Friends, it’s 2018! Luckily all the bad stuff from 2017 has been tidied up nicely and we have a brand new start!
No?
Well,… how about updated improv curricula in lieu of world peace and universal sanity?
The following class curricula have ALL been UPDATED for the new year!
Core Curricula:
Intro to Improv Curriculum 2018 (PDF)
Character & Relationship Curriculum 2018 (PDF)
Patterns & Games Curriculum 2018 (PDF)
Long Form Performance Curriculum 2018 (PDF)
Teacher Best Practices IAIDB 2018 (PDF)
Changes to all curricula include:
- Emotions and patterns are now a clearer through-line, more cleanly connecting all classes.
- The student handout has been reduced to focus on the Core Lessons for each class. These Core Lessons strive to be Action based as opposed to Theory based.
- I’ve added a short “Tonight we’ll learn” objective as well as potential homework ideas to each class.
In 101: Introduction To Improvisation specifically…
- Short Form games are introduced earlier, with their value to learning pacing made more explicit.
- Emotion is made more explicit. But don’t hound your students into feeling. State the importance, reinforce the importance, but let them move on. They’ll get more in 201.
- Engagement with Environment will be aided by earlier focus on emotion.
In 201: Character & Relationship specifically…
- The idea of creating “games” out of characters’ and relationships’ patterns of emotional behavior is more explicit.
- Hopefully we’ll see players engage environment more as the power of being affected by imagined stimuli is more explicit.
- Emotion as the core of our improvisation is still emphasized but additional ways to get to and play with that emotional perspective have been added.
In 301: Patterns & Games specifically…
- I’ve worked to make more explicit that the 4 Rubric Games are tools for building pattern recognition muscle memory; they are NOT “perfect” rigid games to emulate.
- Focus on teaching to THEIR example, not yours. Focus on giving them the exercise and extracting the value of the lesson from what they’ve done. This should not be a lecture class (I’m talking to YOU, Patrick Gantz)
- Remember Emotion should remain the core of our improvisation. If your class ever gets too “game-y” consider inserting an emotion-focused exercise/warm-up.
Looking for more exercises? Head to Improv As Improv Does Best‘s “Class Materials” page.