“U” is for “Upstaging”

Upstaging refers to a performer’s inability to remain “open” or seen by the audience, which, in turn, can create the additional challenge of making dialogue difficult to hear.

What’s Up with That Staging…?

This is just a taste of this entry/concept. Go here for more information.

Related Entries: Acting, Levels, Physicality, Sharing Focus, Stage Picture Antonyms: Being Seen, Staying Open Synonyms: Closing Yourself Off

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: One-Voice Expert

Game Library: “Lotus Monologues”

This narrative exercise encourages active listening, subtle connections, and grounding characters in your personal Truth. Let me introduce you to Lotus Monologues.

The Basics

Three players (A, B, and C) volunteer to play and stand in stage right, center stage, and stage left positions, respectively. The exercise usually begins without an audience prompt as any themes or connections are discovered rather than imposed. Subsequently, it’s helpful if the stage right player has a personal story that they’d like to share at this particular moment in their capacity as the first narrator. Players explore three rounds of storytelling with each improviser sharing in sequence as focus moves down the line from stage right to left.

Round One

Player A begins by taking a step forward and narrating “the first third” of a true story. This is a rather artificial measure and generally consists of establishing the given circumstances and some sense of the story’s mood or essence. Once they feel they have met this goal, they step back, thereby giving the focus to B, who steps forward. This improviser now narrates the beginning of their own personal story that was subtly inspired by the previous narrative. Once they complete their first offering, the process continues with Player C now providing a third honest story start that’s influenced by the tone or feel of both of their predecessors.

Player A tells the start of a story of moving schools as a young child and the nervousness of entering a classroom without knowing anyone there. Player B responds with an account of meeting their beloved pet dog and the elaborate surprise created by their family for the moment. The round concludes with Player C recalling a road trip adventure with their older sister where they just followed the highways that spoke to them…

Round Two

We now return to Player A, who picks up their story from where they left off. However, the next step or focus of this story should now reflect the “feel” or emerging themes explicated by their teammates. The story may remain wholly true with just a slightly new direction or voice, or the narrator may elect to deviate more substantially in order to reflect commonalities with their teammates. After finishing the “second third” of their story, they step back again, and Player B and C continue this process of narrating their own stories based on truth but influenced by the choices of their peers.

As the second round unfolds, all the players lean into the theme of adventure and the unknown, with Player A continuing to narrate about that first day at school, B tells of training their dog in the neighborhood park, while C recalls a particularly out-of-the-way small town that felt like a trip back in time.

Round Three

Finally, we rotate through the tellers one last time with Player A, B, and then C sharing the conclusions of their individual stories. Players should not seek to name or make explicit perceived connections but rather just allow them to color each narrative in ways that feel appropriate and grounded. As each story culminates, it may remain completely factual, modestly adjusted, or a more complex mix of honesty and artistry.

Picking up on some potentially scarier hues, A’s story ends with then running away from school and trying to walk back home, B has their dog run away only to be found and returned by a kind stranger, and C recounts driving down an abandoned dirt road only to eventually make it back to the highway and “civilization.”

The Focus

This exercise invites a nuanced application of truthful and intuitive storytelling by encouraging players to combine factual and fictional honesty. If the final round of narrative is largely absurd, you’ve likely missed the mark a little (or a lot!)

Traps and Tips

1.) Start as yourself. The request to share personal stories might immediately make some players a little uncomfortable right from the outset. Stories needn’t be the darkest moments of our lives (and frankly, probably shouldn’t be as this may cause the teller harm), but avoid narratives designed purely to get a laugh or to evade revealing anything vulnerable whatsoever. The first teller sets the tone, so I’ll let players self-select into this spot. Especially once the dynamic has been modeled, stories tend to bubble up that offer grounded launching points. For B and C, they should ideally just react honestly to the initial narrative and not feel obliged to explicitly explain their rationale.

2.) Look beyond the surface. At the completion of the game, I’ll ask those watching to brainstorm the various shared themes and connections they experienced from their seats in the audience. (One of the innate values of this game is the realization that audience members seek and see connections everywhere effortlessly.) Narrators should resist grabbing obvious elements from others’ tales and then plopping them inorganically in their own: Player A mentioned a dog so now I’m going to have a dog in my story too… Instead, honor subtler energies, themes, and tensions, trusting that this will amply serve the exercise and your future scene work in general.

3.) Retain a truth. I feel a little odd writing the advice in black and white to “lie well,” but that’s the gist of this bullet point! While the stories should start in your experienced (albeit, subjective) truth, by the game’s conclusion, it’s probable that each narrative will represent a much messier amalgam of truth and dramatic lies or conceit. Regardless of where each individual ends up on this scale, stories should feel honest. It’s foreseeable that a teller might just plod through the rounds without any content or tonal shifts. While there might be occasions when doing so reflects an alignment of the storytelling stars as the base narration as is connects gracefully to those around it, more often players should allow the greater context to influence their work.

4.) Measure your steps. Finally, each story needn’t move through time in exactly the same pattern. A narrative could span several weeks of content, move jauntily through a singular important day, or linger on the repercussions of one particularly intense minute or moment. You’ll want to avoid making the entire story generalized context or an impersonal overview: narratives unquestionably benefit from specifics. But subsequent stories can solve the challenge of time in the manner that best suits them. One player might always pick up immediately from where they left off with each new visit, as is the case with Player A, while a teammate might use these edits to enable dramatic shifts in time or location.

In Performance

Players invariably will ask for a less opaque measurement for the preferred duration of each narrative segment, but the best answer is truly “when you’ve said enough.” Some stories will require more preamble or illustrative balance than others to set up the appropriate details. This flexibility also encourages players to develop an ability to “read the room” so as to determine when an offer has sufficiently served its intended function.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Lotus format, this monologue version serves as a nice introduction to the scenic version where three pairs of improvisers now craft three rounds of work that gently reflect the energies and choices of their peers.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Truth

“T” is for “Truth”

Pursuing stories and characters that reflect the real world around us in thoughtful and provocative ways.

Four Truths and a Lie…

This is just a taste of this entry/concept. Go here for more information.

Related Entries: Comedy, Culpability, Drama, Emotional Truth, Material Antonyms: Escapism Synonyms: Honesty, Integrity

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: Lotus Monologues

Game Library: “Creation Myth Scene”

Creation Myth Scene belongs to a category of short-form games that requires a good dose of attentive reverse engineering. (Other examples include Famous Last Words, In A, With A, While A… and Commercial.) Subsequently, it’s no small act of Trust to bravely explore a patient and unified path forward alongside your teammates.

The Basics

The scene gains its impetus from a human-made object or invention, such as a pencil, lunchbox, or slinky. For reasons that will become clear, highly technological items are less helpful for this particular frame. Players imagine and create a world in which this item does not yet exist. As the scene progresses, the conditions and elements required to make the proffered item slowly assemble until, finally, the characters discover this new valuable gift to humanity.

Example

The audience suggests “wheelbarrow.” As the lights rise, Player A lumbers onto the stage carrying an immensely heavy rock. After each few steps, they pause to rest before taking up their burden once more. A few steps later, a second character, Player B, struggles on behind them.

Player A: (with approximated stone age speech patterns) “This rock… heavy.”

Player B: (prodding A forward) “Must make wall.”

Player A: (pushing the rock out of desperation) “This rock HEAVY!”

Both characters watch as the large rock rolls just a little…

Player B: “Push rock more!’

Player B tries to do the same with their rock but it doesn’t work.

Player B: “Push your rock more!”

Both characters delight in their rolling rock. They are oblivious as Player C enters from the opposite direction struggling under the burden of a load of wood…

Player C: “This wood… heavy…”

The Focus

Any scene that seeks a particular collective end – in this case, the emergence of the named object – can unfortunately put players in their individual heads as they strive to intellectually solve the scenic riddle. Pay extra attention to your teammates, making sure you are supporting and trusting their instincts rather than just passively waiting to insert your own idea regardless of if it’s a grounded next step based on the current scenic conditions. Yes, look for opportunities to nudge the creation a small step forward, but also fearlessly exist in the here and now.

Traps and Tips

1.) Construct a world. One of my favorite aspects of Creation Myth Scene is that it gives you the opportunity to explore more radically different times and places than your average “kitchen sink” scene. No one on your team will necessarily know with any certainty when the object in question actually came into being, so don’t be afraid of just making a definitive, educated guess. The balance of this scene is particularly important as it establishes the rules for everything that follows. Subsequently, be wary of just casually wandering into the action if your fellow players have gone to the trouble of crafting a specific time period or mood. Style scenes provide a great break from the mundane every day, so take full advantage of this component. The scene is framed as a “myth” after all, so don’t default to modern blandness out of carelessness.

2.) Bring one brick. This game invites players to assemble the requisite pieces for the named product. It follows that these ingredients will need to make it to the stage eventually, but don’t just throw them all at the stage immediately and haphazardly. Take the improv adage of “bring one brick” (rather than a cathedral) literally and take the risk of establishing one element with joyful precision, especially during the opening moments of the scene. The stone age characters’ large rocks might serve primarily as the obstacle, forming the need for the wheelbarrow, or with a little love and polishing, might also provide a step towards the beckoning solution. Let each new element have its own featured moment, trusting that your teammates will have the wherewithal to add the next step when it’s needed.

3.) Craft don’t solve. At first glance, this format might look quite similar to Commercial (see here), which also requires players to develop the need for a new product to cure their woes. The potential for period-infused style marks one important distinction; the requirement to actually invent the product in real time serves as another. In Commercial, Player C might just enter pushing the desired wheelbarrow. In Creation Myth Scene, however, this object doesn’t exist until the onstage characters make it from their combined efforts. It’s more than appropriate for C to enter with a piece of the puzzle – the wood planks in this case – but it implodes the playful premise if one character just has the fully realized prop in their possession. This game provides the very embodiment of privileging messy process over a tidy product.

4.) Get on board. Beware of the conflict-seeking naysayer! This scene needs a few minutes to evolve unlike the intentionally sharper Famous Last Words or Commercial; but, if a character falls into a contrarian attitude, there probably isn’t enough time in your whole evening to get the scene to the finish line. Stalling the action by commenting on logic flaws or inconsistencies – rather than seeing these holes and then immediately working to be part of a solution – will undermine the momentum of the rising action which is so critical for the game. Choose to be equally invested as a character and a player: this is the historical moment that this object needed to come into existence and when all the required components finally lined up perfectly. Be a willing part of that perfection!

In Performance

It’s not obligatory, but it can provide a fitting button to end the scene by naming the new wondrous creation. This may or may not line up with how the object has become known to us in the modern period. Whether or not you punctuate the scene in this fashion, make sure your characters actively use and celebrate this memorable contribution to the evolution of the human race! The format has a built-in climax, and even if your efforts have resulted in only partial “success,” don’t throw away this promised ending.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Trust

“T” is for “Trust”

Little of value occurs on the improv stage without a robust sense of Trust. If players aren’t confident that the ensemble will lift them up in times of challenge and make room for them in times of success, the rapid game of ping pong that is improvisation – with teammates instinctively and immediately exchanging creative volleys – will inevitably collapse.

Times to Trust…

This is just a taste of this entry/concept. Go here for more information.

Related Entries: Audience, Postmortem, Speaking Your Truth Antonyms: Fear, Winning Synonyms: Ensemble

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: Creation Myth Scene

Game Library: “Replay”

A Replay scene is one of the few exceptional situations where a simple Transaction Scene (or problem/solution scene in the spirit of a Commercial) can actually serve your needs. When crafted as the first “base” vignette, such a predictable dynamic will provide sufficient memorable markers for the more out-of-the-box replays that follow.

The Basics

The basic Replay model offers the foundation for many related structures, several of which are outlined below. The dynamic begins with the creation of a deliberately modest template scene that responds to an audience ask-for. This first action usually lasts about a minute or so and should have a resolute button. You don’t want this offering to be too epic as you’ll be revisiting it several times. At the completion of the first vignette, it’s typical for a member of the team, director, or host to return to the audience and obtain one or more new handles or overlays. Players then restart the initial scene, repeating its major elements, but now through the newly acquired lens. The original scene replays several times in this fashion, often slowly moving further and further from the base model in the process.

Example

The first three lines of a scene are improvised based on the suggestion of “fast food.” (These scenes should go longer, but this is just designed to give a taste of the mechanics.)

Players A and B begin as a picky customer and an “over it” register worker, respectively.

Player A: (looking up at the large flashing screens of menu items) “You have so many options. I’m not sure what I’m in the mood for…”

Player B: “There’s a long line of people behind you, so when you’re ready…”

Player A: “Do you have anything that’s fresh and locally sourced?”

The scene continues until it finds its button and the lights fade. Quickly, the host leaps to the stage and asks for a new emotion for the scene and receives “passionate.” The onstage players shuffle into their original starting positions as the lights transition (perhaps with a truncated countdown).

Player A: (absolutely mesmerized by the robustness of the menu) “You have sooo many options. I’m not sure what I’m in the mood for…”

Player B: (with charm and not at all in a rush to move them along) “There’s a long line of people behind you, so when you’re ready…”

Player A: (with a playful wink) “Do you have anything that’s fresh and locally sourced?”

The scene continues as before but in this tone, until it reaches a similar ending and the host steps up once more…

The Focus

Much of the fun of this game consists of reinventing the initial tropes and plot points. Don’t be afraid of a mundane, perhaps even slightly dull, first action. In some ways, if you’re too creative right out of the gate, you can be making the work ahead needlessly daunting.

Traps and Tips

1.) Consider honoring the template. One of the gifts of a shorter base scene with clear beats and dialogue is that you’re more likely to remember the constituent elements. Without recreating the familiar steps of the template, you’ll quickly deviate from the stated intent of the game, which, as the title promises, is to replay the scene in new ways. Especially for your first efforts, it’s helpful to maintain as much of the original as is workable. This has the dual benefit of burning these major choices into your mind for future use and giving you a more dynamic arc. In the classic version of Replay, the gimmick can resemble Most Scenes in a Minute (discussed here), but in this latter context players strive to replicate the original vignette as many times as possible in a longer set time (perhaps with the added heat of trying to achieve a target number of scenes). For classic Replay, the pace is a little less manic and usually consists of a set number of repeats (usually two or three). In both iterations, it’s helpful to have a dedicated facilitator pitching each new handle either from a well-composed audience prompt or as the chief mischief-making director themselves. This “most scenes” version invites a very brief template scene – thirty seconds or less – that tends to get boiled down even further to an essence through subsequent rounds. The facilitating caller can greatly assist the shape of the game by providing a glorious variety of contrasting inspirations: from character quirks, objectives, and occupations to locations, moods, and animal essences.

2.) Consider keeping the text. As you face the first reenactments, strive to reiterate as much of the foundational text and staging as possible. A great deal of the game’s effectiveness resides in how dialogue and action reappear rather than just throwing out the first attempt completely and starting with a blank canvas. Explore how a new objective, subtext, or context can reveal a different meaning that has previously lay dormant in the original choices. As modeled in the fast-food scene, the players needn’t change much of the action at all to suddenly reveal more passionate undertones. Emotional Replay blossoms with this subtextual style of play. Yes, of course it’s fine to tweak words here and there to suit your playful ends – and even deploy more wholesale changes in the final reenactment – but even a tacit commitment to fidelity delightfully raises the challenge. For this replay version, and those that follow, it’s traditional to improvise the first scene and then pause the action while a team member elicits three contrasting choices (emotions in this case) for the replays. Gathering them all at once also allows you to set the order in which they’ll appear so that you can place the largest or richest energy in the final position.

3.) Consider adjusting the text. When the game moves into more overt style or genre-based work, language adjustments will soon rightly follow. It’s still a lovely finesse to approximate the opening text as faithfully as possible, but as you move from modern day vernacular to more poetic or style-specific language games, your dialogue (and movement quality) should delightfully adjust. While the format doesn’t require each replayed scene to end identically, varied outcomes are especially common when you introduce the lens of genre. If our fast-food storyline now becomes a western, our customer might become a rancher confronting a rustler sitting at a hidden campfire who is dining on some stolen stock. Genre Replay invites this retelling approach, encouraging players to maintain the initial dynamic while requiring them to re-envision how stylistic concerns can elucidate unexpected connections and contrasts. Our fast-food template scene probably resulted in Player A finally ordering something on the menu; our western take is probably destined for some form of gun fight or altercation (in slow motion, of course).

4.) Consider maintaining the essence. The further you get from the assumed given circumstances of that first scene (which usually defaults to a here and now aesthetic) the more you’ll want to freely reinterpret the source material while creatively retaining at least a hint of its original flavor. Seek to honor the bigger moves, rhythms, and patterns without getting too caught up in the minutiae. A favorite replay variant is Through the Ages, which incorporates three historical periods. This invariably demands highly stylized results inspired by distant times and places. Here, players should ask themselves, “How would the initial scenic assumptions transform in these alien settings?” What would “fast food” even look like in Europe’s dark ages, ancient Egypt, or China’s Han Dynasty? What relationship would most closely resemble a server and customer? A simple transaction scene works extremely well in this replay version as a commonplace routine becomes surprisingly rejuvenated when subjected to some historical “if this is true, what else is also true…?”

5.) Consider all of the above. And if you play a freestyle or mixed replay, then all of the above advice holds true. When your scenic repeats don’t exclusively belong in one overlay column, you’ll want to strategically sequence your options and build your tactics to maximum effect. Often, it’s wise to start close to the source material, mirroring the base scene reasonably closely, and then ratcheting up the changes and attack. Scene Three Ways offers just such an opportunity. I like using the device of getting an audience member’s initials to then inspire three resulting handles: an emotion starting with “D,” a movie genre in the “A” section, and a “C” musical style. (This might garner dejected, action, and country, although you can obviously use any three prompts that best suit your company.) Music will nearly always gift you a strong finale, especially if you’re fortunate enough to have a strong musician and able singers in your midst. But occasionally, a shuffle may be in order, and I’ll tend to slate a really left field ask-for in the middle of the replays to make sure there’s a more accessible option for the climax.

In Performance

Replays tend to need a little extra space to flourish on your roster as even if the base scene is concise, you’re often looking at a performance time of eight to ten minutes once you’ve factored into account the set-up, ask-fors, and transitions. The built-in potential for a grander arc makes games of this ilk will-suited to the final spot in an act or evening. Each variant has a slightly unique gift to offer – from the attack of a timed freestyle Replay, to the subtextual subtleties of Emotional Replay or the broader stylistic strokes of Genre Replay, to the mental gymnastics of Through the Ages or the highwire act that is Scene Three Ways. Also, consider exploring Rashomon (found here) if you want a character-centric take on the same idea.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Transaction Scene

“T” is for “Transaction Scene”

An often-uninteresting subset of improv scenes that don’t tend to grow beyond the basic premise of one character buying a good or service from another.

Exchange Your Transaction For This…

This is just a taste of this entry/concept. Go here for more information.

Related Entries: CROW, Objective, Secrets, Strangers, Subtext, Teaching Scene Antonyms: Breaking Routines, Change, Stakes, Urgency Synonyms: Stasis

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: Replay

Game Library: “Bad Rap”

This game title is perhaps a little misleading in that in order to pursue Bad Rap players must actually closely honor the core rhythmic and rhyme scheme tenets of the game while using a Third Thought technique to derail the listeners’ expectations. It’s no small task to be good at being this particular kind of bad!

The Basics

Players form a circle and establish a 4/4 rhythm by clicking their fingers or similar. Everyone chants the choral refrain. “Bad rap… bad rap, bad rap.” (The cadence I use puts the first “bad” on the first beat, and then the two final “raps” on the third and fourth beats respectively.) One player begins by providing the first couplet, setting up a target rhyme in the first line and then truncating the second line so that all but the rhyme word is completed. This final word or phrase is the moment when the couplet is swiftly passed to the next player in the circle to complete “badly.” That is, the next player should finish the pitched sentence logically but not with the intended rhyme. The “bad rap” hook is repeated between each couplet line, and the player who just completed the prior line now constructs their own couplet with a similarly clear target rhyme offer. This all becomes much clearer with the example below…

Example

All:

“Bad rap… bad rap, bad rap
Bad rap… bad rap, bad rap”

Player A:

“I was walking down the street…”

All:

“Bad rap… bad rap, bad rap”

Player A:

“In just ten minutes I had really sore…”

Player B: (maintaining the cadence)

“…legs!”

All:

“Bad rap… bad rap, bad rap”

Player B:

“I finally arrived at the gardening store. “

All:

“Bad rap… bad rap, bad rap”

Player B:

“Bought one bag of dirt, couldn’t carry…”

Player C:

“…enough.”

All:

“Bad rap… bad rap, bad rap”

Player C:

“Dragged that bag all the way home…”

All:

“Bad rap… bad rap, bad rap”

Player C:

“And made a little bed for my garden…”

The Focus

This exercise reinforces a litany of important improv skills but is particularly effective at modeling a third thought process. As the lyric receiver – initially Player B in the above example – your first thought is hearing the pitched word “street,” your second thought is parsing the intended target rhyme through grasping the context of the second half of the couplet which brings you to “feet,” and your third thought is providing a timely subversion that maintains the narrative logic by offering “legs” or any other non-rhyming word instead. Ironically, in the ensemble’s efforts to evade the rhyming couplet, rhyming will probably never feel easier or more organic!

Traps and Tips

1.) The rhythm is going to get you. The exercise has little chance of longevity if the rhythm becomes irregular or adjusts awkwardly to the perceived needs of the individual poets. The current speakers, in particular, can tend to distort the tempo as they construct or exit their lines, especially if they are a little musically challenged. Make sure you cleanly get out of the second couplet, in particular, for your teammate to have enough time to blurt out the last word. Generously use the rest of the ensemble to set and maintain the “bad rap” hook, but make sure your initial chorus isn’t too jaunty as you begin. Once everyone has a good understanding of the mechanics, then you can make the pace a little brisker. If and when fumbles occur, make sure you’ve set a tradition of robustly and sincerely applauding the team’s efforts before restarting.

2.) Target rhyming is a must. There’s a lot going on in this circle exercise, and harried players will occasionally throw out almost anything as their set-up line, especially if the rhythm sneaks up on them. The exercise can survive a little of this but don’t overlook the function of an obvious intended rhyme. If an intention for that last word of the couplet is unclear or possibly even omitted, the following player can’t really engage in an effective third thought process. This is not to suggest on any level that this is easily achieved but refocus or slow the pace if target rhymes disappear entirely. It’s hard to joyfully subvert the goal of each couplet if there was no clear goal established in the first place. The exercise also provides practice in clearly landing those pivotal final rhyme words as you can’t rhyme (or, in this case, not rhyme) with something you didn’t hear or comprehend.

3.) A continuous narrative is helpful. When I first introduce this exercise, I tend to make each couplet discreet so that Player A’s offer of walking doesn’t need to necessarily inspire or relate to B’s subsequent idea. Invariably this additional freedom increases the likelihood of some proficiency although I would posit that most players across the circle are spending the build up to their turn well and truly in their heads coming up with their offering in advance. Once everyone has a more confident sense of the logistics involved, pursuing a connected narrative decreases the trap of pre-planning and increases the risk and abandon. In most instances of shared storytelling, I’d recommend a third-person narrative style, but there’s something on point about a more braggadocious first-person voice for this particular game.

4.) Yes, there is a way to make the game even more challenging. This variation is most definitely not for the faint of heart, and if you or your troupe is only just managing the basic model, perhaps skip over this bullet point completely! But if you’re consistently meeting the challenge head on, you can raise the bar by treating the missed rhyme – “legs” in the first couplet – as the intended rhyme for the next exchange. So now Player B might continue, “I wanted an omelet, so I bought some…,” at which point Player C leaps into the fray and might finish the couplet with “milk,” thereby avoiding the intended “eggs.” Player C would then craft a line that sets up a rhyme for “milk…” This approach essentially reduces the turn around by half (while increasing the chances of stumbles tenfold!) I will be completely transparent and admit that I don’t think I’ve experienced more than a fleeting moment of success with this version especially when playing in a larger group.

In Performance

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed incorporating aspects of this mind-numbing dynamic into various directed scenes: a Tag-Team Song where one or more players are instructed to foil the artful target rhyming efforts of their teammates is a particular guilty pleasure. On the way to “mastering” Bad Rap, you are actually actively honing an array of powerful lyrical and poetic skills.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Third Thought

“T” is for “Third Thought”

A Third Thought approach to improvising invites players to put aside their immediate response and follow a less obvious connection so as to tap into more tangential (and typically less over-used) ideas.

Three Thoughts on Third Thoughts…

This is just a taste of this entry/concept. Go here for more information.

Related Entries: Abandon, Obvious Antonyms: Over-Originality Synonyms: Care, Surprise

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
Join my Facebook group here.
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Game: Bad Rap

Game Library: “Soundtrack”

By completely removing the potential for speech, Soundtrack serves as the perfect remedy for excessive Telling on the improv stage.

The Basics

I’ve primarily experienced this game with a highly adept technician ably moving from one lush musical score to another, but it can surely work with an equally equipped live musician providing the accompaniment. A fully pantomimed scene occurs with this dynamic underscore changing periodically throughout the action to accentuate major discoveries and narrative tilts.

Example

“Bakery” informs the action. Player A begins alone onstage accompanied by a sleepy melancholic musical strain. With ingrained precision they place their wares in the various display cases until everything is “just so.” With one last look into the store, they approach the front door, unlocking the bolt and flipping the hanging sign to “open.”

The music immediately shifts into an up-tempo industrial feel. Customers, embodying the bustle and rhythm of the soundtrack, rush into the store. Player A retreats to the counter, watching as their cherished loaves and cakes are unceremoniously grabbed and pushed towards the register. One customer after another demands and receives attention. And in another swirl, they are gone.

And the music changes once more as a solitary figure, Player B, stands in silhouette at the baker’s door. The soundtrack is now a sweet ballad full of hope and promise. Player A lovingly straightens the goods around them without losing sight of their beloved who floats between the various shelves displaying a care and appreciation absent from the insatiable hunger of the prior store occupants. And then their eyes meet...

The Focus

Tell a detailed story through experiencing and showing your choices and feelings. In lieu of dialogue, make sure you’re activating your whole body to communicate your character’s hopes and fears.

Traps and Tips

1.) Use the music. Unlike similar formats that expect a more avowedly dance-like quality, Soundtrack doesn’t typically result in epic balletic numbers. But that being said, the music should influence your movement even if this is in more subtle ways. Let the rhythms and tempos infuse your activities and staging. Embrace a more stylized movement vocabulary. One of the advantages of using recorded and familiar stock pieces is that improvisers may be able to predict and subsequently honor significant shifts and builds. And while the base language is mime rather than dance, this doesn’t mean that our baker and their beloved couldn’t have a moment of dance (imagined or real) as part of the rising action.

2.) Use the music. In addition to rhythmic cues, the ever-changing soundtrack should also provide rich subtext gifts. Without the tools of language, the music should fill in this gap for the characters and relationships. (It generally works best not to “pretend” talk but rather just create scenarios in which the characters choose not to communicate with words as their emotions are just that strong.) Let the specific instruments stand in for specific characters and their streams of consciousness. Typically, accompaniment without lyrics is preferable as this permits the beautiful musical equivalent of specific ambiguity. Even if the melody remains similar for a while, listen closely for subtle or not so subtle shifts in the dynamics or instrumentation as it’s truly breathtaking when we can see an honest embodiment of what we are also hearing.

3.) And use the music. Lastly, the musical transitions are a big gift that should be fully exploited. Ideally, the technical or musical improviser will pitch these shifts at opportune moments in the action when the characters are ready to explore a new energy or facet. But even (especially) if the timing catches you off guard, don’t passively cling to your prior tone and choice. Quickly assess the overall mood of your new subtextual accompaniment and risk changing something onstage accordingly. If you’re offstage, a sudden energy shift can inspire and frame truly effective entrances (and exits, too, for that matter if you’ve previously been onstage). You don’t want to throw out what you’ve created – combine rather than replace – but don’t be afraid of some strategic character consistent inconsistency. Try something new, then figure out how to justify it.

In Performance

There are literally only a handful of improv scenes that I can vividly recall seeing from my teenage years. A group of Canadian improvisers toured New Zealand in the late 1980s and placed their technical improviser onstage with a comprehensive array of cued cassette tapes (remember those?) lining several tables. As a Gothic romance occurred on a cliff top, the sound improviser brilliantly shifted from one musical mood to the next without missing a beat, while the other improvisers similarly changed emotions and plot points on a dime (or, allowing for the conversion rate, a twenty-cent piece in the vernacular of my home country!) I think I’ve been chasing that level of physical and technical dexterity ever since.

This format shares a great deal of creative territory with Ballet minus the utilization of a narrator figure. Review this Game Library entry here for additional pertinent insights.

Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
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Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo
© 2023 David Charles/ImprovDr

Connected Concept: Telling