. The mask would win.
There is an improv game I plan on using with my students next week in the “Character” lesson. I think it’s called ‘Self Pep Talk.’ The actor is to face the audience without directly addressing the audience, as if into an invisible mirror. They are then to talk themselves into their character’s state of mind.
“You are John Doe, the most fearless man on the football team.
You’ll tear them to shreds.
You won’t take no for an answer.”
When they feel they are sufficiently ‘in-character,’ they then proceed to act with the other actors in the scene. If they feel as though they have begun to lose their character, they are to return to the mirror to talk themselves back into character, and not lose that character’s morals or attributes. The goal is to find a character, and preserve it.
The Preservation of Self
I’ve been a long standing advocate for truth and honesty in everyday life. Not only does it enrich the interactions between people, but staying honest to yourself is the one thing that just makes sense. If you can’t be honest with yourself, your goals, dreams, desires, then what do you have besides an elaborate and empty mask that you cling desperately to in order to show others that you have an identity?
Easier said than done, of course. However, I encourage that you, the reader, take these thoughts into consideration. My friend Ralph once told me: “Look at yourself in the third person. Are you happy?”
Many people have lost their character. I think we could all benefit greatly from taking a step back, looking at ourselves in a mirror, and talking ourselves back into the person that we used to be.
“You are Kyle O’Neill.
You love your friends and family more than your career.
You exist to make other people happy.
You work hard to never disappoint those people.
You are true to yourself and to others, above all else.”
Spontaneity and Fear
In improvisational theater we define spontaneity as the act of removing our inhibitions and letting our instincts and pure emotions drive our actions. It allows improvisers the opportunity to “go with the flow,” to prevent them from thinking too much on stage searching for exactly the correct answer. This is one of the principles of improv, and is therefore one of the most important lessons to be learned from any improv workshop.
Another way to define spontaneity is to take a look at how people operate out of fear. Since spontaneity works by removing the daily filters of emotion and instinct, people are generally uncomfortable when removing this filter. These filters were put in place by a society that defines and demands normality, and by removing those filters you are therefore removing yourself from the safety that society has provided for you. This is a scary concept, so it’s no wonder that the terms spontaneity and fear go hand in hand.
When I’m on stage, acting as a character or interacting with an environment that my team has created, I use spontaneity to help guide me and the audience through the adventure as though I really were that person or really was in that situation. I let my emotions walk me through how to react to different questions or stimulants, and my instincts define what my goal should be or how I can make a step towards that goal. Without these things, not a lot would get accomplished on the stage, because the actors would be ‘unsure’ of what to do next, since each scene and character is completely fictional, and every line spoken has no script to back it up. The audience loves improv because they see that we are fearless, and are say-anything-do-anything people that operate in this magical world where we can be exactly those kinds of people.
The Fearless Girl
Two weeks ago, I was presented with an opportunity. I was walking through a building on campus, and was approaching four girls sitting comfortably by the Ben & Jerry’s. I was hanging up posters at the time, and was just beginning to prepare the next piece of tape to fasten the next poster with. As I began to pass them, the girl on the very end nearest me looked up at me, smiled, and said “Hi.”
No time to think. I’m walking. Cute girl smiling. She said “Hi.” Engage. Embarrassment. Job to do. Respond.
I smile back, say “Hey” in as cool and mature as I can possibly muster. But my feet keep walking, taking me away from the situation, away from the problem that was presenting me with stress.
My response was flawed, I ruined my opportunity to be spontaneous. The correct response would have been to stop my thought process at “Engage,” and stop to talk with the girl some more, since clearly that’s what my mind initially wanted to do. When I began thinking of all the reasons to deny the thought “Engage,” such as “Embarrassment,” or that I had a “Job to do,” I was effectively placing that ever-so-present filter that society has so kindly installed for me.
What bothers me the most about the above situation is that I denied another person’s attempt to be spontaneous. Making the effort to say “Hi” in such an inviting manner is a stressful position to put yourself in. This girl, who I shamefully know nothing about, will exist in my mind only as a fearless, spontaneous girl that I completely and irrevocably failed to support.
Conclusion
Every offer presented has an emotional charge. It’s important to consider saying “Yes” to those offers when they are appropriate, but it is possibly even more important to consider your gut feelings and instincts and not letting your brain get the best of you in the end. You’ll never know where you might end up.
I’m sorry, Fearless Girl. Lesson learned.