Santa Barbara Improv Workshop

Hmm, another interesting exercise from Bill Arnett at I.O. I really like the way he deconstructs improv and gets to nice little nuggets of improv insight.

In his short article, he talks about the tendency to overly focus on coming up with a funny line, rather than staying true to the character we are creating. The lines and actions of our characters are what define them to the audience and they should come from the context of the character. To work on this, his exercise is to ask a player to name 6 things a character might say given their job or relationship. What are 6 things a mother would say? An elementary school teacher? And be specific. Don’t give a line that someone from ANY profession would say.

Plan on seeing something based on this next Wednesday…