In my workshops I am constantly using sports metaphors to try and explain improv devices and techniques. What’s with that? Those of you who have participated in some kind of sporting event, from golf to football, are well acquainted with the concepts of focus, concentration, and reading the tempo of play. During practice, your coach had drills they insisted you learn and learn well. They would instill in you concepts such as: keeping your head on a pivot, reading the playing field, anticipating the puck/ball/whatever, keeping your head in the game and most importantly: focusing.

Improv is the same.

During a performance you will never know where or when an offer will come your way and you must see the whole stage all the time (even behind you).  Getting to know your teammates is important as you can then begin to anticipate better and focus on incorporating their offers seamlessly into the scene. However, if you are not paying attention to what is going on around you, things can get pretty messy.  Say, for example, you are in a scene and behind you enters a key character or another player with an offer and you don’t see it or acknowledge it. Not only do you look stupid in the eyes of the audience, but you also unintentionally block the other player.

Improv artists must see all of the stage all of the time. You must see and recognize things faster than your audience does. You must listen to the other actors to know where you are in the story. You must know when to accept an offer, and if a scene is entering the dreaded boring zone, you must then put an offer on the table or advance the narrative.

But now to the drills. Players hate drills. Same puck passing/skating thing over and over again. I have learned through years of playing many different improv games and excercises that the most important improv drill is the word at a time.
Some cities no longer play this game as to master this one takes a lot of time and effort.  Unfortunately, improv actors tend to be a bit of a lazy bunch when it comes to their artform (probably because there’s no money in it!), so this exercise is often ignored.

But to me, the word at a time is the 3 man weave of improv. For those of you who have played basketball or hockey, you know that the 3 man weave is THE drill to improve speed, skill and coordination.  If you can’t do the weave, you’re welcome to a seat on the bench during the game. Word at a time (WAAT) is a game where you need to use the two basic improvisation skills: giving up control and listening. Sound easy?  Go ahead and try it! Before you do, however, there are a few guidelines that can help you craft a quality scene.  I’ve learned the following are the keys to a successful WAAT:

• Keep the intent of the story in the present tense.
• Think as if you are one person.
• Physically act out your story.
• Do not ask questions.
• Remove adjectives and focus on nouns.
• Do not introduce third-party characters into your story (we want the action to happen to you, not to some nebulous character we cannot see).
• Take time in your story to revel in the emotions you introduce (ie. you are in a scary scene - stop talking and act scared!).
• Do not try to control the scene, let it control you.
• Keep it grammatically correct.
• Listen, listen, listen to what your partner is saying.

You do all of that, spontaneously and instantly without hesitation in a charming and happy way and not only will your audience lap it up, but you, the improvisers, will enjoy it as well.  Master the WAAT and you will have an intuitive understanding of improv. What I mean to say is that the same concepts that allow you to succeed at word at a time, are central to all improv work.

To sum it all up: Never stop listening, even when you have something to say.  Don’t think about the past, other than to remember where you’ve been, and keep your mind focused squarely on the present.  Don’t ask questions, give answers!  A question is a hedge and all of the world’s answers are right in front of you.  Be grammatically correct whenever possible because if nobody understands that when if you speak to all of him that you can be never followed and nobody maybe enjoy it.  Take the time to develop your story.  Give up control and attachment to your ideas and let the scene guide you.  Physicalize your story by allowing yourself to move about and mime the actions.  It gives your story life!  Keep your head on a pivot so you can see and hear everything on stage.  Commit to the scene, focus, and keep your head in the game.

-Rick Hilton