Whoever makes the first move to edit, should get the first chance to initiate. It doesn’t matter how awesome your idea is. If they were a half second ahead of you, let them start an activity first and let them say the first line.
Perhaps one of these have happened to you in an improv show.
It’s time to edit a scene. One player makes a sweep edit, and everyone else hesitates before joining. Finally someone joins, but the first player doesn’t see them, and waves for someone else to join the scene too. Now there are three people in the scene. They each make fumbled initiations, and the scene stumbles forward as they try to make it work.
Or perhaps you’ve done this. You walk on stage and start doing an activity. You say nothing. No one joins for a really long time, perhaps because they can’t make sense of what you’re doing. Finally someone does come on stage and immediately says something that contradicts what you have created. You freeze because you’re not sure if you should drop your initiation or clarify what you’re doing.
You’ve probably heard that if you react or behave in a particular way in an improvised scene, you should continue to behave or react in that way throughout the scene. That’s good advice. It’s no fun to see a character react to something in a specific way and then drop it for the rest of the scene. If your scene partner does something and you react suspiciously, you should probably react to other things suspiciously too. That’s how you create a game1 for yourself.
The key though is to let yourself be provoked into these reactions by your scene partner. You shouldn’t have to invent things in the scene to treat suspiciously. It’s far better to be provoked by your scene partners actions instead. You could notice the bookcase and the copy of the Bible, pull it out and glower suspiciously at it. But it would be far more interesting if your scene partner said, I want to show you something and pulled out a book from the bookcase and then you became suspicious.
In rare cases, your scene partner may not be doing anything at all and then you have to actually discover things on your own to provoke you. But most of the time, once you have a template for how this character reacts, you should focus your attention on your scene partner and when your gut tells you “React!” go for it.
photo by emily.laurel504In improv, it’s a common mistake to make too much of the surface details of scene’s first line or two. For instance, if your scene partner starts a scene by flipping a pancake and asking if you want fresh blueberries on yours, there is no need to make the whole scene about pancakes and the relative merit of blueberries on top. And yet, I see scenes like that all the time.
Instead listen to what’s behind the initiation. What is implied by the action? How are they behaving and what is their mood? These are the real clues to figure out what is going on.
Your scene partner is making you breakfast. Perhaps you have just spent the night together for the first time. Maybe it’s your anniversary. Maybe he did something wrong and he is trying to apologize or perhaps he’s buttering you up for a favor. Maybe it’s simply that he’s the person in your household that makes breakfast on Saturdays. That’s how you really yes and something, you go deeper.
Dyna Moe’s terrific poster diagramming the Harold. I wish this poster was still available to buy somewhere. It looks like she took it down from Cafe Press.
An actor is called into a casting office to audition. He brings his headshot and resume with him, greets the casting people and introduces his audition piece: a monolog from a play called The Audition. He takes a moment to collect himself and asks, “Can I use this chair?”
The auditioners respond, “Yes.”
The actor stops and tells them that he was doing the monolog, that question was part of the monolog and they shouldn’t respond. And at that moment, the game of the scene has begun. Here is the whole sketch to watch:
Mr. Show was a sketch show on TV, not a improv show, but the sketches from that show usually had excellent examples of game. And you can usually break them down in the same way you might an improv scene.
What is the basic situation?
What is the first unusual thing?
If that, then what?
What is the basic situation?
In this scene, it’s an audition in a casting office. If you are an actor, the situation will be very familiar. There is an expected flow that happens in this situation. You bring in your resume. You greet the auditioners. You introduce your audition piece. There is usually a chair in the room and it’s not uncommon to ask if you can use it. These are all ordinary details that we expect to happen. As the scene goes on, there are several other details that might happen in a typical audition.
What is the first unusual thing?
The first unusual thing is the first line of the monolog. It doesn’t sound like a monolog, but rather something the actor might actually say in the room. Which we only realize after the auditioner interrupts by answering the question.
If that, then what?
Each time the pattern is repeated it changes a little, and heightens a little. One time, the actor waits a very long time after asking if he can use the chair. Later he berates the auditioners for not responding to him. One great example is how the actor says, “Don’t just look at each other,” right at the point where they look at each other. They have a moment where the auditioners point out how strange it is that the monolog has that line right in the exact moment when they would look at each other.
If you want to know how to play a game, a good use of your time would be to watch episodes of Mr Show and break them down just like this. What is the situation? What is unusual? If that, then what? Here is a list of a few more Mr Show sketches to check out.
If you are in Chicago and want to learn the Game of the Scene from Kevin Mullaney, check out the new Core Improv Program at the Improv Resource Center. A new class begins in January, 2017.
In this two day intensive class, you will learn how to begin scenes by observing and connecting with your scene partners and trusting your gut. By owning your reactions and provoking reactions in your scene partner, you will build exciting, unpredictable and fun scenes with strong emotional games.
In this two day intensive class, you will learn how to begin scenes by observing and connecting with your scene partners and trusting your gut. By owning your reactions and provoking reactions in your scene partner, you will build exciting, unpredictable and fun scenes with strong emotional games.Kevin Mullaney
When is the class?
Class meets Saturday January 19th and Sunday January 20th, noon-4pm
Where is the class?
Upstairs Gallery
5219 North Clark Street
Third Floor
Chicago, IL 60640
How much will the class cost?
$65
Applications for this are closed.
Who is Kevin Mullaney?
Kevin Mullaney is the current Artistic Director of the Chicago Improv Festival. He was the original Artistic Director for the UCB Theatre in New York. He was also the first director of their training program. Before that he taught at iO Theatre and directed their touring company, the iO Road Show. He is the host of the Improv Resource Center Podcast and has acted in recent productions by WildClaw Theatre, Caffeine Theatre and Will Act For Food. Find out more about Kevin Mullaney here.
I came across an extremely simple idea to help improvisers who have trouble with agreement, which is just about everybody. Just nod your head yes when you are listening to your scene partner. I tried it in a class recently and it works quite well. You don’t have to think specifically about yes anding what they say. Just nod yes a couple of times, especially right before you speak. You’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to agree to what they’ve initiated.
I thought of trying this because of two things. First, I had heard of a study that asked some people to nod yes while they listened to an editorial. Afterwards, they were more inclined to say they agreed with the editorial than people who were encouraged to shake their head no while listening. The difference was rather large, not just a statistical blip. It suggests that nodding your head up and down causes something in your subconscious to make your conscious thoughts more agreeable. Second, I watched the video of a show that my class had performed. I was looking for things we could work on for the next class. In the first moment of the first scene, before anyone started talking, one of the students was shaking his head no… even before he heard the initiation of his scene partner. Watching that made me think of that study. And that made me think, “I’m going to make my students nod yes constantly and see what happens.”
And you know what? It worked. They actually were much more agreeable. I suppose that doesn’t really prove anything. This was directly after I gave them several notes about how they weren’t agreeing very well in their show. So perhaps it was simply a physical reminder to be more agreeable, but it sure seemed to work.
There were a few students who struggled with it. They didn’t like nodding. Perhaps it felt a little silly or artificial. But if they really tried nodding, they had no problem agreeing.
The day after the class Robert, my assistant teacher, pointed out that he thinks that more than a couple of great of improvisers do this unconsciously and he gave a couple examples. I think he’s right, and I’m going to do it regularly too until it becomes an unconscious reflex for me.
Update September 17, 2016: Today in class I encouraged students mix affirmative words and utterances while nodding. For instance saying things like yes, uh-huh, right, and yep while their scene partner was talking. It really does work.
This is an eight week class for intermediate and advanced improv students with some long form improv experience. You will learn how to create fun, interesting, two-person scenes; explore different ways to create second beats from those scenes; and try connecting different threads at the end of your piece. There will be a special focus on game of the scene and developing characters with interesting points of view.
This is an eight week class for intermediate and advanced improv students with some long form improv experience. You will learn how to create fun, interesting, two-person scenes; explore different ways to create second beats from those scenes; and try connecting different threads at the end of your piece. There will be a special focus on game of the scene and developing characters with interesting points of view.Kevin Mullaney
Best of all, the class includes three performances at Strawdog Theatre (in Hugen Hall). Each show will be hosted by your teacher and you will receive notes after the show. The following week, in class, will feature exercises to work on the specific areas of potential improvement identified from the last show.
