Harassment and Sexism in Improv by Michael Golding

 

Lately I’ve been reading multiple posts about harassment and sexism in the improv community. Considering trust is a key element to a successful improvisation, I find this highly disturbing.  A major contention amongst female improvisers fifty years ago was that if they were cast in a scene, they were more likely to play a mother, wife, girlfriend, nurse, secretary, than say a lawyer, doctor, boss, police officer or scientist. Not certain how far we’ve evolved in that respect.  

Years ago I had an actor in one of my professional workshops, who was clearly a misogynist, but considered himself a feminist, (because he had sisters).  For the purpose of this article, let’s call him “Dick.” If he was asked to suggest a role for a female player, invariably it was wife, girlfriend, secretary or nurse.

If Dick was in a scene with a female player, it was going to be a seduction scene, whether the scenario warranted it or not.  Those who were familiar with Dick’s modus operandi would either play along, adhering to the yes and philosophy, or find a way to shift the situation into another area. One time Shelly, a new player to the workshop, confused by the lack of collaboration she had with Dick in a scene about a fortune teller and client, asked him afterwards what his objective was.  “I was trying to seduce you,” Dick answered incredulously. Surprised, Shelly responded “Oh, is THAT what you were trying to do?  The class erupted in laughter. Dick was confused by the response of the class.  He later speculated that Shelly was clearly a lesbian, which is why she didn’t pick up on his offers.

When I called him out on this after the workshop he referenced a quote from Elaine May; “when in doubt, seduce.”  I referenced the wisdom David Shepherd and Paul Sills shared with me when I studied under them; “when in doubt, focus on the where and activity.” Regarding his casting suggestions for women which were gridlocked in the fifties, I pointed out that Elaine May once did a scene with Mike Nichols about a son telling his mother that he wanted to be a registered nurse, which was freaking hysterical to audiences of that era. Perceptions and approaches change. Dick wasn’t particularly enlightened by that observation.

Elaine May seducing Mike Nichols

  

A pivotal moment in the workshop was when Dick and Jennifer (someone Dick had a crush on) were improvising a scene about a married couple whose relationship was in its death throes. The set-up was that the relationship had gotten so toxic; they could barely stand to be in the same room with each other. That didn’t matter to Dick. Right off the bat, he started mauling Jennifer as she was packing to leave.  I stopped the scene and asked Dick what he was doing, considering the context of the scene.  Dick said he was playing Viola Spolin’s Contact game (players touch whenever they say something)  to elicit an honest emotional reaction from Jennifer.  Her reaction was honest. She was obviously uncomfortable being groped while exclaiming “This is why I want out! You don’t respect me!”

I decided to continue the scene from the moment we left off, with a change; I had Dick and Jennifer switch roles. It empowered Jennifer. Her physicality was clearly an attempt to control and dominate Dick, rather than seduce him and the hostility behind the husband’s actions was clear. However, Dick was receptive to being touched, despite the fact it had been established previously in the scene that the wife was repulsed by her soon to be ex-husband and he quickly segued from revulsion to arousal. I stopped the scene again. “What’s going on here, Dick?  The wife wants out.”  He’s changing my mind,” Dick reasoned, “I think this marriage can be saved.”

So I decided to continue the scene one more time, with another change. I replaced Jennifer with Cliff, who was twice the size of Dick, and had the scene proceed from where we left off.  His hands were all over Dick, who segued quickly from “I think this marriage can be saved” to “what the hell are you doing? I don’t love you anymore!” Cliff was persistent, forcing Dick to use one of Jennifer’s previous lines; “This is why I want out! You don’t respect me!”

I side-coached with one more direction, “switch roles.”  Back in the husband role, Dick acquiesced that the relationship was over, apologized for his behavior, and kept his hands to himself.  Suddenly the scene had more of an atmosphere of authenticity than before. Discussing the scene afterwards, Dick was surprisingly more empathetic to the role of the wife and how the husband refused to respect her boundaries, admitting “Yeah, the husband was being an asshole.”

Did Dick learn anything that day? I hope so. But it provided me with a new four step approach when dealing with harassment and sexism in male/female scenes:

·        Play scene as originally cast.

·        Have the players switch roles and continue scene.

·        Replace the female player with a male player in the same role and continue scene.

·        Discuss the results of switching afterwards. This is paramount.

Ninety percent of the time, the scene becomes more realistic – and maybe, just maybe, the harassing male player has learned something about boundaries, respect and trust.

I’ll check back on this in another fifty years.

In the meantime, enjoy Mike Nichols & Elaine May improvising the scenario of a son telling his Jewish mother he wants to be a registered nurse.

Michael Golding is a writer, director and improv teacher.  He can be contacted for workshops, festivals and private consultations at migaluch@yahoo.com. Michael participated in the evolution of the Improv Olympics & Canadian Improv Games. Artistic director of the Comic Strip Improv Group in N.Y. & created the Insight Theatre Company for Planned Parenthood, Ottawa.  He is a faculty member at El Camino College in Los Angeles, working with at-risk teens and traditional students. He wrote and co-produced the documentary "David Shepherd: A Lifetime of Improvisational Theatre" (available for free on YouTube).  His book, Listen Harder, a collection of essays, curriculum and memorabilia on improvisation and educational theatre, is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and CreateSpace. Michael holds a BFA degree in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts & an MA degree in Educational Theatre from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development.  

David Shepherd's State of Improvisation

Thirty years ago, David Shepherd wrote an essay on the current state of improvisation.  Unfortunately, he didn't work on it further beyond the first draft and it's been nestling in my files since then. I recently took a look at it, and believe that many of the ideas and concepts David brings up are relevant to the current improv scene.  Would love to hear how the improv community feels about this. 

The Improvisational Scene: 1954 – 1984

By David Shepherd

In the 1950s, improvisation was widely successful for the same reasons I was originally attracted to it:

•   Scenarios were fashioned without the meticulous work of the playwright.

•   Players responded relevantly to the taste, mood, or concerns revealed by the audience’s suggestions.

•  Plays were mounted with a minimum of memorization and rehearsal, sustaining freshness and  spontaneity.

(Omar Shapli & David Shepherd at Compass, 1955.)

But by the sixties, because of the success of Nichols and May, Mort Sahl, and others in taming hostile nightclub audiences, improvisation had become a tool for different purposes. 

• The audience challenged performers to improvise the obscene, the outrageous, the unimaginable.

•  Performers began to enjoy “laundering” audience suggestions to make them presentable.

•  Improvisation became tied exclusively to comedy rather than content.

In the seventies, the focus of improvisation shifted from the nightclubs to television.  Rather than offer suggestions, the audience began to consider itself situation comedy writers for the stand-up “comics” improvisational players had become. Rather than take their cues from their own understanding of life, performers improvised what they remembered from soap operas and talk shows. 

(Mike Nichols & Elaine May.)

Now, in the eighties, improvisation seems to be headed down a disastrous path.  Last year, I saw the same “deep political insight” being developed by several improvisation companies, namely, that Ronald Reagan was really dead.  Now that their “corpse” has become president of the United States, I wonder what new insights we can expect from any of the hundreds of improvisational companies though-out the country.

Of course, if you believe in the basics defined by Viola Spolin (as I do), you know the bottom line of improvisation is intuitive, not intellectual.  What we are getting, however, is performers who operate almost exclusively from the head and audiences who hunger for “guts” – the more obscene, absurd, or bizarre the better.

The very success of improvisation on late-night TV has shifted the ideal away from the celebratory cabaret of a Paul Sills to the put-down skills of a Chevy Chase.  Creating the “where” has been replaced by choosing a “what,” from a stock of social pathologies’ promoted by the media.

So, improvisers of the eighties: when you go off to play with your public, keep in mind that the audience has been well-trained thru comedy writing and casting to expect a laugh every eight seconds. (That’s about a thousand gags in a row for two hours)

Audiences of the eighties: understand that many improvisers are not interested in revealing their identities or values, but only in twisting the situation you suggest to work up a routine for their “Saturday Night Live” audition.

We’ve reached a point where improvisation is successful to the extent that it has no similarity to real feelings or real life.  The stage is used to evade rather than explore the details of living in the decade whose fourth year has been so well publicized.

Michael Golding is a writer, director and improv teacher.  He can be contacted for workshops, festivals and private consultations at migaluch@yahoo.com. Michael participated in the evolution of the Improv Olympics & Canadian Improv Games. Artistic director of the Comic Strip Improv Group in N.Y. & created the Insight Theatre Company for Planned Parenthood, Ottawa.  He is a faculty member at El Camino College in Los Angeles, working with at-risk teens and traditional students. His screenplay credits include "Celebrity Pet" for the Disney Channel and the documentary "David Shepherd: A Lifetime of Improvisational Theatre" (available on YouTube).  His book, "Listen Harder" a collection of essays, curriculum and memorabilia on improvisation and educational theatre, is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and CreateSpace. Michael holds a BFA degree in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts & an MA degree in Educational Theatre from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development.