We can do anything

Any improviser has been there. I'd say that as you're reading this there are probably 227.2 improvisers somewhere in the world standing on a stage, in a class, on a street corner trying to come up with something to say in a scene. They are frozen, stuck, unsure of what to do next. What do you do?

It's a question I got asked a lot this term in class evaluations and one that lead me to a similar answer over and over. 

Trust your scene partner and say anything. ANYTHING. 

One of my favorite short form games is sentences. I love it for a number of reasons: in shows where audience members have written sentences it always "hits" because the selfish idiot in all of us loves when our shit gets used in a scene; because we get to use our justification muscle; and because it proves that it doesn't matter as much about what is said as it does about how we react. 

Of course there are a million things that happen in good improv, bold choices, strong point of views, listening, heightening, etc etc. But when you're stuck, when you don't know what to do or what to say, the very simple concept that we can SAY ANYTHING carries a lot of weight. 

Let's face it, one of the enchanting things about learning to improvise is the freedom we find shaking off the rules our internal and external editors have layered on us since we were first told not to fart in Sunday school. We can relax and play. We can say what comes to our mind. We can "be ourselves" to learn to play silly. 

And then so many of us (myself included) find ourselves stuck in our heads trying to think of the "right" thing to say In a scene. 

Are we worried about looking stupid? 

- because walking around the room through imaginary three foot deep hot sand looked so "normal" in warm up exercises. 

Are we worried about saying the right thing?

- because our scene partner is going to hold it against us for hours like our spouse in a tiff. 

Are we worried that our scene partner is not going to know what to say?

-- hmmm

So what just happened?

The scene happened and we were worried about something other than the scene. 

The second reason I love sentences is that it works our justification muscle. We are forced to listen and react to the non sequitur sentence just thrown into the scene. 

We are forced to LISTEN and REACT to the SENTENCE just thrown into the scene. A sentence that had nothing to do with whatever was said before it. 

Proof that you can say ANYTHING because your scene partner is listening to you and will react to what you just said. 

Now. This post raises a couple of other things that I'll save for another post.

- are you listening to be able to react?

- do you trust your scene partner?

- do you trust yourself?

Whatever your answer is.. Say anything and Go!