Free Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation by Charna Halpern, Del Close, Kim Johnson Page B

other's thoughts.
    In building the story, the players should be conscious of all of the necessary components that make a story interesting — elements like action, characters, emotion, ambiance, a cohesive story line and a resolution. It's important to tell the story as coherently as possible. Trying to make it silly or crazy often makes it less effective — since it's being created by several minds working together, it's guaranteed to get silly enough on its own. As a group, the players know that a resolution to their story is needed; with the common goal in mind, they will [ And it.
    Various writing styles or points of view can be used to add dimension to the Conducted Story. Each player may rate in the style of a different well-known author (often selected by an audience), while still committed to carrying the story forward.
    One memorable narrated story was actually performed by an ImprovOlympic team comprised entirely of psychologists. Each of them assumed the point of view of a different mental illness! While telling the story together, they separately revealed the symptoms of a psychotic, a paranoid-schizophrenic, a manic-depressive, a hypochondriac, and several others.
    There are other devices more experienced players can use for workshops or performance, involving similar techniques and principles which force players to stay in the moment, and not think ahead. Some practices have resulted in several people portraying one character in a scene, and the actors have to speak at a normal pace, completely in unison (it's actually easier than it may sound). Other workshops have devised oracles, which speak one word at a time to address (and answer!) great philosophical questions of the universe.
    KEY POINTS FOR CHAPTER SIX
    *Stay in the moment. What is happening now will be the key to discovery.
    *Nothing is ignored. Follow the unexpected twist.
    *There is no such thing as a mistake.
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CHAPTER SEVEN Building a Scene
    Action begins with the disruption of a routine.
    — Keith Johnstone
    WHAT IS A SCENE?
    Two actors on stage do not make a scene.
    A pair of performers standing before an audience, talking to each other about their mother-in-law problems, do not constitute a scene — they may just be having a jokey (if cliched) discussion. Several improvisers doing a Pattern Game or Hot Spot may interact in a very entertaining manner, but they aren't doing a scene.
    So then what is a scene?
    Every scene contains a few key elements.
    Most importantly, a relationship must exist between the characters on stage. In improv, it's normally discovered through the course of a scene; the more quickly it is found, the faster the scene progresses.
    Of course, the easiest way to advance a scene is for the performers to make assumptions. If the first line is, "I've come for my test results, Doctor," we already have a fairly solid idea of the relationship. And if the response is, "You have a very peculiar disease, Mr. President," the relationship is clearly defined. There is enough information for a scene; the groundwork has been laid.
    Also important is the relationship between the players and their environment which is also discovered through improv. The scene between the President and the Doctor will be radically different if we discover it takes place in outer space rather than the Oval Office.
    No matter what the setup, however, the event is crucial to every scene — the situation that makes this day different from all the rest. This is where the action begins. It arises from the game moves, which become the structure of the scene. It can arise from the very first sentence, or even before any words are spoken.
    Many scenes don't start off as strongly or with as many assumptions as the previous example. Two actors walk on stage and may find themselves doing something more mundane or routine, such as washing dishes or tightening bolts in an assembly line. As the Keith Johnstone quote at the beginning of the chapter tells us, it is