PSRImprovDirectingWorkshop03.04.04

Directing Workshop

3.4.04

On March 4th, Sean ran a short workshop on directing.

Theory

• What does a director do?

  1. Scene Management

     • Set up scenes for the performers

       • Try to make setups that delight the players
     • Recognize what is missing from the scene

     • Keep performers from making stupid mistakes 1

       • Blocking: denying the reality of an offer.
       • Cancelling: accepting an offer only to immediately destroy it or deny its importance.
       • Wimping: reluctance or refusal to make clear endowments in a scene.
       • Waffling: reluctance or refusal to take decisive action in a scene.
       • Bridging: wasting time working your way towards a known event in the future.
     • Ensure that there is a proper narrative, with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
     • Try to keep the scenes cohesive, getting as much mileage as possible out of a finite number of offers.

  2. Show Management

     • Sometimes you have hosting duties.

     • Guiding 'Shape of Show,' which includes...

       • Variety: constantly vary the characteristics of scenes, including:

         • Length
         • Energy
         • Number of performers
         • Easy/Difficult to play
         • Narrative vs. Game-iness

       • Arc: An improv show should change over time from the beginning to the end, including:

         • Things run more smoothly as the show goes on.
         • Broader and more game-y at the start; more focused and narrative-like at the end.

• How does a director do it?

  • Perform scene setups

    • Make sure you thoroughly explain your setup, if only so the audience understands it.
    • Be clear and concise.
    • In some cases, keep some of the information to yourself.

  • Give the performers side-coaching.

    • Frequently, use purely physical commands ("Stand up." "Sit down." "Set yourself on fire.") This is especially useful when...

      • A scene is turning into "Talking Heads."
      • The scene is utterly stalled and something needs to happen
    • Often it's useful to give the performer the exact line (or fraction of a line) you want them to say.
    • Be as concrete as possible -- instead of "You're surprised," say "Your jaw drops." Instead of "Find an objective," say "Your next line will start with 'I want you to....'"

    • Force players to make the most significant choices for their characters.

      • Put another way, make it so that the existing offers have as much impact on the characters as possible.
    • Look for chances to reincorporate existing material.

Exercises

1. Guided Visualization

   • Purpose:

     • This teaches us how to guide a performer through a story without steamrolling them.
     • We learn to gently 'nudge' things along so that the performer can explore his/her own imagination.

   • Algorithm:

     • Pair up.
     • In each pair, one person lies down with eyes closed; the other sits close by.
     • The lying-down person (LDP) imagines a location.
     • The sitting person (SP) asks questions about what the LDP is imagining.
     • Ideally, the SP will ask slightly leading questions that 'nudge' the LDP through a narrative.
     • It is important not to force the LDP into anything that doesn't interest them.

     • Frequently, open-ended questions are useful.

       • However, even open-ended questions can be somewhat leading, which is useful for guiding the LDP through narrative (e. g. "Do you see any other people there?" or "Can you open the door and see what's on the other side?")
     • After a few minutes of this, the LDP and SP switch roles.

2. "What Comes Next?" -- Rejection Variation

   • Purpose:

     • Usually, this is an exercise for practicing narrative in the broadest possible strokes.

       • (Eventually, one progresses to just doing "What comes next?" in both roles on one's own.)
     • In this case, it's also good for learning to provide players with the things they want in a scene.

   • Algorithm:

     • Pair up.
     • One person gets up on stage (UOS), and the other sits by the stage (SBTS).
     • The UOS asks "What comes first?"

     • The SBTS responds by describing an action.

       • Make sure to keep it to just one action.

       • The UOS can reject this action by saying "No."

         • Be sure that the UOS says 'No' in an easygoing and friendly way.

       • The UOS performs that action.

         • And nothing else.

       • The UOS asks "What comes next?"

         • Then we loop back to two steps before this.

       • Eventually, the SBTS suggests the action "Lights down."

         • If this action is accepted, this is where the exercise ends.

3. Directed Directing

   • Purpose:

     • Practice directing in a failure-tolerant environment.

   • Algorithm:

     • Someone has to run this exercise -- for ease of description, we'll call that person "Sean."
     • Sean asks for scene setups.
     • Everyone else starts saying whatever scene setups come to mind.
     • Eventually, one of the setups strikes Sean as interesting, and the person who suggested it becomes the director for the moment, and they take a seat by the stage.
     • They ask for the number of players they want.
     • They describe their setup in such a way that a Micetro audience would understand it.
     • They direct the scene.
     • If the scene starts tanking, Sean freezes the action and advises the director accordingly.

Footnotes

1 Of course, Johnstone describes this as 'being afraid to make the right improv decisions.' I think this is a contributing factor to making stupid mistakes, but I never wholly ascribe to fear what can be adequately explained by stupidity. See On the Teaching of Improv for further rants of this nature.