Improv building blocks

At the start of class Jon talked about the things that can go so wrong when actors use improvisation. People don’t consider the “what” – the weight, the touch, how it feel in your hand, what are the minute details. Also, people don’t consider where they are—what’s the weather like, what’s the atmosphere like, the air, what are the sounds, are you sitting, are you standing. Another thing people fail to consider is who they are, not just who their character is but also who they are on that day, what is their mood, what was their morning like etc. The very first thing that you should do when starting the process of figuring out you what, where, and who, you first determination should always be where you are. Establishing your surroundings is the basis to building your improvisation. This kind of serves as a blank slate for you. Jon says, “give up want and desire”, and this is relevant in this context because relinquishing the want and desire to be good will allow you to be fully present in your acting, that way you are able to build on something substantial rather than on a half assed idea of what you “think” is good. Something meaningful that I got out of this class is that I had a realization through the exercise that I have difficulty holding on to the image of an environment. I can’t remember the exact words that Jon said but he said that holding onto the image of environment does not live in your eyes but resonates within the lens of your minds eye. This is all still very new to me so right now it doesn’t make total sense but I think I’m getting there. Thanks for reading!

A major adjustment is to not try to hold an image, but rather focus on the feel of the place through your senses, then allow images to spring from that.