Improvisation Class // On this page I will blog on a weekly basis about the week’s improv class. I will share what the objective was, key improv concepts and what struck me about the weeks class. The purpose of the blog is also to give class participants the opportunity to share their thoughts and insights.
Improvisation Class 2 – Listening and awareness
Listening and awareness is fundamental for improvisation. Like I mentioned in the previous class, everything is an offer in improvisation and the more offers you can become aware of, the more you have to work with.
Improvisation class 1 Gifts, Acceptance and Gratitude
Last night another group of brave souls embarked on their journey into the “spur of the moment” …the magical world of Improvisation – a world filled with mystery, secure uncertainty and spontaneity. The class got under way with a game called “the story of my name”. In this exercise everyone is afforded a chance to ...
Improv Class 2.6 – Who is the hero in your story?
In his book “A million miles in a thousand years” Don Miller distils the essence of a good story as “a character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it”. In the previous class we focused on creating a strong character (a character that knows what he/she wants). Now to write this character into ...
Improv class 2.5 – What do you really want?
The theme of last week’s class was “what do you really want?” We started the class with a relaxation exercise followed by a warm up game called “Bunny bunny”. This game so excited me that I hurt my back. Luckily Mike had a few amateur chiropractor tricks up his sleeve. After getting all my vertebrae ...
Improv Class 2.4 – Why do you do what you do?
The theme of the class before this one was “Be affected by what you hear.” We played a game in which one player started a scene with a random opening line. The other character then had to have a strong emotional reaction toward this line (see the previous blog). So I started this class with ...
Improv class 2.3 – The cure for our semi autism
The theme of last week’s improv class was “be affected by what you hear”. We started the class with a relaxing exercise, focusing on the sounds we heard around us. This was followed by a name game called “George” that I learned at the IO theatre in Chicago. After that we played the famous Keith ...
Improv class 2.1 – Present yourself
After the completion of my second 6 week “introduction to improv” class, participants expressed their interest in a level 2 class. This really excited me, and last Monday we all boarded a train on a new journey. The library where I usually taught the class flooded, so we had the class in Pane E Vino, ...
Improvisation class 9 – 29 June
Tuesday night was the last class of my second Level 1 improv class. What a blast! We just played performance games. I’m so proud of everyone. All the scenes you did would have pleased an audience. The first game we played was Spotlight. This game illustrated that to improvise you just need to step in, ...
Improv class 8 – 23 June 2010
Physicalization Physicalization is the method used by improv players to create imaginary locations, objects, and events. The best way to help the audience and your fellow players see the objects and environments that you create is if you see it yourself. We started the class with a guided fantasy into our imaginations. The adventure began ...
Improvisation class 7 – 15 June 2010
Breaking routines This Tuesday’s class was all about breaking routines. And I’m going to break the routine by writing the rest of the blog in Afrikaans. HierdieDinsdag inplaas daarvan om klas te hê, het ons almal by Basic bymekaar gekom vir ‘n glasie wyn. Die rede daarvoor was omdat daar ‘n double booking op die ...
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