“Get out of your head” is advice that almost every improviser has heard at some point. It makes sense as a goal, but it skips over something worth looking at: what your brain is actually doing when you’re in a…
Emotions make us human. And they’re something we usually want in our scenes, because emotion is what connects you to your scene partner, your character, and the audience. It gives a scene depth. It makes people pay attention. If you…
Initiating a scene can be stressful. And this is true whether you’re new to improv or you’ve been doing it for years. You walk up there, you look at another person or an audience, and sometimes your brain just goes…
Asking questions at the top of an improv scene is a fairly advanced move. And if you’re newer to improv, it can slow your scene down before it even gets started. You’ve probably heard the rule: don’t ask questions. It…
Starting a scene with two people standing on stage asking “who are you?” or “what are we doing here?” is one of the fastest ways to lose your audience. And if you’ve done it, you already know how that feels.…
Many improvisers, especially newer ones, might feel some pressure to do “funny voices.” Those big character voices that you hear in sketches and such, like adopting a high-pitched squeak or a low gravelly tone or something like that. But (drumroll)……
We spend a lot of time in improv trying to be good. Trying to do really good improv. We take classes, we get notes, and we watch performers we admire, trying to figure out how they do what they do.…
Many have a goal like this for an improv scene… be clever or funny. Be witting, be surprising, be “big”, do some voice, do something unexpected. You get it. While those things can be great, they are usually not what…
Many of us got into improv because we like words. We love witty banter, sometimes a clever little monologue in the middle of a scene, and the fun of building a story through conversation. But sometimes, that strength can also…
That voice in our heads, the inner critic, can be pretty relentless during improv scenes and sets. It might be telling you your idea was bad, or you’re not being funny enough. Maybe that you just ruined the scene or…