Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation (14 page)

In the fourth scene, a man adrift in his broken down speedboat is approached by another
man in a kayak. The man in the kayak offers to help the stranded man, and while preparing to
tow the speedboat, the man in the kayak discusses his oneness with nature. Holding a rope in
his teeth, he tows the speedboat as he rows the kayak. The man sitting in the speedboat being
towed shouts, "You're sensational!"

As a group, the ideas reflected spirituality and sexuality for the New Age movement.

The different sides of a diamond all reflect each other. Harold players should do the same
thing —
reflect each other's ideas.

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KEY POINTS FOR CHAPTER EIGHT
*Take the unusual choice.

*Listen to your inner voice.

*Reflect each other's ideas.

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CHAPTER NINE

Environmentally Aware

All human beings have a sense memory that can summon up a past sound, sight, or smell.
The sound of a dentist's drill or the smell of freshly cut grass immediately conjures up precise
memories of past experiences. When improvisers learn to recall such clues, they can turn them
to their own advantage on stage.

It is simple to cause such a re-creation in one's mind, because everything perceived comes
from inside the head. Once the improviser learns to trigger that visual creation in his own
brain, he begins to create that environment for his audience.

Most of us have experienced this phenomenon ourselves. Charna was recently sitting in a
club where some groups were performing, when she noticed a sign hanging on one of the stage
flats across the room. She was too far away to make out the words, so after a few minutes of
squinting, she asked one of the directors what was on
the sign. He said, "It says, 'AUSTRALIA
OR BUST.'"

"Suddenly, to my astonishment, I was able to make out the words perfectly," she says.
"The same sign that, just a few seconds earlier, was too far away for my eyes to read, could
now be seen clearly. Every letter!"

A similar experience is common with sound. Many of us have heard a popular song
several times, but can't make out the lyrics. After we learn the actual words, they seem very
obvious, and we can't imagine how we
couldn't have understood them!

Anyone can re-create a visual revelation for himself by asking a friend to hold up a
newspaper with a headline. If he stands just far enough away so that the words cannot be made
out and asks the friend with the newspaper to tell him what the headline says, he will discover
that he can suddenly read it himself!

How can this be? If the sight lines were too distant for his eyes to pick up, why can he see
it now?

Everything that we perceive is truly perceived inside the head. As soon as an actor begins
to see
his environment on stage, the audience sees it through his eyes. The environment affects
him and the choices he makes in the scene. A scene set at a circus will be very different than
that same scene set inside a cathedral.

The following scene was improvised
in a workshop exploring the effects of the
environment. Two students were told they must create a scene that takes place on a deserted
highway. Both men, Tom and Roger, looked around in silence and seemed dazed. Standing far
apart from each other and showing vast amounts of space, each seemed lost, lonely and
worried:

TOM: I have a theory why we haven't seen people for days. I think there

was a nuclear exchange, and somehow we were the only ones who

weren't killed.

ROGER: I'll buy that. Even the last town
we walked through was deserted.

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TOM: Well, I guess we have to start over. We need
a president.

ROGER: Okay.

TOM: I nominate myself.

ROGER: I second that.

TOM: Does that mean I'm president?

ROGER: No, it just means you're nominated. We have to have an election.

(They vote, and Roger counts the secret ballots.)

ROGER: You lost. I don't know how, either, because I voted for you.

TOM: Then I declare a dictatorship. But, I appoint you attorney general.

ROGER: Great! Then I get to prosecute someone.

(Looks around.)
Well, since you're the only one here, I guess I'll prosecute

you for the state of the world.

TOM: Okay.

ROGER: I find you guilty.

TOM: But you haven't proven anything yet.

ROGER: This is a dictatorship! There's no due process of law.

TOM: I'm defecting.

As the scene continued, there was a summit in the middle of the highway to discuss trade
negotiations. The pair began fighting, and the threat of war was once again at hand. The two
players were clearly affected by the desolate environment they had visualized in their heads.

Improvisers must totally commit to their environment, because as easily as they create a
location for their audience, they can destroy it. It is very jarring to see an elaborate envi-
ronment created on stage, in which everybody knows where every imaginary object is on
stage, only to see an actor walk through a table and destroy everything the players worked so
hard to establish.

This is one of the most common forms of “breaking reality”
one of the worst mistakes an
improviser can make; this rccliscussed in detail in the next chapter.

Players who commit to the environment respect all objects created on stage as though
they were real, because once the performers bring them into existence, they
are
real. If players
don't commit to them 100 per cent, they will not commit to anything.

Any audience that has watched enough inexperienced improvisers has seen some truly
astonishing things, feats to challenge a Houdini. Drinking glasses vanish and re-appear,
telephones magically grow and shrink several times in a few seconds, and people walk through
tables, chairs, and walls.
Performers who do this are obviously not visualizing their
environment.

Most audiences stop paying attention to a scene like this, and instead concentrate on the
many ways the player has destroyed his reality. This is a form of denial, and it can only be
avoided if each player pays close attention to the physical details created byeveryone
on stage.

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An environment created on stage nearly always has a six-sided "where." In other words,
there is something in front of, behind, on either side of, above and below the players. There are
truly an unlimited number of objects that cause the impro-
viser to feel a certain way. Many
people believe "You are what you eat," but in theatre, "You are what you do."

The objects created on stage influence the actors' choices, and help to discover emotions
and attitudes. As soon as a player begins an activity, his mind discovers why, and he justifies it
in his attitude.

If a woman is discussing the blind date she had the night before, she may not have a clue
as to how she feels. But, if she is preparing a salad as she discusses the date, the motion of
tearing apart the head of lettuce may put her in a violent state. The anger she feels about the
blind date is put across subtly through her activity as she discusses the disastrous evening. This
brings her information to a visual, as well as a verbal level. In fact, she can strengthen the effect
if she verbally plays down her anger, while she is violently tearing the lettuce to shreds.

This player discovered her emotional state through the activity in her environment. Why
is she making salad in the first place? Maybe her date insulted her figure, and she has
discovered she is concerned about her weight problem.

Objects in a scene are there to help lead a player who feels stuck. They should prompt the
improviser to
discover,
rather than
invent.

One example, a scene that took place in a store, shows how
an object in the environment
led directly to the discovery of that scene.

Anna was searching through imaginary toys, picking up each one and then setting it down
again. She was finally directed to choose just
one
toy and let that inspire her, to give her
information as to why she was there and what was on her mind. She picked up the object,
which became a doll. She slowly brought it to her chest, hugged it, and began to cry. Her
husband in the scene immediately rushed to her side to comfort her. It was a touching moment,
leading to a wonderful scene about a couple who lost a child, and thought they couldn't have
any more children. Although the scene later took many twists, the initial discovery came from
a simple object in the environment.

Visualizing objects in an environment always rescues a player
who becomes temporarily
stuck in a scene. One example started as a scene between a father and a son:

FATHER: I am very angry.

SON: I know, Dad, I came to apologize.

At this point, the first player became momentarily stuck. So, he utilized his training, and
looked around his environment to help him along. He picked up a newspaper and looked at it,
which led to his next line:

FATHER: It's in all the papers. The whole town knows.

The simple discovery of the newspaper raised the stakes in the scene, and gave the players
a better idea of the seriousness of the son's situation.
^

When making choices, ^Decific&Jare
always
better than generalities. Specifics add
dimensions to the work and to the characters. If an actor offers someone a ride in his Z-28, it
gives us more information about his character than if he has just offered a ride in his "car." Just

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knowing whether a player drives a Yugo, a Studebaker, a Ford pickup truck, or a BMW tells us
a great deal about his character.

Mike Myers of
Saturday Night Live
and
Wayne's World
fame was especially meticulous
about this rule. Even in his scenes at the ImprovOlympic and Second City, he was specific. In
a dinner scene, he'd never say, "Pass the ketchup." It would only be, "Pass the Heinz."

During a class Mike was teaching at the ImprovOlympic, he created a non-specific
character that he called "Vague-Man" to emphasize the point to students.

"I'm Vague-Man! Iwork!"

Where?

"At
the store!
I do
things!
I've got to go
someplace
now! I'm Vague-Man!"

The more specific the choices, the easier they connect to future scenes, and players should
always be aware of connections. Characters in a future scene may pass a stalled car by the side
of the road; if that stalled car is a Z-28, then a connection is made. (Hemingway knew the value
of specific information. That's why, in
The Killers, a character doesn't just eat a candy bar —
he munches a Baby Ruth.)

Of course, while an environment and the objects within it affect the scene, they should not
be
the scene. Many beginning improvisers make the mistake of discussing the activity they are
engaged in, which is redundant when the activity is being done properly. Paradoxically, the
scene is usually the most effective if the conversation is as far removed from the activity as
possible.

There are several improv games that teach this, including one requiring players to
perform one activity while discussing another topic (audience suggestions supply the activity
and the topic). One memorable scene was performed by the team Friends of the Zoo —
they
were to perform surgery while discussing restaurants. They were able to brilliantly reflect both
suggestions; while one player talked about barbecued ribs, the group was obviously sawing
away at the patient's chest, and so on.

Experienced performers learn that their dialog isn't about their activity. Instead, the lilies
should be saved for the
relationship
with the other player.
That relationship is created with the
players are engaged in their particular activity.