Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

In Sunday's improv class with ComedySportz, we did more scene work, building on what we'd learned. After some warm up exercises, Mary had us pair up to do space rebounding exercises. This is where you take turns, taking positions that fill up the space not used by your partner.

Periodically, she would have us pause and start a scene based on the positions we were in. I was paired with Boris and making a conscious effort not to always try to take the lead. That was kind of refreshing, because I could just react to what he'd come up with.

When it was a moment that I felt very strongly about the position, I would start it, such as one point when the walls were closing in on us.

We also walked a tightrope and surfed. It was kind of fun. I found it was actually really easy to do a scene when I was paying attention to what he did and reacting to it, rather than thinking all the burden was on me.

I can no longer remember exactly what order things went in, but Mary had us do Firing Line again, the word association game. This time, the person who was giving the first word was supposed to do so with a point of view, like happy or sad or aggressive. The other person would respond with a word and adopt a point of view. Most of the time it was just mirroring the other person.

We did some movement exercises, where Mary had us walk around the room as if we were being led by different parts of our body. Then we were supposed to choose one that we liked and walk around like that, all the while thinking about what sort of character it was, what they did for a living, how they looked at the world.

She had us gather in a circle and go around, in character, while she asked us some questions. I was leading with my feet, so I became an amateur choreographer working on choreographing a community theater production of Annie. Colleen was a cheerleader. Boris was a muscle-bound guy who was super confident. Megan was a withdrawn teenager. Liza was a snooty upper-class woman, descended from pilgrims.

Then Mary had us each take a space on the stage and pantomime washing dishes. Then she would give us points of view, such as that we'd just watched a scary movie, or we were excited or depressed or angry. This exercise was a lot of fun. While you were just supposed to be paying attention to what you were doing, when she told us that we'd just watched a sexy movie, I kissed my plate. Lori giggled.

Then we did short scenes in pairs, where we would be given an activity and then Mary whispered a point of view in our ears. Lori and I were the first ones up, and we were washing dishes. Mary told Lori that she was angry and that I was supposed to get her to like me.

I started helping her and brought up a dress I'd made for her. She was upset that it was pink instead of blue. Clearly, there was more to it than that, because she got angrier as the scene went on. Mary said it was good and that if we'd kept going we would have figured out what was really the matter.

Boris and Megan were folding laundry. She'd been told that she was scared of him, and he was trying to pick her up. So it was funny, because he kept trying to come onto her and she kept edging away from him until she was practically off the stage.

Liza and Colleen were shucking corn. Liza was supposed to be excited, and Colleen apologetic. During the scene, it turned out that Liza was excited about a date she was going on, and Colleen was apologetic because she'd slept with him already. That never came out explicitly, but it was hinted at.

Since Geoff wasn't there, Carol needed a partner, so I went up with her. We were stocking shelves, and Mary told us both that we were experts in everything. I became sort of a know-it-all, throwing information at her, like, "I bet you know nothing about music. What's an octave?"

"Eight notes."

"Well, which ones? Ha!"

She was playing it more sort of officious, looking down her nose at me. Mary noted how it's interesting to see how two people can take the same suggestion different ways.

Mary also complimented everyone on our work, telling us that our scenes were all riveting. I have to agree; watching the other people certainly was.

We worked on platforms some more, establishing who, what and where. We did the same activity we did in the previous week, where we were broken into two lines and would jump up and start scenes. This time, she would give us a suggestion that could inform the scene.

The one that I remember the most was "shiny", which put Carol and I in a car dealership. It started out promising, but then we devolved into a lot of questions. Mary pointed out that's a common mistake and that it tends to stop the scene. She said she'll try to point those out when they happen and say, "Question. Restate."

We did another team game, where there are two chairs in the center of the stage. Two people from one team runs up and sits in the chairs. The other team calls out, "Those (blank) are stealing our car!" The two people in the chairs have to play out a short scene based on that suggestion and then find a way to leave the stage.

A twist: each of the teams was assigned a letter, and all of our suggestions had to start with that letter. The other side had "T" and we had "L."

So, for example, we called out "Those losers are stealing our car," and immediately Megan and Colleen became stoners on their way to buy some weed.

Colleen was calling out some really interesting suggestions. For me and Lori once, it was "Those torch bearers are stealing our car." I pantomimed holding a torch and said, "Frankenstein's got to be around here somewhere. I think I see him. Oh, no, it's the mummy."

I had an even better scene with Boris, where Colleen called out, "Those toast stealers are stealing our car!" I was driving and he said, "You want some toast?"

"Is it hot?" I asked.

"Yes, it just came out of the toaster."

"No, I mean, is it stolen?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Oh, that's the stuff," I said, as if salivating over it. We decided to stop at Howard Johnson's and steal their bread, too.

Colleen and Megan were supposed to be lechers but didn't seem to know what that was. They just laughed wickedly for a while and then exited the car.

Another interesting Colleen suggestion was "Those toe painters are stealing our car." Lori and Carol stuck their toes up as if they were letting the paint dry, while they decided what salon to go to. I did sort of wonder how Carol could drive that way, but it didn't come up.

Then we did a fun game called Blind Freeze. Two people enacted a scene and at some point, someone would shout, "Freeze" and then take the spot of one of them and start a new scene. All the people not in the scene had to face the back wall and not watch. That way they couldn't plan ahead and just take a pose where they knew what they wanted to do.

Some people ended up on stage for a long time before they were relieved. That happened to Megan, who was up for several rounds. It was kind of amusing listening to what was happening, and I found myself wishing that I could see it.

My first time, I took a position where Megan had her arms on mine, which were crossed in front of me. I threw her arms off and shouted, "You're healed! This woman is healed." She knelt down in prayer, and I started singing about it.

Another time, I came in and took Liza's position, who had her arms to her sides, looking down at something Boris was doing. He started and said, "Can you help me? I'm an old man and I can't hold this much longer."

"I have no arms, but I'll try," I said, and leaned over to help him with my mouth. That's when Mary had us freeze, and someone else came in to replace me and pantomimed throwing up all over Boris' hands!

Mary pointed out to us that we'd been doing a lot of scene work without suggestions, because we knew how to create a where, who and what.

We switched then into a game called World's Worst. Every time she had us freeze, another person would come in and assume one of the positions. Then she would announce "World's worst (profession)."

So, for example, I was the World's Worst Lawyer. Liza was the stenographer, and I started saying, "Let my client off because she's really cute." Then I took a look at her and saw her typing. "Wait, you're not my client." I looked to my right, saw my invisible client and recoiled. "Let my client off because she's ugly and you should feel sorry for ugly people." I wiped my brow, as if I was nervous. Mary had us freeze.

Megan came in, then, and the suggestion was World's Worst Cop. I was sweating profusely and acting really nervous while she was writing a ticket. But then she just cheerily remarked, "It's hot today, isn't it?"

I reached out to take the ticket, and I was frozen. The next suggestion was World's Worst Mortician. Colleen had replaced Megan, and she just stood there frozen. "I think it's dead," I said, and poked her with my outstretched finger. She fell over backwards. I stomped on her to make sure she was dead. I was just starting to pull her foot down when someone came out and replaced me.

All of these games were a lot easier than I ever would have thought it could be during our beginning workshop.

As Mary pointed out to us, if you concentrate on doing a scene, humor will come from it. The most important thing is just to have fun with it and discover what happens.

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Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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