Can anyone give me some tips for improv?

Question:Our drama club is low on funds, so to raise money, we're doing improv at local businesses in hopes people will donate because they like the show. But I need to work on my skills really bad. I love improv, but I really could use some tips. Thanks in advance!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Our drama club is low on funds, so to raise money, we're doing improv at local businesses in hopes people will donate because they like the show. But I need to work on my skills really bad. I love improv, but I really could use some tips. Thanks in advance!

I'll try to sum up my six-week beginning course in a few sentences.

Say Yes. This means be in agreement as to what's happening in the scene. Saying no to an offer stops the action of the scene (and makes you look bad).

Try to start positive. It's boring to watch people be unhappy or fighting.

Make clear endowments; this means define where you and your scene partner are, who you and your scene partner are, what the "given circumstances" are of the scene.

Create a strong environment (through endowment); this will give you a sense of place where the action is happening, so you don't feel like you're just acting in a gray fog.

Make obvious choices (don't try to be clever or interesting). Because your imagination is unique, what is obvious to you won't be obvious to someone else, and will seem "creative."

Tell a good story, however long the scene is. In the course of a scene someone is changed; allow yourself to be altered/affected by your partner.

Take risks, dare to fail. Don't punish yourself when you fail; we love to see people being good-natured. Think about the gymnast who, after falling off the bar, stands up and raises his/her arms.

And above all, have fun. If it's not fun, why do it?

well, come up with a subject beforehand, and then say something off the top of your head. if it works, great! if it doesnt, keep trying.

you should watch whos line is it anyway for some good ideas. when doing improv, you should always go all out, the sillier you look, the funnier. also, if you're working with other people, never say no. for example, if somebody asks when your baby is due, say a date, don't say im not pregnant.

First of all, go into it relaxed, knowing that nothing you prepare in advance will be of any major use. Also, HAVE FUN with it! It's something that can entertain you, as well as your audience. Just make sure that you and your partner(s) are on the same wavelength, and that everyone is positive and upbeat about the performance. Don't be afraid to make a fool out of yourself if it will generate laughter! Go wild with your imagination and take risks. Think on your feet. Try making up stories about random things or people you encounter in everyday life, on the spot for practice. Be bold, and believe in yourself. :)

To pull of a great improvisational performance, there are many techniques you need to take into consideration. You could be placed in any location imaginable and have to work a strong, flowing performance without blocking.

It’s essential to react positive to all questions or responses given within the performance; unless you follow up negativity with an offer. If you reply with negativity, it could lead to “Blocking” and is important to avoid, allowing the improvisation to flow with ease. If you don’t avoid this, you could end up with awkward silences on stage and people coming out of character, or as some say, “Dropping the ball”.

Leading on from this, it is important not to ignore someone who has given you an offer and try to avoid rhetorical questions to prevent blocks. It’s helpful to the performance when you add new information, especially if you feel the improvisation is going down hill; new ideas would be a superb remedy to lift it back up to a good standard.

When you have been given a Location, it’s vital you establish what is around you to the audience so they can imagine your surroundings. To make this clear to them, describe obvious things that may be in the location that the audience can relate to and build it up from there. Adding extra details to the location always allows more offers for improvising with other people. If these key things do not develop within the improvisation, there is only a limited amount you can do before it declines into one solid block.

Within improvisation, there are times when changing either the location, character or direction could help make the performance better. When changing the three key points, there are many new things that could be involved within the performance and gives each actor many more offers to build upon. However, there is a possibility of the improvisation going in circles and eventually falling into a block. To prevent this, you must ensure you offer new ideas to the other actors to help stray from past conversations.

Another key factor within improvisation is status. A lot of the ideas and offers depend on people’s status within the performance. However, this does not mean one person is better off than the others. For example, a rich handsome prince would have a higher status than a king’s jester, but if the location was within a circus, the jester would have the higher status because he would fit into the surroundings, whereas the Prince would not. Changing someone’s status within an improvisation can lead to more possible offers, meaning the performance could excel.

When you perform serious and emotional improvisations, it helps focusing on relationships and the characters themselves as a lot of offers can be created from these two simple things. Use of pause and change in pitch can help build up tension making the audience draw into the performance.
When you perform more comedic improvisations, focusing on peoples actions or objects around you can help create more offers with ease. Also if someone has given you an offer, take the subject to the extreme and use it to relate to later within the performance.

Some smaller points that are useful to know when performing improvisations are to not use too many intellectual words or start a conversation about something that a lot of people won’t understand. This can lead to the audience not realising what is happening within the performance and get lost throughout.

Last but not least, helping yourself and each other out in improvisations in key. You must take risks within the improvisation and trust your instincts as this usually leads on to good outcomes and helps pull off a fantastic performance.

Hope this Helps, sorry for the length, but it shows all factors.

John.