Improv for Everyone

This class outlines the basic techniques of Improvisation. I explain how they can be applied to enhance stage and screen acting, as well as how non-actors can enhance conversation skills, overcome shyness, and be more comfortable teaching online classes. 

1. Improv GPS ("Yes, and..."):

• Introduces the single, guiding principle that makes successful Improvisation possible and less intimidating.
• Provides an example of the 'Sympathetic Listener' Exercise that demonstrates how to effectively and easily make an Improvised scene move forward and grow.
• Dispels the notion that good Improv requires that a participant try to be funny or be naturally comedically gifted.
• Emphasizes how essential listening is and how much easier Improv is when you make what your scene partner is saying and doing your primary focus. 

2. Better Conversation:

• Demonstrates how Improvisation skills can enhance the essential life skill of conversation.
• Identifies the bad conversation habits that unknowingly cause us to stop listening to one another, or just make them less interesting to be a part of.
• How the "Yes, and..." template can enrich human interaction in daily life and make conversation in stressful situations flow.

3. Low % choices:

• Details the poor choices for what to say and do that cause Improvised scenes to stagnate and fail.
• Explains how these same poor Improv choices relate to how we interact with others less effectively.

4. High % choices:

• Provides a list of choices that will bring success in scene work.
• Explains that high % Improv choices mirror what works with collaborations in daily life.

5. The Five ways of adding new information:

• Lists all the tools Improvisers use to make live scenes more dynamic.
• Emphasizes the Importance of adding information in other ways than just dialogue.
• Makes actors aware of how to make their performance more dynamic by utilizing VISUAL ways of communicating their character's inner life.

6. Scene work step by step:

• Takes the fear out of Improv by providing a simple, step by step approach that not only brings a high % of success, but also keeps Improvisers from freezing up or going blank.

7. The Foundation of a Scene:

• Outlines the four essential pieces of information that provide a solid foundation for an Improvised scene to be built on.