Like the 5 Things warm-up? You’ll love this one.
Or so you will if you’re like I was when exposed to this warm-up tonight by Matt Newman.
Looking for a nice in-your-head out-of-your-head patterns-on-patterns warm-up? Continue reading
Tag Archives: pattern
Susie and Rebecca – organic and meta
This was my favorite Organic game from my Spring 2018 Patterns & Games Class. There’s just so much to love. This one could never be rewritten as a sketch, and that’s an asset to me here.
It was born collaboratively in-the-moment with an ending no one set out to see but felt too entirely perfect in retrospect. We’re talking Improv As Improv Does Best here, folks. Continue reading
Awkward Allergies – a split screen Help Desk
A quick, fun Help Desk game utilizing the Split Screen.
The escalating pattern is fun but the commitment to emotion helps the pattern hit.
Listen for the laugh Adrienne gets just by reacting without words.
Note the key to the end is that Ben actually feels bad for his allergy to murder. The connection he makes between his allergic reaction and the dead bodies’ bloat is icing on the cake.
Players are (in order of appearance): Adrienne Thompson, Paul Costen, Becky Coppa, Jonathan Mostowy, Brittany Andersen, and Ben Hay
Silent Games
Aaron Grant once took the stage across from me, making eye contact but planting his feet firmly just beyond the stage right wing. I mirrored him on stage left. He mimed the 
classic flirtatious fishing move. I played his fish but broke his line bashfully, the stage’s distance remaining between us. I danced as someone with a club; he played my seal. He loaded his heart into a gun and shot it at me. I loaded my heart into a mortar and launched it at him. He shot me with a bazooka of love. I put love in a centrifuge and then in a bomb that erupted in a mushroom cloud of hearts. He built and climbed into a B-52 bomber than rained love upon me. We both stood up from the rubble and traced out hearts to one another. Never a word was spoken.
How does one teach Silent Games? Read on! Continue reading
Herman The Worm group warm-up
Here’s an annoying song my baby likes: Herman The Worm
Here’s the thing… It makes for one fun group warm-up with echos of One Person, To The Ether, Help Desk and Hey Everybody game patterns. Give it a try! Continue reading
World Vs Word Building: a quick observation
“Silver.” “Eclipse.” “Model.”
Not a Word Association that would pass muster. How does the second move build on the first? How does the third Cement the pattern?
What’s the progression? Continue reading
Showcasing Students
I’m wishy washy about improv class showcases.
On the one hand, if the point of going through classes is to learn to do performance-ready-level improv, then it seems sadistic to make 101 students “put it up on its feet.”
But on the other, nothing informs an improviser like improvising and all it entails – collaborating to build something out of nothing in-the-moment before a live audience. And so practice in front of a live audience should be part of each course.
So the in-between place becomes preparing each class for a performance that showcases – in grand improv style – all that they learned in class, on top of everything they’ve learned before, within bounds that keep them from stumbling into unknown territory.
Here are examples of how to do it…from 101 to 401… Continue reading
The Johnsons’ 100% Organic Family Band Solution
I coach The Johnsons, so they’ve been steeped in a rich tea of group games. They know One Person Scenes. They know To The Ether Games. They know Help Desk Games. And they know Hey Everybody Games.
And that knowledge makes them masters of the Organic Game.
And that unfortunately means sometimes they perform games that are hard for me to pick apart in a post in order to showcase the learnings. But this sucker’s a joyful exception.
Check it out.
Pattern Save #3 – Johnsons’ Connecting Missed Connections
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, “I love me some Johnsons.”
Check out this great example as Improv As Improv Does Best…in the face of “mistakes.”
Forging an Organic Format: part TWO
The first time it’s random.
The second time it’s purposeful.
The third time it’s expected.
This progression informs how we build collaboratively in improv, be it in service of a pattern of emotional behavior, a relationship dynamic, a group game, or forging an organic format.
What is necessary to elevate a random occurence into a shared experience? It requires that second move – the choice to make the first move matter.
Derek Sivers gets it.