Demolishing the Internal Editor - Verbal Commitment

[Improviser's Delight]

I'm doing some coaching this weekend and trying to brainstorm exercises on getting folks out of their heads. Specifically destroying the internal editor that judges what's happening in a negative light. I'm especially interested in commitment in the verbal sphere, so folks can speak spontaneously and uninterruptedly without tripping themselves up.

Anyone have any exercises or strategies for this beyong the typical "yes and" technique?

Thanks,
Vinnie

[Bryan Cohen]

Off the top of my head...ha...

- Looking at objects and saying the names of different objects
- Singing in scenes
- Speaking in verse in scenes

Practice all these until you get to the point of being able to do them very quickly.

[Erdaron]

One-word story is decent, since the actual story is out of anyone's control.

One strategy is to put them into a pace that is too fast for thinking - high energy warmups, quickly edited scenes. A sort of barrage that simply overwhelms the internal censor. (There is a further level to this - adding physical stress to rehearsal. Mental disorientation combined with exhaustion can take you to very interesting, if disturbing places.)

Side-coaching can also be very good. You can often tell when someone had an idea and then edited themselves before letting it verbalize. You have to immediately call them on it and get them to say it. Even the simple explore/heigten kind of sidecoaching can coax a lot more out of people.

Cheers!

[stonelake]

I'm a fan of the warmup where someone (person A) pantomimes an action, something easily recognizable. Like "digging a hole". The next person in line (person B) asks them "what are you doing?" Person A responds with some activity other than what they're doing. Person B then pantomimes the activity that Person A named, and we move along the row/circle.

Man I bollixed that up.

Person A (mimes digging a hole)
Person B: "What are you doing?"
Person A: "Raping a Penguin."
Person B (mimes raping a penguin)
Person C: "What are you doing?"
Person B: "Mixing an Old-Fashioned."
etc.

It's interesting to break the link between the action and its name, it puts the mind in a space to accept unusual choices.

[Hendo]

One-line scenes. You can only respond with ONE LINE.

It keeps the story-telling out of the scene and keeps the improvisors connected with each other.