MAY
17

Developing “Acting Muscles” with Improv

By David Coonan 

Dave Coonan is a New York-based theatre artist and teacher with over 15 years of directing experience.  He specializes in middle school, high school, and community theatre.  He is also president and artistic director of the Malverne Community Theatre, on Long Island. 

One of my favorite theatre pastimes to do with my students is improv, which is the act of creating something spontaneously.  There are hundreds of improv games and countless scenarios that can jumpstart a young actor’s imagination, so use improv generously.  It is a powerful tool for actors of all skill levels and, if done well, it helps to develop all the acting muscles.

Improv helps to strengthen:

• Creativity and spontaneity
  Improv is all about quick thinking and being creative.  Being able to adapt in the moment is a skill that is important not just in theatre but life in general.
• Teamwork, listening, and communication skills
  Improv scenes fall apart without focused listening and reaction, which is why it is truly a collaborative art form.
• Adaptability
  Like life, improv can be loosely planned but it cannot be predicted.  Improv — and life — requires a person to be flexible, think on their feet, and adapt to changing situations and surprises.
• Confidence
  Improv helps an actor develop more confidence on stage by knowing they can cover a mistake in the moment.
• Character development
  Actors can take the lessons of improv to create backstories for their scripted characters, resulting in deeper and more meaningful performances.

Here’s a short primer on how to introduce improv.

A few improv ground rules

It’s necessary to lay out a set of ground rules for improv scenes to keep them moving.  Without these guidelines, scenes can lose steam and end up going nowhere.

• “Yes, and...”  This is the golden rule of improv (and the theme of a popular improv game below).  What this means is you accept everything in the scene as the truth, then add to what was said and what is happening.  You don’t disagree with anything said.  If someone says an elephant in pink sneakers just appeared behind you, then it did and you go from there.
• One direction — forward.  Always move the scene forward and build toward its natural end.  You need to end the scene when it reaches this point rather than drag it on too long.  With any scene, always be thinking, “Beginning, middle, end.”
• Each character must have an objective or destination.  The fun of improv comes from the journey of reaching that objective or destination.
• Stay focused.  Your job is to complete the scene, so don’t lose track of the thread.  Again, always be thinking, “Beginning, middle, end.”
• Give your scene partners “gifts” to help them look good.  Give your scene partner interesting, specific details to play off of and react to.  These are called “gifts,” because they help your scene partners look good.  For instance, instead of saying something generic like you’re going to the store tomorrow, say you’re taking your scooter downtown to the specialty pickle and taco store.

Questions to keep in mind

After laying out the ground rules, students need to learn to always establish these three key elements in order to create a good scene:  character relationships, a location, and a conflict that needs to be resolved.

Improvisers learn to always keep these questions below in mind in order to have enough information and inspiration to create a scene from next to nothing.  The challenge is that this is improv — every scene partner will have different answers to the questions in their head!  That’s why “Yes, and...”  is such an important rule!

• Who are these people and what is their relationship?
• Where are they?
• When does this take place?
• What are they doing?
• What is a conflict that they are facing?
• How did they end up here?
• Why are these characters in this place?

It’s all a big game

Games are the heart and soul of learning how to create improvised scenes, as they provide some structure and boundaries.  Games can be easy or difficult, depending on the skills of your actors and how challenging the game is.

Improv games start by providing a brief set of rules for what the actors can and cannot do.  Very often, games start with a prompt — a suggestion of a topic, location, character, or situation to improvise upon.

The three specific improv games below have been around for years, so you may recognize them, possibly with another name.  Still, I chose these three specifically because the rules are easy to follow and because they are appropriate for all skill levels, including beginners:

• “Yes, and...” (for 4-8 performers)
  This is really the entire basis of improv!  Like lots of improv, this simple game starts with a theme or activity, such as “Let’s go to the park!”  As actors pretend to go to the park, elements are added in.  “Yes, and...  let’s bring a ball!”  Now, actors are not only walking to the park, but they may be bouncing or passing a ball as they go.  Then another actor might add:  “Yes, and...  let’s also have a picnic!”  This can go on until a scene reaches a natural end or until every actor is involved in some activity.
• Panel of experts (for 3 performers or 4 with an MC)
  Three actors are chosen and each is deemed an expert in a different field of study.  These fields of study can be anything, of course, and the stranger the better.  Once the experts have been established, audience members ask questions, and actors improvise expert answers.
• One-word story (for any number of performers)
  The objective of this game is to improvise a story starting with “Once upon a time...”  or another opening line.  Actors tell the story from beginning to end, providing just one word per person along a line or circle of improv actors.  This can go on as long as you like or you can set a time limit in advance.  Either way, the performers needs to move the story forward and bring it to a logical ending.

The resources are plentiful (Pioneer Drama has several great books for teaching students improv) and the results can only be positive, so improv can be used as a warm-up in rehearsal or as its own standalone activity.  Be sure to discuss why a scene did or didn’t work, then talk about how actors can incorporate these skills into their scripted work on stage and into their lives off stage.  Most of all, make sure they’re having fun!