Make A Choice!

Posted  by: Peter Kim

Like any great Pokemon battle, any great improv scene starts with a choice. As improv players, all we have in our tool belts are the conscious choices we make on stage. Character choices help us take care of ourselves while scenic choices help take care of our partners.

It's important to be aware and be affected by our partners but sometimes we concentrate on that so much that we forget to make a choice on who we are and how we feel. This is evident in scenes in which players give vague offers (Please pass me that, Hey I got you this...) or even worse - questions* (GASP) -  A gracious gesture ends up leaving most of the work to be done by our partners.

In improv, our offers (physical, emotional, verbal choices) are all packets of information we build on top of each other to create a realistic and sustainable fake world. Specific and intelligent information fills in this rich world, vague information lays a fragile structure, while questions* leave a vacuum in which your partner must now fill with more information.

It's important to remember that everything we do on stage is information we present to the audience - information necessary for them to trust 6 people with no props, no costumes and no sets. Every improv scene, no matter who initiates with what, is in essence, a state of chaos. Our job is to extract order out of that chaos and all we have are a series of choices built on agreement. So make a choice and create with confidence - the worst that could happen pales in comparison to the weight of inaction.

*Beginning improvisors usually ask questions out of fear. Some improv schools say don't ask questions, I say ask interesting ones. Ask questions that add information instead of require it:

• Do you think your father's gonna approve of me?
• Should I wear this dress tonight, honey?
• Who's my new babysitter mom?

Questions are a part of reality. Ask them to provide information about yourself or the world, instead of relying on them as a "hot potato" pass on to your partner.