May 1st, 2007

Calm and pace

Calm in the game, avoid long-windedness.
Pace in the game, avoid letting it get hectic.

May 2th, 2007

Humor

Regardless of whether an improv theater troupe has opted for comedy or for more serious performances, German troupes tend to lack a necessary bit of humor in both cases. As a member of the audience, I prefer not to be beaten about the head with either comedy or drama. The actors shouldn’t take themselves too seriously. They should take it seriously but shouldn't be too pig-headed about the whole thing; they should be able to laugh at themselves, but shouldn’t act like they’re performing at a carnival.

May 3th,.2007

Warm-Up

One of the things I pay the most attention to during classes (and also when I’m warming up on my own before performances) is: am I tired, or am I more jittery/fidgety? I’ve often noticed the opposite tendency among my fellow actors: they prefer action-heavy games when they’re already hyped up, which makes the performances rather muddled and crazy. They prefer quieter concentration exercises when they are more tired and worn out – this sometimes makes the shows a bit lame.
The important thing is to find a balance.

May 5th, 2007

Funny Learning Games

Johnstone’s best games are foolproof – this means that they work without requiring a good teacher. Other games and exercises sometimes need a certain amount of skilled introduction, or at the very least, a positive prevailing mood to which the teacher has to contribute.

May 7th, 2007

Free Play - Sports

Stephen Nachmanovitch mentions the importance of free play for sports only in passing. Creative thinking is essential in certain kinds of martial arts (fencing, boxing) or ball sports (basketball, soccer), which focus more on quick reaction and reflexes rather than long-term physical training (swimming).
Every soccer player should read this book.

May 8th, 2007

Large casts

Advantages:

·         Greater diversity of personalities and inspiration

·         Greater diversity of artistic backgrounds

·         Division of labor

Traps:

·         Need for coordination

·         Tendency to reduce new ideas for the sake of consensus

·         Greater diversity also entails the need to repeatedly discuss and agree upon what the group wants to achieve together.

·         Internal hierarchies always arise

May 10th, 2007

Exhaustion

Peculiar methods that directors use to drive their actors to edge of physical and emotional exhaustion in order to draw a better performance out of them:
“On the waterfront” – the characters weren’t the only ones who were always cold: the actors, especially Brando, were constantly freezing.
"The Godfather" – the scene in the Italian restaurant was filmed over and over again, until Al Pacino was as nervous as Copolla wanted him.
"The Blair Witch Project" – the actors were left in the dark as to procedure and effects, there was no supervision and no direction, and they were left fewer and fewer food rations throughout the course of shooting.

May 18th, 2007

Ignorance as an inspiration

"For a musician, Mecklenburg is an almost ideal place, because the people there are not musical. Fantastic! We must overcome the gray.”
(Hanns Eisler at the Founding Conference of the Regional Association Mecklenburg, part of the Association of German Composers and Musicologists in the Cultural Association for the Democratic Modernization of Germany, September 9th/10th 1951).

Of course, this means that when you're speaking to an "unspoiled" audience, you have to forgo the use of inherently modern quotations, because the audience simply won't understand them. You are in a 1:1 ratio with the audience, there’s no turning back, and nowhere to hide. You essentially have to be as direct as if you were dealing with children.

May 20th, 2007

Teaching improv

The most important role of an improv teacher is not to teach structures, but to open the students’ minds to creativity.

May 21st, 2007

Maturation and basketball

"We learn that which we do not concentrate on."
(Stephen Nachmanovitch on Ripening in "Free Play. Improvisation in Life and Art”)
Similarly, a recent study suggested that athletes – e.g. basketball players and (to a certain extent) high jumpers – can effectively practice the motions of their respective sports in their heads, as long as they have physically practiced beforehand. Basketball players were set the task of shooting from an unfamiliar angle with their non-dominant hand; they were then to repeat the motion over and over in their heads that evening. The next day, they were generally able to perform the task better than they could directly after practice the previous day; they also performed better than the control group, who had not practiced the motion in their heads.

May 22nd, 2007

Death and patience

A problem that Stephen Nachmanovitch seems to have managed to avoid is that time is a limitation that sets limitations on transcendence. I can have patience and trust that I need to practice, that I need to be patient, that I need time for inner development, that I need more experience. But at some point, the Reaper comes for you, and the only creative experience you have then is your practiced inability to play the flute.
But death isn’t the only thing that sets limitations in life – old age also brings with it a decrease in strength, and maybe the clarity of a younger person’s voice is sometimes more desirable on stage. People want more than to just read mature poetry, to hear mature voices, to see mature actors - we also need the boisterousness of youth.

May 28th, 2007

Movement

Almost every internal block (especially verbal ones) can be overcome by moving – and it’s best to do it in a way you wouldn’t expect.

May 29th, 2007

Love of Playing

If you are afraid of playing, improvisation is useless – relying on “storytelling,” “singing in tune,” or other similar techniques won’t help if your underlying mindset is fear. Until I love playing and love to let others join the game, I am not free.

English version (excerpts)

2007

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