Actors First
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As improvisers, you are actors first and then improvisers.
–Dave Razowsky
Archive for May, 2007
How You “And”
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Recently I had the oddest sensation about my improv — it just wasn’t working. Not working in the broader sense, that scenes were consistently turning problematic. I would go into scenes and for one reason or another they would fizzle out into a not so funny mess. My forward motion stalled and my scene partner and I would stare blankly at each other looking for another direction in the scene we might have missed. What had happened to my improv skills? Where did they go? And more importantly, could I get them back?
Truth be told, I have heard this from a lot of fellow students and I believe that everyone who improvises will feel this from time to time. The ol’ improv slump. What causes it? I do not know, perhaps it’s focusing on the other parts of improv like raising stakes, developing characters, or strengthening game. Perhaps it’s just the process of growing as an improviser. The good news is, that fixing it wasn’t really that difficult.
Externalizing our Links
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This weekend, I returned to the site to begin writing once more after my overworked hiatus and began to peruse through the site’s archivevs. That’s when I realized it was a nightmare to navigate with all those “aside links”, so without further ado, I have relegated my daily links to it’s own del.icio.us tag set. This should hopefully improve the link area and also slim down the site considerably… it does mean the old asides will be removed or repurposed, but for right now they are still on the site until we can find a better place to stick them.
We have also received quite a few comments with suggestions on where to stick them. Thanks guys. Thanks a lot.