Did a workshop at ITS today, with Andrea Ferpo.
It approached improvisation from a slightly different angle than usual, nothing I wasn’t familiar with from my NLP/Neuro-Linguistic Programming – essentially using the senses and our experience to create authentic improvisation scenes.
Here are some of the exercises we did which I may use again.
I am, you are, we are
Round 1: a and b swap identity statements in turn for a short amount of time.
- a: I am a daughter
- b: I am a painter
- a: I am creative
- b: I am a voracious reader etc
Round 2: a and b reflect back what they head for a similar short amount of time
- a: You are a painter
- b: you are a daughter
- a: you are a voracious reader
- b: you are creative etc
Round 3: a and b look for commonalities (after the first few they have to chunk up a little to do this)
- a: we are creative
- b: we are curious
- we are… etc
Rounds 4 to 8 – same pattern as above – a: and b: swap sentences
- Round 4: I like,
- Round 5: You like
- Round 6: We like
- Round 7: I don’t like
- Round 8: We don’t like.
It is a fast way to rapport, and gives latitude on how much you reveal, how vulnerable you are.
I am (me)
Round 1
- One person at the front of the room says “I am <name>”. and leave the stage.
- Another person comes up and does the same.
- They take it in turns, but no dead stage time.
Round 2
- Same as above, except if the audience see the same thing twice they make a noise, and the person has to do something different (kinda “new choice”) with supportive “honest’ feedback.
I am, people think i am, i want to be
Three chairs on stage.
- Left-most chair: I am (shy, introverted, loud, angry)
- Middle chair: People think I am (aloof, quiet, stupid, scary)
- Right-most chair: I would like to be (considerate, pensive, clear, an activist)
This group got into making jokes (i am a dishwasher, people think i’m just a place for dirty dishes, I would like to be emptied).While the structure works very nicely for a joke (set up, set up, punchline) it did have some moments of vulnerability when played as an identity statement, not a joke).
Gift Experience
A explains experiences they love – food, events, pastimes
B listens, then gives A walks them about the room talking through an imagined experience of A’s favourite things (eating their fave foods, doing their fave things). A has their eyes closed. B uses whatever is available in the room to facilitate the experience (chairs, walls, curtains, however they can incorporate them into the experience), keeping them safe.
Swap.
Moving in synch
This one creates a similar feeling in the room as Yes and Take my Place, and counting to 21.
- stand in a circle
- one person moves across the circle
- two people, in synch, with no conductor, move across the circle
- Three, four, etc til you reach group number move across the circle
- Then count back down.
Like counting to 21 it’s a lovely centring feeling, and is best done after a few deep breaths. You can insist on synchronised (Andrea had us return to the beginning when we “failed” to be synchronised). She gave time for commentary in between “failures” (e.g. this is not about doing a silly walk, it’s about walking in synch – why do people have to put a hat on a hat?). Lovely.
