Coach's Corner with Niigon presents:

Memories of the First Time… Mime, The Five Elements, and Beginning Games

Alas, I am crazy busy this week with mid-terms, and I have reached into the archives for Clint's wonderful chronicle of my workshop last term where I met you all on October 2, 2004… ahh the memories… this will have to do for my coaches corner epic for this week… This covers the principles of improv: Mime, The Five Elements, and some beginning games – also my famous Audience as a little Puppy analogy!

-Niigon

I. MIME - "Everything starts with mime"

1) The CLICK: any touching, friction, etc. to establish the physicality of the environment

-A. Click flat surfaces using almost all wrist, starting with fingertips

--i. Practice touching actual surfaces

---a. Examples: tables, walls

-B. Click cups, doorknobs using thumb and forefinger

2) The ISOLATION: keeping one click while everything else moves

-A. The Vise: hand is in a imagined vise, players can move everything else but hand

--i. variation: get different parts stuck in the vise

--ii. try multiple vises

3) ALL TOGETHER NOW:

-A. The Click plus Isolation:

--i. hand against wall and move

--ii. hand on table and move

--iii. table with cups

--iv. getting a drink from refrigerator

-B. Opening a door - very complicated, involves upwards of 20-30 small clicks

--i. See the knob, step, reach, click, isolate knob and turn, click, isolate arm and open, isolate hand on knob as you step through, turn, release knob, click hand on door, isolate push closed, turn, and walk away.

II. THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF A SCENE

Remember these and you can't go wrong. Magical one-liners and unforgettable moments are the icing on the cake - composed of these five layers.

1) Environment

2)Character

3) Conflict

4) Raising the Stakes

5) Resolution

1. Environment - mime is your ultimate weapon in a scene. If you don't know what to do next, add environment, interact. It brings the audience in and heightens the reality you're creating.

-A. Create environment

-B. Make it interesting, even if you don't know what you're doing

-C. Accept the endowments and interpretations of first-speaking characters

-D. Use levels and of course, mime.

'Mime At A Time': Environment Practice

Give a location where a lot of interaction is possible, like a kitchen or an emergency room.

Let the players explore with clicks and isolations.

Variation : Have the players divide into groups of 4 or 5. Have them, one at a time, no talking, enter a space, add an object through interaction, then leave. Each subsequent player interacts with all previous objects and adds another. Did everyone agree on what was in the space?

2. Character:

-A. Names

-B. Status- relative relationships

-C. Friendly History - know them 5 yrs. Use gestures to give implied history

-D. Body language stops you from being a talking head.

'Environment and Character Practice :

Break off into pairs. Players alternate initiating building the environment with an action. Second player enters and with one line (or minimum of lines) and gesture, tells as much of what is going on and who the characters are. After an optional brief exchange, players stop and discuss what they know at that point about the scenes elements, mainly Character and Environs.

3. Conflict

-A. Avoid Transaction scenes and uninvested characters. Make it PERSONAL - about the characters.

You're on a spaceship, there's a million dollars on the table, the cake is about to eat you - it doesn't matter unless how it relates to YOU and YOUR RELATIONSHIP. It's about THIS! (the relationship)

Adding Conflict:

Break off into same pairs as before. Give characters and a resolution and let the players do a short (1-2 minute) scene which still holds to the 5 essentials, but where they introduce and work out a conflict appropriate to the scene which ends in the suggested resolution. Players discuss scenes afterwards.

EXAMPLES : partner clowns end up going their separate ways, husband and wife end up staying together, starving artists end up paying the rent, business parters split after one gets promoted, etc.

CONFLICTS : The clowns ended up having commitment issues, the couple worked through infidelity, and the artists' friendship was challenged by mooching, and the partners fought dirty over a new invention to show the boss.

4. Raising the Stakes

Stakes can be raised several times, but be careful, too little and no one cares, too much and someone will have to die

-A. Tell us WHY! Why should we care? Why now? Why is it happening? What makes this conflict the most important thing in the world right now.

'I Have A Secret': Raising Stakes Practice

Break off into new pairs. Begin from scratch as before, this time though, the players need to reveal a secret relating to the conflict that is totally new information. Stakes can be raised several times. Work to resolution, then discuss. What was the secret? How did it relate to the conflict? Why was it important?

SECRETS: the Vase was proof of Royal Birth and you didn't know it, there was poison in the food, I went out with you to settle a bet, "Luke, I am your father.", Smile, you're on Candid Camera, etc.

5. Resolution - 5 Basic Ways to End a Scene

-A. Someone wins -

-B. Someone loses -

-C. Fall in love -

-D. Die -

-E. The World Ends -

III. GAMES - the troupe gets nowhere without trust and the group mind.

PASS THE FOCUS

Players circle and hold their hands out flat near navel height, palms up, as if about to juggle or hold a box. Moderator leaves his spot, walks to another player, and slaps (gently! - you don't want to kill them with the focus) another player's hands, then Moderator returns to his original position. Meanwhile the slapped player now has the focus and does the same. Note: You cannot slap a player adjacent to you.

Level 2: Moderators give multiple players the focus

Level 3: Moderators encourage use of levels. Go high! Go low! Nothing gets in your way! Faster!

PTF: Look Variation

Players circle as before. Moderator makes eye contact with a player and gives a 'look'. There is no need to be funny here; that comes later. The player he looked at receives the look (no sound, just bodily acceptance) and passes it with another look. Every player should be pointing with their shoulders to follow the focus so as to be ready. Moderators: always go for faster!

Level 2: Moderators start additional look chains.

PTF: Clap Variation: Same as before except that passes are given and received with a clap. Note: claps must be given and received exactly the same way as the moderator originally sent them out - no mutating! There can be chest claps, double claps, triple claps, etc.

Level 2: Send out different claps simultaneously. FASTER!

Pass Around the Clock

Players get in a circle. Moderator or coach passes a gesture to his left or right. The gesture is repeated exactly as it was originally given - example . A light head tap with the left hand to the person on the right stays the same as it is passed around, person to person, until it is dropped or not passed. The Moderator begins with one and works up, occasionally stopping to 'collect' all the passes and count to see which, if any were dropped, duplicated, or changed. (The All-Canadian High School Improv Team Niigon coached got up to 17 !)

Example Passes: taps on the foot, head, shoulder, pokes, blowing air, hugs, flicks, words (very hard)

BRAIN FRY

Prep cook: Same circle as before. Moderator gets a category like "numbers, colors, animals, presidents, breakfast foods, etc" He raises one hand, palm outward and points with his other arm to another player ( no adjacent players) and names them from the appropriate category, for example: "teal" or "Eisenhower". This continues in turn, with each named player raising a hand and pointing with the other until at last the Moderator himself is named. At this point everyone in the circle has a designation and can put their hands down.

Fry Time: The Moderator now makes eye contact with the person he originally named and gives the prompt, ex: "teal" or "Eisenhower", etc. That player passes the focus by getting the attention of the player he named and saying the appropriate following prompt. This continues much like Pass Around the Clock until the Moderator stops for counts or coaching.

Variation: Have the players randomize the circle and do the sequence again. Go fast! Make eye contact first!

Level 2: Get another category and do another sequence based on it. Once that's down, do multiple category sequences at the same time! Keep randomizing the circle. 3 or 4 is great to warm up.

Level 3: Same as Level 2 but Moderator adds Passes Around the Clock into the mix! Squeezes, taps, head taps, etc!

Level 4: Have players mill about, picking a spot then walking to it. Have them vary levels and tempos. Then play Level 2 with them. Make sure they are making eye contact. Keep it going! Note: if a prompt is missed, keep giving it! If someone forgets a prompt, don't hesitate to help. Pay attention.

*Level 5: Add Looks, Slaps, and Claps . See you in Griffin.
*(hypothetical)

TAPOUT

Two players are given one or two elements on which to base their scene while 1 or 2 players wait off stage.

At any point in the scene, the players offstage can call freeze and tap one or the other scene players out, then start a new scene to explore any dimension of the previous scene. The original player retains his original character, though the new player may move the scene into new locations, time frames, realities, etc and be anyone or thing he wishes. When finished the offstage player returns to his offstage position and the scene resumes with the original two players from where it left off.

Variation: the suggestion is a single word.

Coaching: Let the scene breathe a little after each vignette.

JAM SESSION a.k.a. "Sweep"

Begin the same as Tapout , except there is no limit to which players may tap in, nor do players have to retain any identity.

Instead of freezing, though, outside players walk across the scene and say "sweep" and get rid of any established reality before beginning a new scene. The new player can call up additional players with gestures, or send others away. Any player left onstage must become part of the new scene. Anything can happen, but you can play with limitations.

Variation 1: Try to resolve a major storylines

Variation 2: Resolve multiple storylines

RADIO DIAL

Players sit down in a line. One player is selected to be the 'tuner'. Each sitting player is assigned a genre of radio,

Example: Conservative Talk, Reggae, Children's Show, Sci-Fi Stories, Financial News, Russian Folk, New Wave Pop, etc.

The tuner moves up and down the 'dial' line of players. with their arm pointing to the intended station. Players should work to fade in and out according to the tuner and not to stop if left on.

Rules to laugh by:

• Never let the audience see you scramble - ACT LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!
• When in doubt, interact/create environment
• Save near-deaths and near-kisses
• If your fellow actor misses a prompt, PROMPT AGAIN
• Don't initialize scenes with questions, unless they add tons of information
• The answer is always yes. It can be no as long as eventually (soon) it's yes.

NIIGON SAYS…

The Audience is Like a Little Puppy:

• Don't hit them by blocking established elements of a scene like walking through a table, ignoring an important relationship, dropping a conflict, etc. They'll bite you.
• Don't hurt the puppy by letting the scene progress to violence or porn. Let their imaginations do the work.
• Give them treats, make them think they're smart.
• The rule of threes. No, no, yes. One good joke or bit, second establishes a pattern, third breaks it. Puppy Gold, baby.
• If you give the puppy too many treats the puppy will throw up. Let the audience determine how the story is constructed in their heads - show, don't tell them.

  For example, here is some dialogue:

  Actor #1 enters the scene and reaches for a picture from his pocket, looking at it sadly.

  Actor#2 walks in.

  #2: Awwww, look at that picture of your mom all dressed up in that nice purple dress, holding those flowers and watching your father get drunk at the bar. I can tell that you miss her because he left her last week, why don't we sit down and talk about it?

  #1: Thanks, I am very sad because I am looking at this picture of my mother.

  Crappy mcrapsalot scene.

  Instead, give them this:

  Actor #1 reaches in pocket, brings something out, looks at it.

  Actor #2 enters.

  #2: (reaches his hand out, places it on shoulder) It's alright man.

  #1: I know, I know.

  Let the audience construct the story and the puppy thinks they are brilliant.