Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................... 3
1 What Is Improvisation! ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
2 Rules ................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
The History of The Rules................................................................................................................................................... 5
Fear Fear Fear .................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Breaking The Rules ........................................................................................................................................................... 9
3 How to Improvise ............................................................................................................................................................. 10
Part One: Do Something! ................................................................................................................................................. 10
Part Two: Check Out What You Did............................................................................................................................... 14
Part Three: Hold on to What You Did............................................................................................................................. 15
The Magic of Improvisation ............................................................................................................................................ 16
4 "What About My Partner!" ............................................................................................................................................... 17
Take Care of Yourself First............................................................................................................................................. 17
Take Care of Your Partner............................................................................................................................................... 17
Listening to Your Partner................................................................................................................................................ 18
What If I Am the Partner? ................................................................................................................................................ 18
5 Context and Scenes ........................................................................................................................................................... 21
Context............................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Scenes .............................................................................................................................................................................. 22
6 Common Problems ........................................................................................................................................................... 26
Too Much Exposition ...................................................................................................................................................... 26
Talking Too Much ........................................................................................................................................................... 26
Justifying ......................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Pausing ............................................................................................................................................................................. 29
Bailing on a Point of View .............................................................................................................................................. 29
7 More Than Two People in a Scene ................................................................................................................................... 31
Three-Person Scenes ......................................................................................................................................................... 31
Entering Scenes ................................................................................................................................................................ 32
Four-, Five-, Six-, and Twenty-Person Scenes ................................................................................................................... 35
8 Advanced Improvisation .................................................................................................................................................. 38
Opposite Choices ............................................................................................................................................................... 38
Specificity ........................................................................................................................................................................ 39
Pull Out/Pull Back In ........................................................................................................................................................ 39
Curve Balls ....................................................................................................................................................................... 40
Reaching for an Object ..................................................................................................................................................... 41
Personal Objects and Mannerisms ...................................................................................................................................... 42
Personal Variety of Energy ................................................................................................................................................ 43
9 Advice and Guidelines for Improvisers ........................................................................................................................... 46
Talent ............................................................................................................................................................................... 46
The Concept of Training ................................................................................................................................................... 46
Men and Women .............................................................................................................................................................. 46
The Perfect Actor .............................................................................................................................................................. 47
Auditioning Guidelines for Improvisers ............................................................................................................................ 50
Common Patterns ............................................................................................................................................................. 52
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