David Shepherd's Strategies for Writing Scenarios

A recently discovered  item from David Shepherd's archives, written in 1982.   

A “scenario” is a sequence of events, such as “the scenario for the outbreak of war was different in 1914 from 1939.”

When we write a scenario, we’re creating a sequence of events for a group of players to play. To make real.

Reality in the scenario for World War I includes the assassination of an Arch Duke, Germany’s bid for colonies, etc. Conflicts in real Wheres.

Reality in a scenario we write must be different. Why?  Because on our stage there is no real Where. Only an imagined one.

So for us writing a scenario becomes making Wheres.  Because we can’t show what happens until we provide the context in which it’s happening.

Compass scenario play "Enterprise" (1955)

For instance, a husband and wife arguing becomes a totally different happening when set against different Wheres. If they’re arguing in a baby’s bedroom, it’s happening differently than it would in the bedroom of children who’ve left for college. If the argument takes place in a concentration camp, it’s not the same as an argument on Miami Beach.

How does the writer of scenarios define the Where?

By describing it’s color or shape?  No, because we have no set – except what the player can create through activities, physical response or emotional response.

Notice: words don’t count for much in creating a Where. We describe a Where better by interacting with it than by talking about it.

We can ask the players to interact with a Where by cleaning it, building it, using it, destroying it even, rather than describing it. In fact, we don’t sit around in real life describing our Wheres unless we are interior decorators.

Here are some guidelines for writing a scenario: 

Activity: cooking, playing cards, dancing, laying carpet……

Physical: it’s freezing, there’s a smell of soup cooking, it’s dark……

Emotional: they’re afraid of each other, they love the sun…..

Finally, tell us What Happens by the end of the improvisation.  In other words, tell us what goes into the improvisation at the top, and what comes out at the end.

Don’t tell us what happens in the middle.  Don’t give us a blow-by-blow account. Don’t give us a dozen Exits and Entrances. Don’t write dialogue. All of that is for the players to improvise.

To help the players understand the scenario in your head, make sure we understand the time sequence of the improvisations. For instance, one improv could take place “at midnight on the couple’s tenth anniversary.” Another might take place “two martini’s later” or “twenty years before.”

Think of your scenario as pieces snipped out of time, out of the fabric of our lives together.  It takes only 3-10 such pieces to tell a story.

Remember: Just as a poem or story, your scenario will probably have to be rewritten several times before it expresses your deepest and most dramatic insights.

Scenario sample by David Shepherd

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. 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.

 

Improv Cards by Michael Golding

 

I recently spent a week with David Shepherd, the father of improvisation, to attend his tribute and to work on getting his archives in order.  Since I was staying in a cottage on his property, we had an abundance of quality time together.

David immediately writes down every interesting idea that he hears (“Otherwise you will forget it!”) on 3x5 index cards.  There’s always a stack nearby. Strewn all over his office, you’ll find cards with a phrase, exchange or just a word or two that is designed to open up a plethora of improv possibilities.

One morning over breakfast, we talked about a close mutual friend, who to this day, still mocks me for the amount of preparation I invest in my workshops.  He finds that I put unnecessary pressure on myself. Considering that I’ve been doing this for over thirty years, couldn’t I simply walk into a workshop and conduct it off the top of my head? I suppose I could – but the mere thought makes me shudder.

As David taught me, my plans are written out on 3x5 index cards. Some are detailed, with the plans broken up into warm-ups, technique, formats, closure.  Others, just a series of games to choose from, based on the atmosphere of the group.  On the back of the cards, I also have a plan “B” – just in case my original design isn’t working.   I even have a plan “C.”

The workshop card is either tucked in my back or breast pocket for quick reference.  Students are always curious about the cards.  More so when they try to peek over my shoulder to see what was written, and I shield it from them in mock shock, as if they’ve overstepped a boundary.  Sometimes, while looking over a card, I make it seem like I’m thinking out loud, wondering what to do next; “No, I don’t have the heart to try this today.  Good God, what was I thinking when I wrote this one down?  Okay, this is just flat-out sadism on my part!”   

I also use the index cards for student suggestions – handing them out when I need ideas for themes, phrases, scene ideas, locations, and characters.

Remember, I’ve been doing this for over thirty years.  Unfortunately, I’ve inherited one of David Shepherd’s notable attributes; I can’t throw anything out.

So, I have boxes of 3x5 index cards of workshop plans and student suggestions stashed in a closet in my office.  I don’t know what to do with them.  Make a collage or construct a piece of modern art with them?  Try to find a linear thread for the world’s longest Harold? 

I’ve thought about recycling student suggestions for future workshops with different groups, but that doesn’t feel right.  Every idea should come out of the group you’re presently working with.  It has to be organic.

When my wife and I go grocery shopping, the list is made out on a blank 3x5 index card.  There are always fresh ones lying around.  One time while shopping, I noticed that the list was written on the back of a workshop card.  It was an introductory workshop, something, ironically, I could have done off the top of my head without preparing. Yet, I exploded at my wife.

“How could you write on the back of this card?  This could have been a break-through workshop!”

“Was it?”

“No!  But that’s beside the point!”

Yes, it is a magical adventure to live with the wonder that is me.

Another time, a friend picked up what he thought was a blank index card from my office to write down a recipe for his wife.  Later, his wife noticed what was written on the other side.  In very small print was “Lick my ear,” a line suggested by a student.  It didn’t help my friend that a heart was drawn over the “i.”

Sometimes I fall behind keeping a fresh stack of cards in my office and find myself scrambling when I can’t find a clean one to write on.   Once, out of necessity because I was running late for a workshop, I designed a plan on an 8x10 piece of paper.

It didn’t feel right – and I was off my game for that particular workshop. I needed something that I could just gaze at in my palm quickly, rather than unfold what felt like an ancient scroll to me.  The cards guide me.

As boxes continue being filled with used index cards, I wonder if they’ll eventually end up in my own archives one day – perplexing future generations of improvisers trying to figure out the connection between improv and a grocery list.

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 Designing a Show around Improvisation

David Shepherd wrote this essay in 1979.  At the time, I was in the cast of his latest Compass revival and this was the process we used to develop two shows - "The Big Apple Experience" and "Basic Acts."  I've utilized his template to develop shows successfully with a variety of groups - including comedians, at-risk teens and professional improvisers.

Designing a Show around Improvisation

by David Shepherd

Developing a show around improvisation is for the man off the street to witness, boring. In order to come up with a crisp three minute improvised scene, many hours of improvisation had to go by where numerous alternatives are tried out (characters, time lapses, emotional changes, taking the characters out of the situation portrayed on stage and putting them into another to watch the changes).

Scene sources: Newspapers, experiences that have happened to you that week. Before throwing a scene out every alternative must be explored.  When you have about ten scenes ready the next step is….

-          Pick a theme and try to get the scenes to fit it.

-          Choose scenes that tell a story or a group of short stories that could run one after another.

-          Cluster the fragments and provide strong intros; present them as a catalog.

-          Pick some thread to stick together hi-quality but unrelated scenes.

-          Meditate on the scenes you like until you find the thread that’s common to most.

-          Accentuate or amplify that thread.

 

Instead of throwing out the entire show (after a satisfactory run) and starting fresh, you could start adding different players to the scenes. Eliminate the scenes slowly, replacing them with different ones. Within a month you have a totally different show.

Have a scene outline written out – including beats – keeping the scene fresh and remembered.

Designing a show to include on the spot Improvisations

This should only be done once the company itself has a particular “style” (i.e., characters that are ready to be used, particular “schtick” you may have, and a set format). Montieth and Rand ask for film genres and a theme, and then explore it. Stage Fright uses events from the Improv Olympics.  Caution – unless the audience is filled with theatre people, most audiences like to test actors (sex, vulgarity, etc.).

 

David Shepherd, watching a show being developed.

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. 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. 

Improvising Myths for the Future by Michael Golding

David Shepherd believes that our expectations of the future can be explored through a myth from the past.  These proto-stories, which reside in every one of us, become relevant when improvised by a group and shared with the community.

In early 1981 at Pace University in New York, David developed “Faust in the 21^st Century,” which projected the myth into the future, to explore what use Dr. Faust would make of the Devil’s powers in his relentless search for pleasure and knowledge.  Each scene was a separate improvisation, often based on an Improv Olympics event, such as Time Dash, Space Jump, Emotional Hurdles and Sound Swim.  Players remained in the same character throughout, but they had to create a new “where” each time they walked onstage.

Later that year, in a loft in the South Street Seaport district, David worked with a group of teenagers from the Bronx to discover what Don Juan meant to them. Out of that, sprang  "Donna Juana." Encouraged by two successful experiences, David returned to Chicago to work on his next project, "Jonah Complex," where the part of God was played by his new co-producer, Charna Halpern.  Again, David employed events from the Improv Olympics to explore these myths and performances were frequently shaped by audience suggestions.

Improv Olympics events

When David returned to New York in 1983, he composed several improv manifestos, including one on exploring myths for the future, which I’m sharing here.  He is convinced that any group of committed individuals, whether they are professional improvisation players or not, can develop in detail any myth for the 21^st century.  All they need is a skilled improv coach.

I hope this encourages you to create a myth for the future with your group.

WHICH MYTHS ARE FOR THE FUTURE

By David Shepherd

In the past, myths helped people to understand where they were coming from. But, as Walter Benjamin points out in “Illuminations,” news has preempted the function of story. The 21^st century will arrive any day now, and neither the news media nor Hollywood seems able to prepare us. I see a need for myths today – this time to find out where we are going.

A man is asked by God to warn a city that it will soon be destroyed. The man refuses to carry out this mission until God forces him to confront the leader of the city. Its inhabitant’s reform, but the vengeful prophet continues to look forward to the city’s doom until God finally sends him home.  This is the story of Jonah, a public myth.

A woman believes that her family or the “system” will take care of her and takes steps getting involved in the legal and social structures that support her. When the “system” collapses, she suddenly discovers she has only one real support – herself. This is also the story of Jonah, a private myth.

I believe that myths are not legends about times past but prophecies about our lives today and tomorrow. The beginning and end of the world, transformation, conflict and resolution, the striving for a new level of consciousness – these are all myths for the future, each spotlighting an area in which our culture will either continue into the 21^st century or be transformed.   

David Shepherd (center) in Jonah Complex - Chicago, 1981.

  

Handbook for Faust in the 21st Century

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. 

Improvising over Lunch by Michael Golding

"The development of the games for improvisation are benign.  They are healthy. They are therapeutic. They are what we should all be doing. When you play, you do it with somebody else, which brings you, hopefully, closer to the other person.”  David Shepherd – 1999.

During the late spring of 2010, Willie Wyllie and I made a pilgrimage to David Shepherd’s home in Belchertown, Massachusetts, to attend a celebration of the 10^th anniversary of ACT NOW! in nearby Amherst.  Inspired by David Shepherd’s format MoviExperience, ACT NOW! is a nonprofit organization created by Nancy Fletcher, which builds confidence, leadership, collaboration and character in adolescent girls through the process of developing and shooting an improvised movie.  Included in the celebration, was a preview of two segments from the recently completed documentary, “David Shepherd: A Lifetime of Improvisational Theatre,” directed by Mike Fly, written by me and executive produced by Willie Wyllie.

Willie co-created the Canadian Improv Games (CIG) with Howard Jerome and is the organization’s CEO.  Inspired by David Shepherd’s Improv Olympics, CIG is a nation-wide program involving over 300 high schools and more than 200 volunteers who produce 100 nights of performances featuring 3,000 students. It culminates in a week long festival at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. I have known Willie for over thirty five years, shared many adventures with him, and we are as close as brothers.

Unfortunately, Willie was at the precipice of a new chapter in his life.  As the result of health issues, he had to step down as a partner at one of Canada’s top law firms.  Unable to travel alone, I had to rendezvous with him in Ottawa, so that we could drive down to the states together for the celebration, accompanied by his portable oxygen machine – which turned out to be a great upper body work-out for me.

When I arrived in Ottawa, I expected to find Willie depressed by the change of course his life had taken.  Instead, I found the same old Willie; self-effacing, playful, and sardonic - with a penchant for putting me into situations that test my stamina and mental health.  We kept the conversation light during our long drive, primarily because Willie slept through most of the eight hours it took us to get to Belchertown. Every attempt I made to get into his head regarding his health was tactfully brushed aside as Willie fell back to sleep.  Even a sudden tornado warning, followed by torrential, apocalyptic rain with heavy winds could not rouse him from his slumber.  Bastard. I say that with love.  He was curious when he noticed the impression my hands made gripping the steering wheel and why I kept repeating “This is the Emergency Broadcast system. This is NOT a test. Repeat.  This is NOT a test.”  
  

The celebration was a success. Willie and I were pleased by the enthusiastic reaction the clips from the documentary received.  David Shepherd was in the process of overhauling his latest format, Life-Play and wanted our input.  Created by David, Carman Dewees and Chris Britt, Life-Play was designed as a series of theatre games to be played over the phone.  Several podcasts were produced, utilizing a variety of Life-Play games. Entertaining to listen to, yet David felt something was missing.  The three of us agreed to have lunch together the next day to brainstorm.

That night, Willie and I were up until dawn hammering out different ways to approach Life-Play.  Willie’s sleep cycle is unlike that of us mere mortals.  He can stay up for days, while being perfectly alert and cogent.  This is usually followed by being unconscious for days.  I now refer to this as “Willie’s hibernation cycle.”   By the time rays of sun beamed through the windows of the inn we were sharing, I was begging him to allow me to finally sleep.  He reluctantly acquiesced, then worked on the format for a few more hours.

Refreshed by two and a half hours of sleep, I awoke at 8:30am to discover Willie sitting in a chair with a bowl of cereal on his lap, wondering if I was going to spend the entire day in bed.  As we drove to David’s house to pick him up for lunch, we agreed that if the essence of Life-Play is about exploring one’s life, then the improv coach (known as “the guide” in Life-Play) must gain as much information from a player about their life before commencing.

At a Chinese restaurant in Amherst, David wasted no time cross-examining Willie with questions that have been on my mind from the start of our trip; “Why did you retire?  How do you feel about it? How do you envision your future?”  Willie was honest and open with David.  “I felt that I couldn’t compete, anymore.”  This admission was followed by fifteen minutes of Willie addressing David’s other questions.  I was hanging on his every word.

When it came time to discuss Life-Play, I asked David if we could demonstrate the refinements that Willie and I were talking about, rather than tell him.  Of course, David was up for that.  Turning to Willie, I asked if he was willing to play, with me as his guide.  To my surprise, he said yes.  I decided to start with Repetition Poem, where a player is given an emotion and a repetition line for his poem.  What stuck out to me when Willie was telling David about his situation was how he kept going back to “I couldn’t compete, anymore.”  So, the repetition line I pitched to Willie was “I can’t compete, anymore,” tempered by resignation as his emotion.

By the end of his poem, David and I learned a lot about what led up to Willie’s decision to retire.  Because he was no longer at the top of his game in negotiating and drafting complex legal contracts, Willie felt he was letting his partners, clients and firm down.  On top of that, he felt that he was living on borrowed time. With each breath of “I can’t compete, anymore,” Willie’s defenses dropped incrementally.

Surprisingly, Willie was up for another game – again, with me as his guide.  I chose Zoom Story, where the player is given an opening line as a springboard for a story.  During the course of the story, the guide can direct the player to “zoom in” on object, feeling, environment and action – while continuing the story.  Since Willie’s Repetition Poem ended with him doubting that he would be around much longer, I decided to set the story twenty years in the future.  The opening line I pitched was “I was sitting in my chair.”

By this time, the lunch crowd was gone from the restaurant, and it was just the three of us.  In his Zoom Story, Willie envisioned himself as a withered, infirm man.  His youngest son Joel comes for a visit and Willie is thrilled to see him.  He attempts to get out of the chair to greet him, but his arms can’t support his body.  Joel anticipates this, and rushes over, embracing Willie, so he doesn’t have to struggle. By guiding him through the changes of emotion, object, environment and action, David and I felt Willie’s frustration with his failing limbs, the scent of the chair he spends most of his time in, how his clothes felt on his body, his exaltation upon Joel’s appearance, and the comfort his son’s embrace gave him.  Despite his physical state, Willie was able to revel in the emotions of joy, pride and love.

When Willie finished his Zoom Story, I asked why he chose Joel out of his three children as the one who visits. “Because Joel is mini-me.”  Then, Willie told us a story we never heard before.  Years ago, Willie’s lung capacity dropped to a life-threatening level and he had to be put into an induced coma.  Things went from bad to worse when his physicians couldn’t get him out of it, and a couple of months later, it seemed like Willie would not survive.  His wife, Sandra, was told by the doctors that Willie had only 24 hours or less to live. Two hours later, Sandra found out she was pregnant with Joel.  Miraculously, Willie woke up from his coma after having a dream about attempting to board a train, with the conductor turning him away because “it wasn’t his time.”  Opening his eyes, Willie saw two framed pictures next to his bed.  One was a picture of Sandra with their two children, Bethany and Ben.  The other was a silhouette of a child with the phrase “Coming soon.” In his opiate caused stupor, it took hours for Willie to realize it wasn’t a movie that was coming soon.

My last observation about Willie’s Zoom Story almost became a bone to pick, with me.  “Let me understand something.  You have yourself on death’s doorstep with your Repetition Poem.  I give you hope by adding another twenty years with Zoom Story, and you undercut it by being infirm. What’s up with that?”  Willie counted off his various conditions, which included severe fatigue due to leukemia and severe chronic nerve pain (the result of his near death experience 12 years earlier).   He was being realistic.

Just then, Walt, David’s 74 year old friend dropped by with his wife to say hi.   Walt apologized for missing the impromptu improv cabaret party we had thrown at David’s house the other night, because he was too ill after a chemo treatment.  Willie was surprised by this, because Walt is a strong, vibrant man who appears to be the epitome of good health. “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you need chemo for?”  Smiling, Walt responds “Lung cancer. Twenty years ago my doctors gave me five years.”  Willie is intrigued. “What do you attribute beating the odds to?”  Walt points to his wife. “This woman. No treatment is off the table.  Every once in a while I need chemo, I get sick, then, it’s business as usual.”  Willie didn’t say anything after that, but I knew the wheels were turning. Call it serendipity, coincidence or just plain stupid luck. I am grateful Walt showed up when he did.

As we left the restaurant, Willie admits that was the first time he had improvised in twenty years. “Why did you decide to play, today?”  With a matter of fact tone, Willie replied, “Because I trust you.”  My cell rang as I opened the car door.  It’s my wife, Jody, calling from our home in Los Angeles. She was just in a car accident, the adrenaline rush had worn off and she needed to hear her husband’s voice.  As I comforted Jody, Willie took the car keys out of my hand and opened the back seat door for me.  I slid in; Willie got behind the wheel and David got in the passenger seat next to him.  Off we went.  Apparently, my job as a guide was not done for the day, yet.

Epilogue:  Willie went into a 36 hour hibernation cycle that night, where no force of nature could wake him. I was beside myself with worry. When he finally awoke, he was ready for the next leg of our trip, which was New York – and was wondering why I looked so stressed.  The last thing I said to David before we left was “David, you were there at the beginning of my friendship with Willie, and now you can say you were there at the end as well.”

I could see David laughing in my rear view mirror as we pulled out of his driveway.

Hanging after Act Now! celebration.  Left to right; Howard Jerome, David Shepherd, Michael Golding & Willie Wyllie.

Willie Wyllie, Michael Golding & Nancy Fletcher, founder of Act Now!

Life-Play handbook. 

http://www.slideshare.net/cdewees/life-play-ehandbook

ACT NOW!
http://www.actnow-online.org/

Canadian Improv Games
http://improv.ca 

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 Anthology of Improv Formats

Years ago, a publisher suggested to David Shepherd that he put together an anthology of improv formats that were developed, tested and produced over the decades through his organization, Group Creativity Projects.  David felt that non-professionals should be the target audience.

Shortly after the publication of his book, “That Movie in Your Head” a guide to improvising movies, David recruited me to work with him on the anthology.  Unfortunately, after some initial work, conflicting projects put the anthology on the back burner.

In addition to outlines, interviews, notes and one full chapter, I have David's forward to the anthology in my archive files, which I'm sharing here.  As always, it’s filled with unique Shepherd improv insights.

David Shepherd’s Forward to Format Book - 9/2002

Improvisation has rushed like a tide across the cultural landscape of the United States.  This has happened since I produced the first store front cabaret in Hyde Park, Chicago – 1955.  It was called COMPASS because I wanted to explore how social values evolve generation by generation.  It was improvised because no one we knew could write the material we needed.

100 years ago improv would have attracted serious detractors – those who demanded conformity, who refused to let the point of a scene or the moral of a story be discovered.  After all, they felt, if you want your appendix out, you don’t ask the surgeon to improvise.  Paying customers back then felt that whatever they paid to see on stage or screen, in novel or poetry, should be set.  Some writer should put out some energy to justify charging for a ticket! The pauses and contradictions of real life should not be tolerated on the professional stage.

I believe that everyone can improvise, that people follow improv procedures in their daily lives:

• They relate strongly to their environment.
• They express a feeling of the moment.
• They respond to those around them.
• They choose a goal subconsciously when joining a group of people.
• They work on accommodation, skillfully molding many relationships.

But in fact, a very small percentage of the population conspicuously takes the opportunity to improvise – whether with a comedy troupe, an experimental theatre, a dance group or a musical ensemble. Many feel that improvisation is too silly for them or too forbidding. They like being spectators; they don’t want to be seen because they haven’t put themselves in the hands of a Coach.  And they haven’t explored other jobs – from Sound to Costume, that need to be filled to make an improv performance complete.

Historically the first step in the development of the improv company was to design and manage it well enough so the audience would pay for it, which happened in 1955.  The next step is being taken now: getting the customer onto the stage and making his or her experience good. The third step will be to develop so many improv formats the audience has many choices: night by night they can see a different form of improv – and get involved, if they wish, as story teller, director, tech or player.

Sampling of Shepherd formats.

Imagine having a nearby facility where on Monday nights you can join a musical ensemble and on Tuesday a group that shoots video movies. On Wednesday night you’re free to join a team playing a theatre sport, and Thursday you can guide players performing in front of a video project. Depending on which format is the most popular, Friday is reserved for improvised poetry while Saturday is political satire – all achieved through guidelines and games.

That’s what this book is about: formats you can use in your town to create in the mode that suits you best. They are laid out here in a way that, we hope, makes them accessible to you and your group, be they friends, co-workers or family.  We give you an overview of the format, and then offer you activities that prepare you to master the format.  Since 1974, Group Creativity Projects has been making it possible for non-professional groups to create their own novel, newspaper, cabaret, movie, theme party, performance sport, radio program and interactive TV show.  When couch potatoes want to get off their couches, Group Creativity Projects is there.

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. 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.

Layers by Michael Golding

Frequently, when I do workshops with experienced improvisers, I’m surprised that they don’t take advantage of all the necessary skills for a successful improvisation.  Some books on the market make improv sound more complicated than it really is.  The terminology may change over time, but the skills remains the same; listen, agree, explore where, imbue objects with qualities, be in the moment, be real, support fellow players, be emotionally sincere.  

Page from 1982 Improv Olympic program

Often, I find improvisers in scenes talking about the where, objects and emotions, rather than showing them. For a time, I taught skills workshops, with an emphasis on the aforementioned areas.  Then I hit upon a more interesting approach for myself and students; scene workshops with side-coaching.

A few years ago at the Canadian Improv Games National Festival, I conducted a scene workshop with a group of teenage players from Australia. They were a fascinating group to work with; sardonic, self-effacing, and uninhibited. After a group warm-up, I had them fill out who/what/where scene cards. My only guideline was that the scenes be grounded in reality.  After collecting and reading out the cards we started to put them up on their feet.

The first scene took place in a lifeboat with a boy and girl who had just escaped from a sinking ship.  The first minute of the improv was filled with snappy one-liners, sexual innuendo and a lack of regard for the laws of physics. Entertaining, in a surreal way – but it was time to add on some layers.

My first direction forbids the two from talking.  They can only use non-verbal sounds.  I then had them focus on the lifeboat.  It’s bobbing all over the place because of the harsh ocean and becomes particularly unsteady whenever one of them stands up or tries to move.  Then I had them focus on the temperature – which was frigid. How does that affect your breathing and movement?

The tone of the scene changed instantly and I allowed them to talk.  The conversation was much more realistic.   Using inner monologue, I had them get in touch with what they were feeling at the moment.  Fear and anxiety was at the forefront. Once those feelings were acknowledged, I had them go back into the scene – which now had a more poignant layer.  As the boy operated the oars, I had him focus on the pain in his shoulders, arms, and how the skin on his hands were burning.  Hunger began to overwhelm the two.  I had them focus on that sensation in their stomachs and how to express it in their movements and speech.

In the last thirty seconds of the scene, I had the players focus on an object; a discovered frozen solid chocolate bar. With amazing detail, the boy painstakingly unwrapped the bar, with the girl helping him so he could pull the wrapper completely off.  As the boy broke the bar in half, the girl hungrily licked the inside of the wrapper. They then huddled together, biting down hard on their chocolate bars. The chewing appeared painful and excruciating.  Without any prompting, the players watching provided the ending.  Several made the sound of a horn blowing from a ship, with another yelling out “Ahoy there!”  The two players on the boat looked towards the sound of the ship with hope. Perfect. Scene!

I allowed the players in the workshop to side-coach the next series of scenes, which focused on school, dating, working out, and parenting.  Whenever a scene began to falter, a direction focusing on feeling, objects or exploring the where, got it right back on track.

Then, the group did something unexpected and extraordinary.  They started side-coaching with various games, while still focusing on feeling, objects and the where.  Games that I originally found to be somewhat simplistic now had more vibrancy. The players provided me with another way I could approach side-coaching skills.

My workshop approach has often been described as “old school.”  As I transition from young improv whipper-snapper, to honored elder, I’m okay with that.  My “old school” teachers were David Shepherd and Paul Sills. In the improv community, my mark will never have the same impact, or be as lasting as theirs.  But I’d like to think that whenever I get improvisers to focus on the where, objects and feeling, I’m honoring their legacy, and hopefully providing young improvisers with something “old school” to think about.

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.