Improv scene templates: Non sequitur
This scene template is a particularly fun one. It feels a little like a trick, but it can have surprisingly delicious results. It starts very much like the Activity to Point of View scene template that I described on Wednesday. One person enters and starts an activity and another person joins that activity. But when the players speak, it’s completely different.
One person starts a conversation
The first person says 1 or 2 statements about whatever topic they like. They can be describing something that happened to them, their state of mind or sharing their opinion on some topic.
Second person says something which is a non sequitur
The second person listens to what the first person says, but responds by talking about something completely different. Again they should use statements and avoid questions (unless they are rhetorical). If one person wants to talk about their job, the other wants to talk about their heartburn. If one person wants to talk about their sex life, the other wants to talk about Star Trek. They do not even need to verbally acknowledge what the other person says.
Each player continues their topic of conversation
When the first player responds, they again talk about their original topic. And when the second player speaks, they are talking about their topic. It’s as if each person is doing a different monolog and pausing as the other one speaks.
Pick one conversation or merge them
After bouncing back and forth between the two topics of conversation for a few lines, one of the players should switch to talk about the other person’s topic. Or in some cases, the player will realize why these two topics go together and merge them. Don’t force it, wait until a satisfying impulse occurs to you about how to merge them. The scene continues forward at this point like any other scene.
Some things to keep in mind:
Improv scene templates: Activity to Point of View
On Monday I posted a template for beginning a scene that I called You Statements. Of course, you…
Improv scene templates: You Statements
Scene templates can be very useful for improv scenes. It’s good to have a simple game plan or strategy to help start a scene. And it’s good to practice those strategies over and over so that they become second nature. There is no single right template. Just like there are lots of good ways to begin a chess game or lots of different successful plays in football or basketball, there are lots of good ways to begin a scene.
Here is one that I like:
New Improv Performance Class taught by Kevin Mullaney, coming in March. 3 shows. Cost - $199.
New IRC Podcast with Rachael Mason
Rachael Mason, Second City teacher, talks about giving gifts, emotional responses vs. clever lines, 10 minute scenes, playing against type, deconstructions, invocations, bad habits and stage combat.
Show names, group names and form names
Let’s say there is an improv group named Master Blaster and they decide to do a show called Inside the Thunderdome and for that show that create a new improv form that features stage combat that they call The Gibson.
Is it ok for you to do another impov show using stage combat? Yes, of course. It’s an idea. You can’t patent or copyright an idea. So of course it’s acceptable. It’s even better if you do three things:
- Add something to the form or transform it to make it your own,
- Give credit to the original group as the inspiration in the program and elsewhere,
- Name the show something unique so that there is no confusion with the original. Don’t call the show The Gibson, or Thunderdome or Master Blaster.
For instance, the Family did a form called The Movie in a show called Three Mad Rituals and also in Dynamite Fun Nest. When Besser taught the movie in NYC with a new cast, it became Feature Feature, and the next generation after that became Instant Cinema. He didn’t call the show Three Mad Rituals or even The Movie, they gave it a brand new name.
I’m not trying to call out anyone in particular. People do this over and over again, all over the place. And there are reasonable exceptions. This is more like a challenge to people to come up with their own titles for shows.
But that’s just my old, crotchety opinion. And by the way, I’m keeping the ball that landed in my yard.
UPDATE:
By the way, this is not about Cagematch. That show is a special case in my mind. I generally encourage people to steal that idea and transplant it in other cities. All I ask is if you want to use the name and base your rules on my show, that you give me credit, that you don’t do it across town from another theater that is already doing it and you buy me a drink if you ever have the opportunity.
Behavior is a game
We work too hard at the top of the scene. We think we need to figure out everything in the first few lines. Are you my mother? Are you my boss? Are we on a bank heist? Are we on the playground? Is that a cane in your hand or a magical staff? Do we need to know everything? No. We don’t. And the audience doesn’t give a shit if we come up with some amazing back story.
The audience wants to see our behavior. They want to know how we relate to each other. That’s what a relationship is.
- I’m weak and you are strong.
- I’m calm and confident, you are jumpy and nervous.
- I’m an optimist, you are a pessimist.
- You need to be mothered, but I can’t do it because I’m repulsed by you.
- You are the bully and I’m scared, but I’m going to stand up to you as best I can.
- We are both so excited to see each other that we are jumping up and down like teenage girls.
- I am trying to seduce you, and you are shocked.
These are all things that can be established in a very short amount of time. Sometimes we can walk on stage and feel it immediately. We notice it in each other’s behavior and how we feel. The audience sees it too. It’s clear and simple and right in front of us to play with. But instead we walk on stage worried about the who, the what and the where. Get out there instead and worry about the how.
“But, what about the game?”
Behavior is a game. And context is important. Yes, that is true. But instead of spending all your time worrying about yes anding the context, start with behavior and let the context tumble out. It will. You might need to practice it, but it will.
- I’m weak and you are strong, and then it tumbles out that you are a private in the army and I am your drill sergeant.
- I’m calm and confident, you are jumpy and nervous, and then it just spills out that we are breaking into a safe and you are the safe cracker.
- I’m an optimist and you are a pessimist, and you are also my physical therapist.
- You need to be mothered, but I can’t do it because I’m repulsed by you, and I’m also your mother.
- You are a bully and I’m scared, but I’m going to stand up to you as best I can, because you are the IT guy whose job it is to fix my laptop damnit!
- We are both so excited to see each other that we are jumping up and down like teenage girls, and it’s a reunion of cellmates… in a prison.
- I’m trying to seduce you, you are shocked, and you are my wife.
I’ll let you in on a secret though. Sometimes the context can simply be the most obvious and straightforward. You are the bully and I’m scared, and we are both just kids. And if we play the behavior and develop this relationship–this way in which we relate–often it’s pretty damn funny too. Yes, the strange context can help make it weirder and funnier and perhaps works better if you are writing a sketch, but the behavior is what keeps the audience watching. Behavior without much context can be fascinating. Context without behavior is boring.
“Great! Now we have a scene. What do we do next?”
The same thing you have been doing. The opening moment is the scene, at least for now. Just play it. Just be the thing you were in the beginning. That’s all you need to do. Do that for a few minutes, it will come to a climax, the audience will laugh, and your teammates will edit.
There, that’s not so hard is it?
Applications for my class are due on Sunday
I’ll be teaching an improv performance class at Upstairs Gallery in June and July. This class is going to be awesome. I decided for this class that I should have an application process. I’m accepting applications until Sunday, then coming up with the roster by Tuesday.
Keep in mind that if I get enough people, I may open a second class on Sundays. So if you can’t make the Saturday class, but could make a Sunday one, please apply and note that in the application.
Feel free to send me a message via facebook or gmail (ircmullaney in both places) if you have a question.
Putting The Pieces Together
Most improv training is focused on scenes. If you can do a good scene, you can do a good show, the thought goes. I’d like to suggest that the opposite is also true, or maybe more true, if you can do a good show, the scenes take care of themselves. When you learn how to take a character or an idea or a game and follow it through multiple scenes, you learn how better to play with characters, ideas and games within a scene.
This is how I’ll be approaching my upcoming performance workshop. We won’t start by working on openings, or breaking our form down into pieces. We will start by putting it all together. In the very first day, you will be doing 20-30 minute improvisations with your classmates. We will start with a narrow focus, a simple structure to be sure, but it will gradually expand over the weeks until we have a full form which follows games, explores themes, has group games and finds connections.
These won’t be Harolds. They won’t be that formal, but they will have many things in common with Harolds. And if you do this performance workshop, you will learn tools that will work in any kind of improv performance.
