Although every class is its own special snowflake, this night followed what has become a fairly typical pattern.
We had 24 people in class, this time with four brand new to us (welcome Joanna, Leon, Angelique, and Tim) and two additional players who I hadn’t met but attended a workshop in December (hello to Harmon and Sierra). Also, welcome back Angela, who’s been traveling the world for several months.
Our group warm ups were Character Intro, Whoosh-Bang-Pow, and One Word Story. The exercise was Machine, and then we played Changing Count and Irish Drinking Song. We ended with Sound Effects as a rotation.
Also, in addition to general announcements, I’m going to start formally presenting improv concepts: defining terms, discussing rules of thumb, and ways to approach scenes. Tonight I talked about questions and why to avoid them (they don’t add to a scene, but require our partners to add information), and why we try to avoid crazy, drugged, and child characters (because those characters and anything they say can be discounted from what’s happening in a scene). I also like mentioning how you can effectively break these rules of thumb, if you know the reasons behind them.
