My Saturday afternoons have been spent indoors creating and having fun. For several past Saturday afternoons, I have been doing a series of 90-minutes(-ish) drop by improv workshops at my friend’s home, and it has be FUN!
This post shares what my friends and I have been up to over in the East Bay.
Homegrown Improv. My friends wanted to take weekend Introduction to Improv classes in May, and I agreed I would join them. We found two options offered – Synergy Theatre (Sundays in Berkeley, 8 weeks for a total of 24 hours) and Endgames Improv (Saturdays in San Francisco, 7 weeks for a total of 21 hours). However, because of some scheduling issues, they did not sign up for classes. The result? From a casual conversation, I said “YES!” when they asked if I would drop by their home to teach them improv on the weekends.
Their interests in improv
After talking through about their interests in taking improv classes – if not for performing purposes, their three reasons boiled down to the following –
- to learn basic improv skills
- to apply improv skills to public speaking
- to have fun
The reference to public speaking? One of them finished reading Scott Berkun’s book, Confessions of a Public Speaker, and Berkun mentions the benefits of improv. Here is Berkun’s What I Learned From Improv Class, where he shares his perspectives about assumptions (about improv) that are wrong and what he learned.
(Side note: Prior to their expressing any interest in improv classes, they have watched improv around the SF Bay Area. And because we are friends, of course I subjected them to playing improv warm-ups and games with me.)
Our past three weeks of OD’ing on improv
After agreeing to pull together a loose curriculum to support my friends’ interests – AND with the surprise of their 10-year old son also wanting to play, the following are how we have spent our last three Saturdays – warm-ups, exercises, and short form games.
Week 1
We started scratching the surface on demonstrating some of the basics. (Yes, these are in order.) Prior to getting improv-physical, I talked a little about improv and applied improv.
Week 1 warm-ups, exercises, games
I pulled from my bookshelves a variety of improv-related books and a card game to kick us off. These were pulled to let them know the variety of improv-related resources.
I also talked about online resources. And of course, I mentioned Mama Tina Fey (via her interview at Talks at Google) and the four rules she shares from Bossypants, The Way of Improvisation (TEDx talk) by Dave Morris, and VAPAPO from Jill Bernard because it would be fun to make up characters.
Week 2
Based on their reaction about what they enjoyed (and did not enjoy), I added a few more like-kind warm-ups and exercises – AND I snuck in some scene work via “Shop Talk” and variations of “Scene Paint” exercises.
Week 2 warm-ups, exercises, games
Turns out – they enjoy scene work, are naturals at creating characters, and have fun doing so! Ask me about their Shop Talk scene of earthly superheroes as customers in a cupcake eatery. What a treat to watch them!
Week 3
Based on their reaction AND what I enjoyed watching, I added a few more like-kind warm-ups and exercises, revisited a few oldies, and snuck in creating characters.
Week 3 warm-ups, exercises, games
Our next drop by* will be a best of our three weeks and more like-kind activities to reinforce improv basics and applied improv and to sneak in more scene work and character work.
Our ritual closings – puns!
We have been ending with a couple of pun games (in the spirit of Made Up Theatre fun like their Laugh Track City) including One Eighty Five and its pun cousins – I Kissed A and Sex with me. (Admittedly, we do not play Sex with me when youngsters are around. Of course, adults can play that game whenever they would like – and they do.)
Want to join us? Let me know.
Want me to Drop By your place? Let me know.
*We’re on a brief break and will start-up again later this month or early July.
We’ll also see about jamming, so they can get the real feels of improvising with others.
an improvised life (dot) me 