Improv

Improv comedy: 

Theory: There are many ways that these little experimental games take from improv, and it's philosophy can be imported almost whole cloth into this little thing I'm making. Players stumble around for a few moments trying to figure out where they are and what the game is, and, step by step, offering by offering, "yes and" by "yes and", the game reveals itself. It's about being brave in your choices, getting support from your teams, and believing wholeheartedly in whatever is happening. 

Method: Not only in theory, but also in method, I'm stealing a hell of lot from improv. The little games played in improv are so easily adapted to include running around and physicality and surrealism and game creation.

Some notes on improv games to adapt and import:

• yellow ball, red ball, blue ball. In improv it is played thusly: players stand in a circle, one holds up an imaginary ball, looks another player in the eyes, says "yellow ball" and throws it. The other player catches this imaginary ball and responds, "thank you yellow ball." The yellow ball gets tossed around, soon joined by a larger red ball, and then a very large blue ball. To adapt this game, I kicked in a soccer ball and a bouncy ball or two. It kinda worked, was fun and chaotic, but didn't grow into much more than a chaotic bouncing. The unaltered improv game is an experience in chaos and attention, and is training in such. The group sees how long these imaginary balls can stay in the air, which is shorter than you would think, especially for improv neophytes. More experienced players and teams can keep it going for longer, but still really not that long. The operation is too chaotic to be sustained, though so much of its purpose is for the players to enjoy this chaos. My modifications so far have made it even more chaotic. We tried it with frisbees which helped, as throwing and catching a frisbee, even an imaginary one, is more deliberate and pronounced, so the game got a little more deliberate. Regardless, I think it still needs something. As a piece I'm quite satisfied, though as a whole set, still needs something.

• One word at a time stories: players stand in a circle, one player says the first word of a sentence, another player the second word, another player the third, etc. The challenge is to keep the sentence coherent, and to make good choices about when to add articles and modifiers and other filler words versus when to add substance words that push the sentence forward. It's easy to make sentences that are all delay and no substance, and easy to make sentences with a lot of substance but no structure. I've adapted this game by mixing it with nearly identical exquisite corpse games, where a player writes a word, then the next player the next word and so on. In one direction around the circle you have the spoken sentence moving, and in the other direction you have the written sentence moving. A decent adaptation. As a piece, it's fun. Again, as a whole set, really needs something, including movement and physicality... maybe interpretive running? Or perhaps something can be taken from military running cadences, and a group is jogging together (slowly) and telling their one word at a time story. Makes me want to test out running cadences as a piece.

• object work? Fight imaginary enemies or play an imaginary sport, without a ball or any kit

• ...

• very much ...

• every time I do a little improv, my mind transforms a "..." into a "!"