Day 1: Yes And

Concepts

• The principle of “Yes And”.

• The concept of “Growth Mindset”.

• The idea of sharing control and trusting your partner.

Games and Exercises

• I Am A Tree  - An exercise where players work together to create a stage picture.

• 3-Line Scenes - A focus on the first three lines of dialogue and how to embrace the principle of “Yes And”. 

Skills you should have after taking this class…

🔲 Perform a short scene where each line of dialogue accepts and builds.

🔲 Begin a scene with a line of dialogue that provides information.

🔲 Improvise a scene as a supportive and non-judgemental scene partner.

Day 2: LIstening

Concepts

• The principle of “active listening”.

• The principle of “give and take”.

Games and Exercises

• Conducted Story - Using active listening to continue an improvised story when the conductor points at you.

• Follow the Last - An improvised scene where the next line of dialogue rephrases the last sentence or idea from the previous line of dialogue.

Skills you should have after taking this class…

🔲 Perform a scene that demonstrates active listening.

🔲 Tell a story collectively in a way that is conducted and unconducted, with genres and without.

🔲 Tell a story one-word-at-a-time.

Day 3 Discovery

Concepts

• The difference between organic discovery and invention.

• Following your impulse, trusting your gut, and exploring your intuition.

Games and Exercises

• Mirroring - tapping into an intuitive mindset by letting go of distracting thoughts and “following the follower”.

• ABC Scene - Each line of dialogue begins with the next letter of the alphabet. 

• Oracle - Three people play a 3-headed creature who gives prophecies one-word-at-a-time.

• New Choice - A game in which lines of dialogue can be forced to change with a moderating saying “new choice”.

Skills you should have after taking this class…

🔲 List seven things in a category without stopping or worrying about being correct.

🔲 Perform a scene where two pre-selected emotions create an interesting dynamic.

🔲 Start a slice-of-life scene where the first line of dialogue is random, lacks context, and begins the action in the middle of the scene.

Day 4 Justification

Concepts

• The concept of  “going with the flow” and handling any obstacle or challenge.

• Adaptation and flexibility are key skills for most improv games.

• The meaning of “Got your back”.

Games and Exercises

• Pillars - a game where the performers must justify when audience volunteers fill in the blanks

• Mystery Line - a game where the performers must justify lines of dialogue written on scraps of paper

• Love Letters - a couple writes letters to each other but ask

• Freeze Tag - Each new scene begins with the same physical position of the previous scene. 

Skills you should have after taking this class…

🔲 The ability to play a short form game in which you must suddenly justify a random input from the audience.

🔲 The skill of exploring the “why” of your statements.

🔲 The ability to adapt to anything in a scene that is weird, unusual, or even a denial.

Day 5 Gift Giving

Concepts

• An “Offer” is any information in the dialogue that adds texture, detail, and description to the scene itself. It’s the “And” part of “Yes And”.

• A “gift” is a type of offer that endows specific traits to your scene partner about their character.

• A playable gifts means that it can be acted or demonstrated by the performer.

Games and Exercises

• Quirks - A category of game where people are endowed with playable traits that another person must guess

• Hitchhiker - A game with a magic car where everyone in the car mirrors the character trait of the latest person who rides in the car

• Poet Laureate - A game where an alien poet speaks a poem in gibberish, someone interprets via English language, and two others interpret via dance/movement.

Skills you should have after taking this class…

🔲 The ability to give visual and abstract gifts to support another character within a scene. 

🔲 The skill to create specific offers that add new information and details to a scene.

🔲 The habit of naming your scene partners’ characters with creativity and consistency.

Day 6 Recap and Showcase Prep

Concepts

• Introduction to object work

• Introduction to performance technique: 

• staying open physically

• sharing your voice

• using and exploring the stage

Games and Exercises

• Protect the Line - A game that sets up a pun-based punchline

• Any games missed in previous classes, or games not listed here that the instructor would like to include

Day 7: Showcase

You’ll be performing a class showcase for friends and family. You’ll have a say in which games you play, you’ll be cast in the games well in advance of the showcase, and you won’t be expected to play any games that you haven’t learned. Typically, the showcase is free, but you’ll be provided a link to share for RSVP purposes. There will likely be another class that will share the class showcase, but you’ll only be performing with your classmates. First one class performs and then the other class performs., 501A