Intro to Improv
Week 3: Object Work
Week 4: Relationships
OBJECT WORK
On an improv stage we usually only have each other and a few chairs. Everything else we make up. We want to treat objects like they are real, with weight size, and volume, use them and put them away like we would real things. Phones aren’t two fingers because that’s not how we hold a real phone. When sweeping with a broom or mopping with a mop, try and keep the handle straight. And try not to let your improv objects disappear into thin air. If you’re holding an improv bottle of beer, you’re holding that beer until you set it down.
The more realistic we treat the object, the more the audience will buy into the illusion. Even if you have real things like phones on your person, still use improv objects. Pay with an improv wallet, take off improv clothes, tie improv shoes, etc. The only real objects you should interact with on an improv stage are the chairs, which can be used for couches, chairs and cars.
MAKE THE SCENE ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIPS, NOT THE OBJECTS
Object work can clearly establish WHERE the scene is taking place, and does a great job of filling in the scene. However, be careful to let scenes be about the people and their relationships more than the objects.
If a dad is working on his improv car while chatting with his son, it would be really easy to get into a scene where he’s teaching car maintenance. But that’s a boring teaching scene. The better option is while showing Jimmy how to change spark plugs, dad confesses “Hey buddy, I’ve got some news for you – your mom and I are splitting up.” while turning a improv ratchet. That is far more interesting!
SHOW OPENINGS
When we start an improv show, we usually get a word from the audience to get started with. If we just used the word, it runs the risk of being a fairly one-note show focused only on that word. To avoid this, most shows have an OPENING at the start that takes the word and generates many more ideas from it. Think of the opening as ‘scene fuel’ – you’re stopping to fill up at the gas pump before heading out for the show.
The Opening is more for the troupe than it is for the audience, but we have a variety of openings that are entertaining for an audience
There are an infinite number of openings, and you can even invent your own. For beginner improv, we’re going to use the LIVING ROOM as the opening (see next item). It’s an easy to learn opening, that comes directly from Del Close in Chicago.
As this Opening discussion/scene/element is playing out, people on the backline or sidelines should be picking out one thing that they might use to inspire a scene later. Could be a concept, idea, word, emotion, object work, or even a line of dialogue, that they will use later to initiate a new scene later in the show.
Don’t worry about remembering everything. Just pick one thing and put it in your back pocket to use later. If everyone does this, you’ll have more than enough fuel for a 15 minute show!
THE LIVING ROOM
To start with a Living Room Opening, someone from the troupe will introduce the troupe to the audience and ask them for a word. Once the word is obtained, everyone says it together.
At this point a 2 to 3 minute casual discussion follows, using the word as the initial inspiration. Troupe members will tell true life stories – things that actually happened to them in real life. The other members of the troupe can ask questions and dig for more information. They also have full permission to spin off into tangents. This should be a free-flowing, casual conversation as if it was a group of friends chatting at a party in someone’s living room. Tangents are great because they generate more information.
As this discussion is going on, each member of the troupe should be listening for something that they can put in their back pocket to use later as inspiration for a new scene. It can be a line that is said, or a concept, or it can inspire some object work – anything goes. But everyone should have one thing ready to go to start a scene. If everyone in the troupe does this, the troupe will easily have more than enough information to fuel a 15 minute show or beyond.
You can also use information from the scene before as inspiration. For even more variety, A to C it really quick for something completely new.
CHARACTER DYNAMICS AND EMOTIONS
Whatever character you play, try to embody the voice, physically and, most importantly, perspective of the person they are playing. Being great at voices and accents is great if you are good at it, but it isn’t necessary to create a solid character. Tom Hanks has made an entire excellent career playing versions of himself mostly (and a Forrest Gump or Col. Tom Parker every so often).
Looking at life from that character’s point of view is the most important element.
Characters should have a strong opinion and/or a strong emotion towards each other. On a scale of 1 to 10, we recommend starting at a 6 or 7 so it’s super clear to your scene mate and to the audience. Strong emotions also play better on an improv stage because they tend to project more. Playing a low emotion or indifferent to another character isn’t going to spark a scene very well, but having a clear and strong emotion will set you up for a great scene.
RELATIONSHIPS
While it is possible to have decent scenes between strangers, it’s much easier and more efficient for the characters to already know each other and have strong opinions about each other. That way you can start in the middle of the scene.
Try to not only name the other character near the top of the scene – to establish clearly that you already know each other – but also try to set in stone how these characters know each other.
Are they co-workers? Spouses? Roommates? Neighbors? Bitter rivals? Getting that out at the start of the scene will help make the scene pop easily.
THE LADDER SHOW FORMAT
The Ladder is a simple show format, created by Brian James O’Connell that generates great scenes with strong characters and an overall storytelling arc.
It generally involves 4 improvisers, and consists of a series of two person scenes where everyone in the group has a scene with everyone else.
Whatever character you establish in your first scene, that is your character for the entire show. If you are the mayor of the town, you are the mayor of the town in every scene during the show.
We’ll use tag-outs to cycle through everyone in the troupe for a total of 7 scenes. The final scene will return to the initial two characters.
The first two scenes will mention other characters for the others to possibly take on.
Example:
Scene 1: Alice and Ben are a couple worried about their teenage son.
Scene 2: Carl and Ben, his dad, talk about the trouble he is getting into in 10th grade. Carl complains that he can’t live up to his older sister’s example.
Scene 3: Carl and Dana, his sister, get into an argument over their parents’ affection.
Scene 4: Dana and Alice have a scene. Dana is upset at her brother.
Scene 5: Alice and Carl, her son, have a heart to heart.
Scene 6: Ben and Dana have a father daughter bonding moment.
Scene 7: Alice and Ben wrap the show run up, talking about how complicated a family is, but they love their kids.
Video of the Week
Keegan-Michael Key on How Improv Works
He explains the concept of discovering scenes by ‘building things backwards’ incredibly well. He also gives a solid example of how the concept of Game in improv works, which we will be diving into in Section 5.
Podcast Recommendation
Yes, Also Podcast with Suzi Barrett
Suzi Barrett is an actor/writer/improviser based in Los Angeles, who is a frequent guest on After Midnight and Comedy Bang Bang. She has studied and performed with iO, Second City, UCB, and Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, as well as taught all levels at UCB, and tours with Holy Shit Improv and Ben Schwartz and Friends.
Her Yes, Also Podcast is a masterclass in the history and philosophies of improv, with a weekly interview of people with deep histories in the various improv scenes over the years. I highly recommend her podcast if you want to learn more about improv, where it has been, and where it might be going.
Intro to Improv Exercises
Here are descriptions of some of the improv games that were played this week if you want to share them with friends and family!
Two Word at a Time Letter
Circle game. The group will write a letter together (complaint letter, job reference, love letter, etc) using two words at a time – no more and no less.
Punctuation doesn’t count as a word, so put a comma, period, or question mark wherever you need it to go.
When the letter comes to an end, someone can give a closing (“Sincerely yours…”) and the last person gives this letter a fictional first and last name for its author.
Snap Pass
A simple Object Work game. Form a circle. One person throws a ‘snap’ to another person in the circle. That person catches the snap, honoring the way it was thrown, and then throws it to someone else with a second snap. One snap to catch and another snap to throw.
When the game is ready to end, someone catches the snap in their mouth and swallows it.