Improv 101

I finally started classes on Tuesday!
Everyone is fantastic. Our teacher, Beth, is one of the Comedy Sportz players and knows me, so therefore I was given a bit of flack for going to Europe while everyone in Wisconsin endured the heat apocalypse. Seriously, what is going on with this country? I'm afraid to step outside for fear of spontaneously combusting and melting at the same time. But heat aside all of my classmates are willing to try new things and are very supportive, which makes for an awesome atmosphere!

We started out with some simple Zip Zap Zop Beep, which is basically shooting focus from one person to the next. It's all about being in the moment and not planning who will be thrown the energy next. We then did a rhyming game called "What do you want for your birthday?" It starts with the chant "What do you want for your birthday this year?" and one person says "I want a _____ for my birthday this year." The blank can be any one-syllable word, as it has to be rhymed. So if someone said "I want a tree for my birthday this year" the next person could say "I want a knee for my birthday this year" or "I'm watching Glee on my birthday this year."

After those warm-up games, we got into some scene work. A game called "Try that on for size" involves one person mimicking a simple activity and saying what they are doing, followed with 'try that on for size'. The next person copies the same motion but says something (logical) that they are doing. An example:
I'm laying bricks, try that on for size! (side to side hand motion)
I'm buttering bread, try that on for size.
I'm conducting an orchestra, try that on for size!
The same motion is continued until someone cannot think of an action, in which case that pair is out, and the next pair steps up. I am happy to report I did not get out :)

We then worked on emotions. We played with varying intensity of emotions, and emphasized the difference of making an emotion more intense, not just louder. If you are angry, being louder does not show a more convincing level of anger, it just hurts your vocal chords. Using that lesson, we played a game called emotional party. A group of four people enters a party, each having a set emotion to portray. The host begins with one emotion, and when a new person enters the scene with a different emotion, the host must adopt that emotion. This pattern continues until the fourth person has entered, wherein all members of the scene have adopted the first person's emotion. The fourth person then leaves, and everyone returns to the third person's emotion, etc.
The most important thing about this game is not so much how well you are portraying the emotion, but having a reason to portray it. Therefore, relationships between people must be developed within a very short amount of time. For instance, I was hosting a party because I was getting audited, and a girl my age came in emoting innocence. The next person, an older man, came in emoting anxiety. I decided he would be my dad and lamented to him that I would be sent to jail in Saudi Arabia if the government found out how bad my taxes really were. We then had a reason for being in the same place, and the scene made sense.

Class ended with a simple count to ten, and we were released back into the heat. I can't wait for next week!

I apologize for the length of the above novel.
Over and out!
-D