This is the moment…
I say this a lot when I’m teaching improv because it is what makes a scene interesting to watch and participate in. This is what it means.
Improv consists of short scenes… even long-form improv consists of relatively short scenes (when compared to one life time). Each short scene is a moment in which players enter the stage and plays out a short snippet of another person’s life. The character you are playing lived before you played them and they’ll live on after you are done with the stage (in most cases).
The key is to make this a pivotal moment in the characters life. If your character has been picked on at school for years… this is the moment they stand up to that. If a husband and wife have been avoiding fighting about something for years, this is the moment that the fight reaches an apex.
An improv scene is not the time for avoidance… take scene themes and dialogue head on and make THIS a powerful moment in your characters life.
Now I get it! I was very confused in class on Wednesday because Jeff told us to be organic and let things naturally unfold. Then he stopped us and said “get there”, I was dumfounded, how can I naturally let a scene unfold but make it “get there” at the same time? It made no sense and I have been struggling all week trying to figure it out. This blog helped me understand, I am supposed to be real, but I am also responsible for making it that pivotal moment in my characters life – I have to get there now. That’s exactly what Jeff said but I didn’t know what he meant…. Thanks for helping me clarify the situation.