MEMORABLE MOMENTS (round 2) DON’T LOOK UP! Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Jonah Hill It wasn’t in the script. It wasn’t planned. These are the moments the Director says “CUT!!! – Where did that come from??!! Let’s keep that!” It’s getting more and more common for directors to Read more
MEMORABLE MOMENTS (round 3) LET THEM ALL TALK – Meryl Streep, Diane Weist, Candace Bergen, Steven Soderbergh Directed by Steven Soderberg, LET THEM ALL TALK was shot in 10 days while crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2 surrounded by 2600 passengers and virtually no film equipment. It was Read more
MEMORABLE MOMENTS Improvisation by great actors that made the cutGEORGE C. SCOTT It takes balls to trick a great actor into improvising and then to use that performance without the actor’s approval. But, that’s what the equally great director Stanley Kubrick did to George C. Scott. The great actor cared Read more
I DON’T DO THAT!!!! Tina Fey admits, “I can’t do music!” She can. Sort of. She just doesn’t want to. And that’s OK! Talking to Seth Meyers, Fey described improvising with ‘Freestyle Love Supreme’, the Broadway Improvised RAP show. (Haven’t seen them? Check them out on You Tube: ) Fey said Read more
DOSE OF DESTRUCTION, PINCH OF POISON “Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.” Pablo Picasso When Improvisers protect every rule, idea and philosophy they’ve learned, they risk creating an unbreakable box that they cannot imagine their way out of. This is a great danger for fear-filled improvisers Read more
TERRIFIC TORMENT Playful torment is the cornerstone of humorous interaction. I used to perform at children’s festivals where I would interact with families as one of the characters I had developed. One of my favourite characters was a loudmouth masked character with big lips and googly eyes. He was good-natured, Read more
ESTABLISH & DESTROY VALUES!!! A quick way to make the audience care. Rowan Atkinson’s, mostly silent, obsessive character, Mr Bean is engaging to watch regardless of the language you speak. We know exactly what he wants and he’s obsessive about getting it. The simple nature of Mr. Bean can teach Read more
REINCORPORATION & PLAUSIBILITY A key concept in ending the story “Yea, I shall return with the tide.” ― Khalil Gibran Instinctively we know that all things are circular. We start somewhere in some emotional state. We journey away, but something in us pulls us back to that beginning idea or image. Read more
HATS OFF TO YOU! The Hat game played for spontaneity I was on the evil Facebook a couple of weeks ago and read a comment about The”Hat Game” from Avish Parashar. He was asking about The Hat Game: “(the one where you try to grab a hat off your scene Read more
PUPPETS AND IMPROVISATION Like Masks, Puppets have an other-world quality. Some of us love them while others are freaked out by their “creepiness”. Love them or hate them puppets bring technical skills, creative skills and even some deep metaphoric insights that will make us better improvisers. WHY PUPPETS? Why should Read more