Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

We did more scene work in improv class. We started with a few warm-up games, such as Psycho Circle.

Then we broke up into groups of two and acted out scenes based on suggestions she gave us. We all did them simultaneously, trying to remember to establish who, where and what.

With Boris, we ended up trying to pay at a parking meter. The quarter got stuck, so when a cop came up, we hopped in the car and drove away.

In another scene, we were in a shoe store, and I told him I needed a more feminine shoe. He asked me why I'd come into a men's shoe store, so I admitted it was because I thought he was cute. He still tried to sell me shoes!

Then we had a question off, where we did little scenes where we were only supposed to talk in questions. It's harder than you would think, considering how many times a question comes out when we're not supposed to do it!

She had us stand at the back of the stage and did one-minute scenes, based on a suggestion. Boris and I were first, and the suggestion was cufflinks, so we ended up cross-dressing and going to a prom. I was in a suit and he was in a dress. We never ended up establishing who we were, though.

A minute is a long time, as we discovered. It went a lot longer than I expected. Every time we finished a scene, Mary would ask the class who the characters were, where they were and what they were doing.

"What are they doing?" Mary asked about one scene.

"Arguing," Geoff said simply. So when he got into an argument in a scene and she asked what they were doing, we said, "Arguing."

The problem with arguments is that they're not that interesting. Mary said it's best if somebody loses. It's really hard not to get into that sort of mindset, though.

After we did one-minute scenes, we did 30-second scenes, 15-second scenes and then 5-second scenes. There were so many of them, they all kind of run together in my head. It's hard even to remember the ones I was in.

I know I had one really weird scene with Colleen where the suggestion was wrench. I lifted an invisible wrench above my head, and when she said, "The sink is over there," I said that I was just trying to scratch my back. Then I had her scratch it for me. We were really going nowhere.

So when that scene ended, Mary told me that my initial offer was a great one and that, instead of backing off it, I should have gone with it.

I did a really short scene with Megan where the suggestion was rocking chair. I kind of toddled around and said, "I'm going to sit down on the rocking chair," then fell all the way to the floor. "You moved my rocking chair!"

Megan helped me up: "I'm sorry, Grandma." End scene. That scene really worked.

After we'd done the five-second scenes, Mary asked us what we'd learned from it. We said that we learned how to establish a platform faster so that we could get on with the scene. It does get easier as you practice it.

She had us sit down, then, and go up on the stage two at a time to do scenes based on suggestions. This time, she gave us directions, such as "Make it bigger." Or she would ask us a question: "How do you feel about what she said?" Or "Tell her what you think of her."

I got up with Boris and had a really great scene, I felt. The suggestion was scissors. I started by cutting something, and he came up to me and held up a pair of scissors. "These scissors still work. Can you believe it?"

"I oiled them when I got them out of the drawer," I said.

He asked, angrily, "Why were you in my drawer again, Mom?"

I decided immediately that I was trying to get him to like me, so I said cheerfully, "I needed them to do a scrapbook for your graduation."

"But I don't graduate for two years," he said.

"That's why I need to start now. I'm done with kindergarten," I said, and showed him a page. "Look how cute you are there. And there, in the bath."

He only got angrier. "You showed this to my girlfriend."

"I told her you were bigger now." That got a laugh.

Mary asked us what else was in the room. Boris gestured to a space on the wall. "Look at this poster of a BMX bike, Mom. That's not cute."

"I'm going to put that in your high school pages. I'm going to PhotoShop your face on there. You'll be riding it."

"Mom, why are you trying to embarrass me?" He threatened to leave.

Mary asked us to consider what the real problem was. I said, "I never see you anymore." She kept saying, "More. Bigger." So I started stomping around the stage. "This is you. 'I'm not cute. I'm mean and angry.'"

He laughed sarcastically. "That's a good impression, Mom."

I clutched the book close to my chest. "It's not funny to me. Ever since the divorce, you're never around." I clutched the book to my chest and then started crying, wiping my nose on the book's pages.

She ended the scene there. "Good," she said. I think if we'd gone a little longer, we might have come to some sort of a conclusion, but I was happy with what we did. I'm finding that Boris is a really good partner for scene work. He's fearless about making interesting offers, and he's really getting good at interacting in a scene.

Another scene I was in was with Carol. I was pretty happy with that one, too. The suggestion was "shoeshine" and I was shining her shoes. She started humming, "Oh, those golden slippers", so I took a cue from that and before long she was a mummer. She refused to pay me, so I asked her if I could wear her hat and then her jacket. We were dancing around doing the mummer strut.

I told her what was really missing was the shoes. "Then maybe I'll be a better mummer than even you."

"But I was born to mummery," she said. End scene.

I'm trying to remember some of the other scenes people did. Carol and Geoff did one where they were packing to go on vacation, and she was going really slow, which made him frustrated.

Colleen and Lori did a scene where the suggestion was tongue, and Lori got her tongue stuck to a pole while they were trying to catch snowflakes. She had to talk that way the whole scene. Instead of helping her, Colleen ran and got a camera to take a picture.

In another scene, Lori and Geoff were drawing in an art class and discusses the finer points of 80s TV.

Colleen and Carol were on a beach, and Colleen's son, who was also Carol's grandson, got lost. Then it turned out that Carol had Alzheimer's and couldn't even remember what they were doing.

Boris and Megan were in a scene in a department store. Boris was a clerk, and Megan was trying to convince him to give her the perfume for free.

After we'd done these scenes for a while, we returned to a game we learned in beginning class, Blind Line. That's where you have two people leave the room and the audience writes lines for them, which are sprinkled across the stage. They can pick them up periodically and use them as a line.

Colleen and Geoff were in a scene where Colleen was applying for a job as a mechanic but was actually an airplane mechanic. In the course of the scene, she was trying to fix a car and ended up throwing out here back and being flat on her back. But instead of calling 911, he just continued chatting with her, as if desperate for company.

Boris and Megan were skaters getting ready for an ice show, but they decided they were sick of how they were being treated and almost walked out. Boris convinced her to stay, and they ended the scene donning their costumes for Finding Nemo.

I was sent out of the room with Carol for them to write more lines. We found a witch hat in the hallway and brought it in with us, but Mary said we ought to leave it in the hallway. So we did.

This scene gave me more trouble. The suggestion was aquarium, and it turned out we were employees and the shark had died because I didn't feed it. I put on my scuba gear to get it out of the tank but then didn't know what to do because the tank was off-stage. Mary suggested I could have gotten in at the side and swum around.

We just ended up arguing. It turned out I was there doing community service for some strange reason and had a thing for yams. I just had a lot of trouble with this one. We just ended up arguing. Still, I think that we at least made an effort. My last line was "Make love not war," so I used that as an excuse to apologize and give her a hug.

At the end of the game, Mary asked us to give us her comments about it. I told her that I was trying to work on point-of-view and that one thing I'd been doing was trying to remember to use it. Sometimes I was getting it from reacting to the other person on stage. She said that was good and added that you can also decide on point-of-view before even getting on stage. Just decide, for example, that "Everything the other person says is brilliant" and see where that takes you.

She told us again that we're doing really well. I can see that we're making a lot of progress. Carol said she thought it helped that we'd had a class together before. I quickly jumped in and said to Megan, "And it's so easy working with you I keep forgetting we weren't in class together before."

After class, I walked out with her, chatting about her improv group in college. It sounds like, in some ways, it was a lot like the Monty Python Society was for me. It was a place to have fun, to play and explore. A great stress reliever, especially during crazy college days.

More Musings from improv class:

Improv Class Musings Index

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

October 2006 Index

Musings Index

What do you think? Share your thoughts
at Alyce's message board (left button):