One of my favorite warm-ups was introduced to me by Adina Gillett in her Performance Series Class at Jet City Improv. It\u2019s not one I pull out of my bag often, because I\u2019m worried that overuse would cause it to lose its effectiveness, but it\u2019s given a huge boost to a couple Interrobang rehearsals over the years. I\u2019ve found it most effective as the first or second warm-up of the night. It\u2019s useful for starting things off at a high energy level, and also to kick off a rehearsal positively after having had a more difficult rehearsal previously. The two specific instances I can recall were the first rehearsal after a highly technical rehearsal that had been frustrating, and a rehearsal in which it appeared that folks had low energy coming in the door.<\/p>\n
The exercise? Badprov. Put the improvisers in two lines, and tell them to do the absolute worst improv they\u2019ve ever done. Every improviser of at least moderate experience level has strong ideas on what constitutes bad improv. This is their chance to wallow in it. One improviser from each line will step forward, and the two improvisers are to do a terrible improv scene. Director\/instructor should call out \u201cnext!\u201d fairly quickly—length-wise, these scenes are similar to scenes in Freeze Tag. Players go to the ends of the lines and the next two step forward to start another terrible scene.<\/p>\n
There are a few things I love about this warm-up:<\/p>\n
The two rehearsals I\u2019m remembering were among my favorites we\u2019ve had. I can still remember individual moments of brilliance from the work that followed Badprov in both rehearsals.<\/p>\n
Strongly recommended for any time you feel like your group is getting into a rut, or feeling frustrated. I can\u2019t thank Adina enough introducing this game to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of my favorite warm-ups was introduced to me by Adina Gillett in her Performance Series Class at Jet City Improv. It\u2019s not one I pull out of my bag often, because I\u2019m worried that overuse would cause it to … Continue reading