Improv Tip of the Month: Zip-Zap-Zop

This month’s improv tip is from Barry Edwards, Improv Contributor

Schedule a meeting in your conference room then let the games begin!Plato once said, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” While he probably wasn’t referring to creating a more engaged and productive work team, it still applies. Facilitated play makes it possible for your team to learn more about each other. Plus a shared fun experience creates team cohesiveness.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Improv: an Historical Combination

This post was written by Cary Paulour Chief Improv Officer (CIO)

On that hot, Washington DC day of August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was delivering a well-prepared speech. The American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement was—and still is—considered one of America’s great orators. And with good reasons: his legacy is marked by a world-changing mission, intelligent writing, and the distinctive cadence with which he enthralled listeners.

Improv Tip of the Month: They Want Something

This month’s improv tip is from Shawn Westfall, BossaNova’s Improv Guru:

The characters sitting at the center of our favorite sitcoms, shows, movies, plays, novels, short stories and improv scenes all have one thing in common: they want something.In most cases, they want something desperately. Indeed, that often is what informs the plots of the stories or scenes they are in. Hamlet wants revenge. Will he get it? Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman wants the respect he feels he so clearly deserves, something he feels he’s devoted his life to. Does he get it, in the end? That old “pretentious” actor cliché– the one that has him or her stopping a scene to ask “what’s my motivation?”—is actually useful information for the actor to know, another way of trying to discover what his or her character wants. And anyone who’s ever been part of a production knows that what a character wants in the play isn’t always clear, that what he or she says she wants may have little to do with what he or she actually wants.

Improv Tip of the Month: Listening!

This month’s improv tip is from Barry Edwards, Improv Contributor and Consultant:

One of the main tenants of performing improv comedy is listening. What? LISTENING! If you’re not listening to your improv partner, the scene will most likely go downhill and the audience will know. The same thing happens at work. If you’re not listening to your manager or client, the conversation will most likely go downhill and they will know.