Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation by Charna Halpern, Del Close, Kim Johnson Page A
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same spiritual plane.
The second scene saw an Eastern Indian cab driver pick up a fare who turns out to be a New Age crystal salesman. The salesman has a crystal for every ailment, including one for masculinity and fertility, which seems to be the cab driver's problem.
Scene three was a meeting for singles called the "I'm Sensational Club." A man approaches a woman saying, "You're sensational," the mandatory greeting for the club. She comments on his huge "aura," another sexual overtone. They compare their astrology signs and spirituality, and can't believe how perfect they are for each other. They discuss being drawn together spiritually from across the room. At the end of the scene, they are the only two members who show up for the meeting.
In the fourth scene, a man adrift in his broken down speedboat is approached by another man in a kayak. The man in the kayak offers to help the stranded man, and while preparing to tow the speedboat, the man in the kayak discusses his oneness with nature. Holding a rope in his teeth, he tows the speedboat as he rows the kayak. The man sitting in the speedboat being towed shouts, "You're sensational!"
As a group, the ideas reflected spirituality and sexuality for the New Age movement.
The different sides of a diamond all reflect each other. Harold players should do the same thing — reflect each other's ideas.
60
KEY POINTS FOR CHAPTER EIGHT *Take the unusual choice.
*Listen to your inner voice.
*Reflect each other's ideas.
61
CHAPTER NINE
Environmentally Aware
All human beings have a sense memory that can summon up a past sound, sight, or smell. The sound of a dentist's drill or the smell of freshly cut grass immediately conjures up precise memories of past experiences. When improvisers learn to recall such clues, they can turn them to their own advantage on stage.
It is simple to cause such a re-creation in one's mind, because everything perceived comes from inside the head. Once the improviser learns to trigger that visual creation in his own brain, he begins to create that environment for his audience.
Most of us have experienced this phenomenon ourselves. Charna was recently sitting in a club where some groups were performing, when she noticed a sign hanging on one of the stage flats across the room. She was too far away to make out the words, so after a few minutes of squinting, she asked one of the directors what was on the sign. He said, "It says, 'AUSTRALIA OR BUST.'"
"Suddenly, to my astonishment, I was able to make out the words perfectly," she says. "The same sign that, just a few seconds earlier, was too far away for my eyes to read, could now be seen clearly. Every letter!"
A similar experience is common with sound. Many of us have heard a popular song several times, but can't make out the lyrics. After we learn the actual words, they seem very obvious, and we can't imagine how we couldn't have understood them!
Anyone can re-create a visual revelation for himself by asking a friend to hold up a newspaper with a headline. If he stands just far enough away so that the words cannot be made out and asks the friend with the newspaper to tell him what the headline says, he will discover that he can suddenly read it himself!
How can this be? If the sight lines were too distant for his eyes to pick up, why can he see it now?
Everything that we perceive is truly perceived inside the head. As soon as an actor begins to see his environment on stage, the audience sees it through his eyes. The environment affects him and the choices he makes in the scene. A scene set at a circus will be very different than that same scene set inside a cathedral.
The following scene was improvised in a workshop exploring the effects of the environment. Two students were told they must create a scene that takes place on a deserted highway. Both men, Tom and Roger, looked around in silence and seemed dazed. Standing far apart from each other and showing vast amounts of space, each
The second scene saw an Eastern Indian cab driver pick up a fare who turns out to be a New Age crystal salesman. The salesman has a crystal for every ailment, including one for masculinity and fertility, which seems to be the cab driver's problem.
Scene three was a meeting for singles called the "I'm Sensational Club." A man approaches a woman saying, "You're sensational," the mandatory greeting for the club. She comments on his huge "aura," another sexual overtone. They compare their astrology signs and spirituality, and can't believe how perfect they are for each other. They discuss being drawn together spiritually from across the room. At the end of the scene, they are the only two members who show up for the meeting.
In the fourth scene, a man adrift in his broken down speedboat is approached by another man in a kayak. The man in the kayak offers to help the stranded man, and while preparing to tow the speedboat, the man in the kayak discusses his oneness with nature. Holding a rope in his teeth, he tows the speedboat as he rows the kayak. The man sitting in the speedboat being towed shouts, "You're sensational!"
As a group, the ideas reflected spirituality and sexuality for the New Age movement.
The different sides of a diamond all reflect each other. Harold players should do the same thing — reflect each other's ideas.
60
KEY POINTS FOR CHAPTER EIGHT *Take the unusual choice.
*Listen to your inner voice.
*Reflect each other's ideas.
61
CHAPTER NINE
Environmentally Aware
All human beings have a sense memory that can summon up a past sound, sight, or smell. The sound of a dentist's drill or the smell of freshly cut grass immediately conjures up precise memories of past experiences. When improvisers learn to recall such clues, they can turn them to their own advantage on stage.
It is simple to cause such a re-creation in one's mind, because everything perceived comes from inside the head. Once the improviser learns to trigger that visual creation in his own brain, he begins to create that environment for his audience.
Most of us have experienced this phenomenon ourselves. Charna was recently sitting in a club where some groups were performing, when she noticed a sign hanging on one of the stage flats across the room. She was too far away to make out the words, so after a few minutes of squinting, she asked one of the directors what was on the sign. He said, "It says, 'AUSTRALIA OR BUST.'"
"Suddenly, to my astonishment, I was able to make out the words perfectly," she says. "The same sign that, just a few seconds earlier, was too far away for my eyes to read, could now be seen clearly. Every letter!"
A similar experience is common with sound. Many of us have heard a popular song several times, but can't make out the lyrics. After we learn the actual words, they seem very obvious, and we can't imagine how we couldn't have understood them!
Anyone can re-create a visual revelation for himself by asking a friend to hold up a newspaper with a headline. If he stands just far enough away so that the words cannot be made out and asks the friend with the newspaper to tell him what the headline says, he will discover that he can suddenly read it himself!
How can this be? If the sight lines were too distant for his eyes to pick up, why can he see it now?
Everything that we perceive is truly perceived inside the head. As soon as an actor begins to see his environment on stage, the audience sees it through his eyes. The environment affects him and the choices he makes in the scene. A scene set at a circus will be very different than that same scene set inside a cathedral.
The following scene was improvised in a workshop exploring the effects of the environment. Two students were told they must create a scene that takes place on a deserted highway. Both men, Tom and Roger, looked around in silence and seemed dazed. Standing far apart from each other and showing vast amounts of space, each
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