Improvisation for the Theater

A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques [1963 ed.]

Viola Spolin

• Publisher: Barakaldo Books
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781839744358
• Topic: Medios de comunicación y artes escénicas
• Subtopic: Películas y vídeos

Viola Spolin's improvisational techniques changed the very nature and practice of modern theater. The first two editions of Improvisation for the Theater sold more than 100, 000 copies and inspired actors, directors, teachers, and writers in theater, television, film. These techniques have also influenced the fields of education, mental health, social work, and psychology.—Print ed.

Exercises

The workshop sessions in this section can be used in progressive sequence.

III. Orientation

Orientation must be given to each new student, particularly in the case of lay actors. The first exercise in Exposure and the subsequent exercises of Involvement provide the foundations upon which all following problems are laid.

This chapter contains an outline for five Orientation sessions. It should be noted that the material set up within each session may be covered completely at two or three meetings or may require additional sessions, depending upon the size of the group and their response. The teacher-director would do well to take her time in covering this material, no matter how many sessions this entails.

Orientation Purposes

Orientation is not to be looked upon as a mere introductory or “getting acquainted” process. It is, instead, the first step in creating reality set before the student-actor; and, as such, it has significant value for the beginner. Indeed, student-actors who do not receive a proper Orientation are generally much slower to grasp the subsequent acting problems. This is particularly true when they have missed Exposure. Even highly trained actors benefit from the clarified communication and the definition of terms which the Orientation experience brings them.

1. It establishes the non-acting, problem-solving approach by bringing the first organic awareness of self, object, and environment to the student. It is the first step in removal of the subjective pretend/illusion response.

2. It takes the student over the first steps in relating to Object.

3. It takes the students over the first step in Involvement with Object. It sets the reality of the Object among them.

4. It sets up the technique of theater games and brings fun and spontaneity into the acting exercises.

5. It encourages group agreement and individual participation in making decisions.

6. It establishes group agreement and the necessity of inter-dependent action to solve the problem.

7. It is the first step in breaking the student’s dependency upon the teacher by establishing the teacher as part of the group.

8. It introduces the actors’ responsibilities to the audience and shows them how to include the audience as part of the game.

9. It introduces the audience’s responsibility towards the actors and presents the audience (students and teacher-director alike) as an evaluator, not as a judge; for it removes judgmental words from the evaluation. It eliminates personal interpretations and assumptions which spring from limited frames of reference and shows how to turn evaluation away from the personalities of both the actors and the audience. It creates mutual focus on the problem at hand.

10. It introduces the student-actor to the Point of Concentration and to the need for directed (focused) energy while on stage. “Keep your eye on the ball!”

11. It establishes a working vocabulary between the teacher-director and the student.

12. It induces the student to meet himself and make his first personal physical analysis of his “feelings” (in determining tensions) and reduces his fears of the audience, the activity, and the teacher director.

13. It gives each student the right to his own observations and allows him to select his own material.

14. It sets the tone for the work to follow—adventuring and non-forcing, the awakening of the intuitive.

First Orientation Session

If the following outline is thoroughly understood and absorbed into our reading attitude when going through this handbook, we will have no trouble in making the exercises our own. Simply stated, here are the components which we bear in mind as we go through each exercise:

1. Introduction to the exercise

2. Point of Concentration

3. Side Coaching

4. Example

5. Evaluation

6. Points of Observation

Exposure

Divide the total group into halves. Send one half to stand in a single line across the stage, while the other remains in the audience. Each group—audience and on stage—is to observe the other. Coach: “You look at us. Well look at you.” Those on stage will soon become uncomfortable. Some will giggle and shift from foot to foot; others will freeze in position or try to appear nonchalant. If the audience starts to laugh, stop them. Just keep coaching: “You look at us. We’ll look at you.”

When each person on stage has shown some degree of discomfort, give the group that is standing a task to accomplish. Counting is a useful activity, since it requires focus: tell them to count the floorboards or the seats in the auditorium. They are to keep counting until you tell them to stop, even if they have to count the same things over. Keep them counting until their discomfort is gone and they show bodily relaxation. Then their bodies have a natural look, although at first they continue to show signs of years of held muscles.

When the initial discomfort has disappeared and they have become absorbed in what they are doing, reverse the groups: the audience is now on stage, and the actors have become the audience. Handle the second group just as you did the first. Do not tell them that you will give them anything to do. The direction to count (or whatever is useful) should be given only after they too have become uncomfortable.

Exposure Group Evaluation

When both groups have been on stage, instruct all the students to return to the audience. Now question the whole group about the experience they have just had. Be careful not to put words into their mouths. Let them discover for themselves how they felt. Discuss each part of the exercise separately.

How did you feel when you were first standing on stage?

There will be few answers at first. Some might say, “I felt self-conscious” or “I wondered why you had us standing there,” Such answers are generalities which indicate the student’s resistance to the exposure he has just experienced. Try to break down the resistance. For instance, ask the audience:

How did the actors look when they first stood on stage?

The members of the audience will be quick to respond, since they will readily forget that they also were “the actors” themselves. Although they may also use generalities, they will speak up more freely when talking about the others.

Encourage the actors to describe their physical responses to their first experience on stage. It is far easier for them to say “The calves of my legs were tight” or “My hands felt bloated” or “I felt out of breath” or “I felt tired” than it is to admit “I was afraid.” But you may not get even this physical description until you ask directly:

How did your stomach feel?

When these physical descriptions are flowing freely, then allow all the students to speak up in as much detail as they wish. You will find that the student who previously covered up and insisted he was comfortable when first standing on stage will suddenly remember that his lips were dry or the palms of his hands were moist. Indeed, as their concern about self-exposure subsides, they will speak about their muscular tensions almost with relief. There will always be a few who will remain resistant; but they will be influenced by the group’s freedom in time and should not be singled out at the beginning.

Keep the discussion brief and on a group level. Steer them away from emotional responses and generalities. If a student says, “I felt self-conscious,” just reply; “I don’t know what you mean—how did your shoulders feel?”

When the first part of the exercise has been fully discussed, then move on to the second part.

How did you feel when you were counting the boards?

Be careful not to refer to it as “when you had something to do.” Let this realization come to each student in his own way, particularly when working with lay actors and children. (Presumably, all professional actors already know that “something to do” on stage is what we seek. This “something to do” allows the player to receive the environment.)

What about the flut...