Don’t be the improver who initiates a scene by running to center stage and delivering a premise.

Don’t be an improviser in a scene where two players stand shoulder-to-shoulder, cheating-out, and talking about something not in-the-moment.

Don’t be a point in the arch of a group game where improvisers stand in a semi-circle and discuss a topic.

See your environment. Endow. And have an emotional stake in the details.

That’s the core of Improv As Improv Does Best.

Any initiation is the “right” one in that it’s the initiation that happened, now exists and has to be committed to.

But, as I’ve articulated numerous times in these pages, I do believe the Self Contained Emotional Statement is the initiation that is most conducive to Collaborative Heightening – which makes up the layers building on that core of Improv As Improv Does Best.

The following exercises utilize three different specific initiations to focus players on endowing active elements with emotional investment.

Click on the following links for details:
“We gotta….” Initiation exercise
“I was just….” Initiation exercise
“That’s my….” Initiation exercise
“I just noticed…” Redirect exercise

Enjoy!!!