Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

At improv class on Sunday, we concentrated on establishing the "where" of the platform for a scene, the platform being the "who," "what" and "where." The platform was a concept he introduced last week. Our instructor, Dave, led us through a series of exercises to work on using pantomime to establish where we were and what objects we were using.

One fun exercise was when he had us all imagine interacting with different types of objects, which he described to us.

This was fun because we could actually picture exactly what we were holding, how it felt and how big it was. We started with a wooden peg, then a marble, then a cinder block, which we carried around, even through the mud.

We worked on establishing a place as a group. He gave us a room in the house, and one person would go through and interact with things and then others would interact with something that had been established and then establish something new. We did a kitchen first, which was pretty easy.

Geoff started off by creating a dial for the lights. Someone created a refrigerator and then a sink and a window. I interacted with the lights by dimming them and then got some bread out, which was a little harder to mime, which I didn't realize until I was in the middle of it. But the next person seemed to get it, and she put the bread in the toaster then.

Next we did a living room. I was first this time and established a TV. Lots of people interacted with the TV. One person even sat down and drank some beer cans and then threw them on the floor. Then Fran came in later and freaked out and threw everything away, including the newspaper and the remote control.

Some people found this easier than others. Steve is a natural, and some others did a great job, too. Dave gave us comments after we did the exercise, offering tips on how we might do things to make it more clear what we were interacting with. He said it's important to slow down and to make movements bigger, more exaggerated.

We broke up into pairs. I was paired with Lindsay. We were supposed to pantomime different types of fruit. But this was difficult because he wouldn't let us do the easiest things, which were grapes or a banana. I started with an apple, which I rinsed under the sink and then ate. Lindsay guessed it correctly.

Then she was doing an orange, but the way she held her hands, the orange looked much bigger than it would normally be. Then I did a peach, but that was really hard. Even though she figured out that it was fruit with a pit, she wasn't sure which one. Finally, she did a kiwi, which was really hard to guess, especially because it looked like she was holding something larger.

Dave paired us with a new person, in my case Boris. We were supposed to interact with a setting that Dave gave us. He gave us the gym. Boris started to do bench presses, and I stepped in and spotted him. And then we traded, and I had a lot more trouble, even though I'd removed some of the weights. He had to bail me out.

The next one was harder. We switched to another partner, and I was with Carol. Dave had us go to a Home Depot and get something together. I started by picking up a hammer and tapping it against the wall so she'd have an idea what it was. I handed it to her, and she nodded it was OK. We put it in our cart and walked down the aisle. I expected her to come up with another tool, but instead, she started pulling some sort of heavy box off the shelf. I had no idea what it was supposed to be. Maybe an air conditioner?

When we talked about this one, a number of people seemed to have chosen paint.

We traded one more time, and this time I was with Ricardo. We were supposed to choose a place that only we knew which we would then act out for the rest of the group. I suggested the beach, and Ricardo said OK. When we went up, we both started applying suntan lotion, and then I got his back. Then I gestured for him to put some on my back, which he did. But then he moved down to my legs, and I kind of flinched and stepped away, which was actually not acting, since I didn't expect it. It did, however, get a laugh.

Ricardo sat down and started making a sand castle, and I was going to bring over a bucket to help him, but I guess he thought I was setting a blanket or a towel down on top of his sand castle, and he got upset. This again got a laugh. Then we both lay down on towels next to each other to suntan.

People guessed that it was a beach, although they said at first they weren't sure that if it was a beach or a coed shower. Then Ricardo was joking that we should have done the coed shower. We slapped each other a high five before sitting down.

The most amazing thing about this exercise was that what I considered to be my mistakes turned out to be the things people laughed at. In other words, mistakes are OK in improv, because the audience is on your side. They'll laugh with you.

Now Steve, of course, is a natural at this. He and Fran did a great scene with a rowboat. It started with her dragging it to the water by herself, as he marched next to her. Then she got in, pulled out the oars and he was standing next to her.

I thought at first that he was a personal trainer on the gym or something and she was on a rowing machine, but then he crossed really close to her and went to the front of the boat, and he posed in the bow like he was king of the world, Aguirre, Wrath of God, claiming everything on either side of the river. Everybody laughed.

Dave told them to interact more with their surroundings, and so a leak sprung, and Steve fixed it with some chewing gum while Fran bailed with a really distressed look on her face.

Interestingly, she hurt herself rowing in this scene, and she'd also injured herself earlier at the gym with Carol.

Colleen and Geoff went to a concert, but at first people weren't sure if they were at a concert or a hockey game, because it seemed like they were yelling at the stage instead of rocking out. Then Geoff passed her a doobie and we all knew. When he pulled out a lighter to applaud a song, it was a definite.

Again, Dave gave us all notes. When I told him what happened with the bucket, he suggested carrying it with a handle as if it had some weight. That would make it more obvious what I was carrying.

Lindsay and Ciara went to a pet store and were cooing over all the animals in cages. But Dave told them to interact more, so Lindsay picked up an animal. Then he shouted out, "It escaped!" and then ran all over the pet store. Ciara wryly observed, "Where's that voice coming from?"

Then we broke up into groups for another game, called Arms Control. Anyone who's seen Whose Line is It Anyway? has seen this done, usually with props. This is where one person is the so-called Justifier, putting his or her arms at the side. Another person becomes their arms by putting their arms through from the back. A third person is the Host, who asks the Justifier questions. The Justifier's job is to respond but also justify anything the hands are doing.

I was the arms for Boris, and we were talking about cheese making. That went fairly well, with him talking about how he created this life-sized mold of Michelangelo's David.

Then I was the host for Ciara and Carol, who together were an expert on fortune telling, with Ciara as the Justifier. But since there were three of us, and I sat out once, I didn't get to try being the Justifier.

My turn would come when we paired up and did it for the entire group. Ciara and I went up first, and she played my arms. I was supposed to be an expert in airplane seat adjusting. I was thinking this was going to be terrible, but it worked out well because Ciara had a little fun with the arms.

When he asked me to tell a funny story, the hands started like patting and fondling a chair. I said, "This chair was all fuzzy and oddly shaped. And I said, let's toss it out." She made a tossing motion. Then she started making emphatic downward movements, and I said, "Because this plane sucks. We need some new chairs." Then she tapped my forehead and I said, "That's thinking." Everybody laughed.

Then he asked about a new double decker plane that I'd worked on. Ciara started making a lot of up and down movements, so I said that you could adjust them and then get up and then sit down again and then get up again, and then go downstairs and sit down there and then get up. The arms started moving like a steering wheel. "And then you can drive the plane." That got a good response, too.

I was surprised by how easy it was. It's definitely a case where you both lead and follow. Sometimes I'd initiate an idea, and sometimes she would. We made a good team.

Steve and Colleen really had fun, because she went really crazy with the hands. He was supposed to be an expert in hummingbird nutrition, and he played it like he was sort of a New Age guy. She kept touching his chest and he said, "I get a little worked up."

Dave asked if he needed a tissue, so he mimed giving him one, and he blew his nose. Colleen was making all sorts of gestures, including buttoning and unbuttoning his shirt at one point. He just followed along. Once, he made a funny mistake, saying that he went to "Brazilia" and then quickly added, "which is what the natives call it."

At the end of the interview, he started humming and Colleen held the arms out in a meditation pose. Absolutely hilarious.

While somebody like Steve is a natural at physical humor and characters, Dave said something in class today which I found inspirational. He said that improv is a skill that can be trained and learned. People who are quick witted don't always make great improvisers, and sometimes people you wouldn't consider quick witted do. If you train and work on it, you can learn the techniques.

I definitely know that I tend to be too cerebral, to overthink things. I suppose it comes from being a writer. The funniest things I've ever done and said in my life have flown out without any forethought. As of last week, I've learned to empty my mind before I get onstage, to be Zen about it. I have no idea what's coming, and that tends to lead to better results than overthinking everything I do.

This class was a lot of fun. I'm definitely starting to see where different people's strengths lie, and I can see how some people are becoming much more comfortable. I thought when I first met her that Fran would be the shy type, but she throws herself into everything with enthusiasm. That fearlessness will carry her through.

Steve is great with physical humor, and I find verbal exchanges to be more up my ally. This is funny, because in college in the Monty Python Society, I typically resorted to physical humor and left the verbal antics to my quick-witted friends. It's nice to discover I have some latent abilities.

Ricardo is also fearless and is good with creating a sense of space, but in a much less absurd way than Steve. Colleen is always enthusiastic and playful, which adds to the fun whenever she's involved. Boris is coming out of his shell, and we're really starting to get a feel for his personality, while Carol is still somewhat reserved and possibly overthinking things too much in her lawyerly way.

Ciara is very comfortable on stage, and it shows in everything she does. She also has a wry sense of humor, which comes out in verbal exercises. Lindsay has a really sweet streak to her, and she likes to involve friendly, happy things in her scenes, such as puppies and kittens and friendship. But that means she's also really easy to work with because she's happy to let someone else take the lead.

Geoff, who started out really quiet, is really coming into his own. He definitely seems more comfortable with games that involve action than he did with the verbal ones. Marlene, Lori and Gerry were absent this time, and I think that Dennis might have dropped out, since this was his second time not showing.

As we left, I told Fran that her voice reminds me of Lily Tomlin. She considered this a great compliment, because she loves Lily Tomlin. She's also a Carol Burnett fan, and we talked about how Carol could create a whole character just from her facial expression.

Since we were walking the same direction, we continued our conversation. Then we realized that Lindsay was also walking the same way, and I said hi. When Fran turned off, Lindsay and I continued together, talking about pets. She's taking care of her sister's dog, and I told her about my dog.

She asked me what I thought of the class so far. I told her that I was having a good time, and that my breakthrough was last week when I decided I didn't care if I messed up. I would just let what happened happen. She said, "Well, you're doing good." I told her she was, too. The unexpected compliment was nice to hear.

Then we saw Brokeback Mountain. It was just us and one other couple in the theater, probably because it was Super Bowl Sunday. That was a really powerful movie. It pulls the viewer in all sorts of emotional directions as you experience the confusion Heath Ledger's character feels. He's the sort who bottles up his emotions, and when they come out, they just explode.

I can see now why it's a best picture contender. A lot of conservatives claim it's because Hollywood just loves message movies. But I see this movie as depicting a historical moment, when it was much more dangerous to be openly gay. It's similar to, say, a movie about racism in the Jim Crow South. Having not seen the other movies nominated for best picture, I'll have to reserve judgment, but I think this is a strong contender.

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Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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