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You aren't alone on stage: Play with the others and for the audience
This page is based on Jeremie Daygliders' workshop "The I in team" and Ella Galt's workshop the gift of presence. Jeremie is a teacher which supports students in finding out what thoughts or feelings limited their skills. She is not only passionated about teaching improv theater inside the classroom but also outside it and I still remember her giving me advise on how to train character development after a long night show. On the other Ella knows a lot about how to improve scenes by just tweaking small details.
Length: 6 hours
Punctuality: Due to the nature of the topic, every participant must do exercises to be in the moment and accept their mistakes, I recommend to close the door after 20 minutes.
Goals
Scenes are teamwork. You have to be ready to listen to other players's ideas and find a compromise between your wishes and their offers. The greatest gifts you can give your scene partner and the audience is being present and trust in their ideas. This way you will fully participate in mind, body and spirit to tell a story as team on stage.
The key skills to learn are:
- Solidify your confidence in your innate abilities as an improviser
- Remove the fear of being following other ideas
- Strengthen your creative team play
- Learn what message your position on stage conveys
- How to improve the stage picture
Recommendations
- Ask the students to explain their expectations before starting the workshop. This helps you understand what they are looking for
- Ask for feedback after each games to see if the students grasp the goals of them
- A short break of 5 minutes after 90 minutes gives smokers the opportunity to go outside and reloads the energy of the group
Punctuality Gift (Group ritual, not part of the workshop's topic)
Being in the moment
This goal of this game is that students get into the mood of thinking more about others than themselves.
- Circle saying yes: All players stand in a circle. One player calls other one by name (or eye contact if he don't know the name). The called player says “Yes” when he hears his name. Then the first player start walking towards him and takes his place. The second player they calls a third one and waits for the yes to start walking. After a while the game is speed up. The main point here is that everyone waits for the yes before walking.
- Storytelling in a circle in a chorus: All the players are in a circle and they have to tell a story at the same time. They have to read the mouths of the other ones and try to guess that word comes new. Usually a player will lead until a second player introduces a stronger idea. The word “but” is forbidden
Warm-up to be fearless about mistakes
Students learn not to care about making mistakes.
- tap > name, name > tap: All players are in circle. Player A taps B, who then has to say the name of player C, player C has to tap player D, who has to name player E. If someone makes a mistake, the whole group congratulates who made the mistake and the games continues. The moderator may add new rules to make failing more probable. The group has to increase the speed when they get used to the rules
Be confidence with your own improvising skills
Students learn to follow the ideas of other players
- Telling a story with the help of your partner: Players are in pairs. Player A tells a story in first person describing actions, emotions, places and wishes. Player B has to perform that story. After a while they change roles.
- Telling a story: In pairs, always saying yes
- Say one word in front of a supporting audience: Every student comes one on stage and the last student gives him secretly a word to say in front of the audience. When he says it, everyone applauses congratuling him. Afterwards he gives a word to the next player
Warm-up after the break
- Holding the plate: Students move around the room randomly holding an imaginary plate on one hand. They can move around but the plate can't fall. They can pass the plate to the second hand and they must move their whole body in this game
- Follow your Nose At the end students become a tiger, a mouse and a cocodrile from an scale from 1 to 10 (mix with human beings)
Meaning of group scenes
The goal is to learn what meaning gives the position of the players on the stage
- Naming the human sculture: One player goes on stage in an abstract position. A second players comes and complements him in a second position. A third one comes a look for another position. When five players are on stage, the last player names the human sculture
- Explain the students what is upstage and downstage and why to change hands when holding objects. You can use a group of players to show this
- Explain the students not to give the don't give the back to the audience and to calculate where are the sight limits of the audience depending on their position
- - 2 rows, action+emotion and contrasting action
Finish this page
## the gift of pressence - voice warm up - meaning of group scenes, strong positios are easier for groups - monolog in fantasy language - conducted monologue - actions changing every five seconds and other every minute, two actiob dynamics - laid out a conversation to an action choreography - group scene with decomposition of subgroups and correction of weaknesses
Games on stage in case we still have time
Remove this section after the workshop
- Boom Chicago
- Backwards interview
- Only questions
- Reclamation
- Einer für alle (with couples or trios)
- Sex with me
The group enjoyed these games
Discussion