Season 1
Reframing
Doubt
Why You Need Status
My Character Wouldn't Do That
Say Less, Seymour
Mistakes? We Don't Need No Stupid Mistakes
In The Beginning
Letting Go of Self-Consciousness
Avoid Gaslighting Others
Playing Strangers
1 of 5
Flexibility, the ability to pivot, is a terrific skill to have on stage and off. Today, we look at reframing as a way to that.
If your audience - be that your scene partner(s), the people watching, or the chap at the dinner partner - is in doubt as to your intentions, the way forward will often be more difficult for you.
Status is great in comedy and in real life. You likely use it all the time and don't even know it. It's one of those things that once you see, you see everywhere. Once you understand it, it'll make your life much better.
Remaining open to 'who' your character is, what they stand for, what they love, what they hate, and more, keeps you open and alive to your audience (on stage and in the real world). You can be flexible, surprise yourself, and learn about points of view different from your own.
Listening as a gateway to presence and reduced self-consciousness.
Mistakes scare the crap out of us, but they're usually only as bad as you think they are! They have wonderful upsides.
Starting a scene is one of, if not the most, difficult and critical things in improv. I discuss two of the ways to begin scenes and reveal my favourite!
Falling in love. Hanging with good friends. Being in a moment. These are all times when we tend to lose ourselves, get over our self-consciousness, and forget about our selfish needs and serve an experience.
Whether on stage or in life real, try not to gaslights others. In improv, it often leads into the argument trap. In life, it escalates tension, shows others you're not listening, and more. Instead, treat the opinions of others as legitimately theirs and deal with it except in one situation.
Scenes in which the characters are strangers to each other come with an extra added level of difficulty. For that reason, I encourage improvisers to stay away from them. But, when they do happen to try and figure out what's at stake.