Which brings me to my topic of the day: pre-planning. Do you love my segues? I like to say segue. It looks like it should be see'goo, not seg'way. Weird.
Right. Pre-planning. You would think having a little plan of your own would help out in improv scenes. I mean, it seems like that would help you avoid being caught with nothing to do or say in a scene.
But much like segue isn't pronounced how it looks (ha! to everyone who just thought I was drunk when I brought up the segue thing), pre-planning doesn't work the way you imagine. Having even the smallest idea, plan or agenda is the surest way to eff up a scene. For one thing, once you have that little idea, it's hard to let go of it, so you feel compelled to work it into the scene whether it really fits or not. B) Having your own agenda makes it difficult or impossible to truly listen to the other person, because you are busy trying to steer the scene towards your planned outcome. And VI: When you have an idea in your head, you've closed off the circuits to the free flow of ideas and information that should come in an improv scene. Like, if I'm already thinking about unicorns, I will tend to think of more things related to unicorns like sparkles or rainbows or pretty ribbons for decorating horns. Ideas about tacos or the stock market probably won't float into my brain, because they don't relate to what's already happening in there.
In improv, it's better to be blank. Then you don't steer the scene - or your own thoughts - in any particular direction. You can listen well, respond appropriately, and be open to all of those little details that pop into your head when you aren't trying to direct it.
Anybody want to try to guess this next see'goo? Yep. Real life. Don't pre-plan so much, peeps! It stifles all that amazing creativity and spontaneity that your brain would love to do if you weren't busy forcing it to plan, well, everything.
Take a chance! Come to a Held2gether 1/2-day Intro to Improv Workshop. If it makes you feel better, you can plan what you're going to wear to it. I'll be the one dressed like a Raider fan.
By Sonnjea Blackwell
