Evento

Dummy 'Character and Groupwork' with Colleen Doyle

Often when improvisers think of 'character', they think of broad physical and vocal choices. In pursuit of playing interesting or funny characters on stage, we sacrifice all the things that are true of ourselves; the combination of opinions, experiences, and foibles that make us us. Also, when we play too big it often puts us in our head and makes scenework more difficult. We put ourselves in the position of having to invent how this broad character should react instead of reacting as a human being; these characters can be so big that it's difficult for your scene partner to get you to react and play with them in the moment. The reality is you yourself are interesting and compelling to an audience. We will focus on creating characters from a more organic, realistic place; it's you with a twist. The second half of this workshop will focus on groupwork. How do we tackle this element of longform to make something cohesive and satisfying with so many people on stage? We will approach openings, group games, and group scenes from a variety of angles to get us ever closer to creating 'group mind': building ideas and themes, recognizing patterns as well as opportunities in our "mistakes", and following the fun. We'll practice hyper-listening to insure that every voice is heard and every move is seen. You'll be encouraged to drop your judgmental 'edit' brain and embrace the idea that the best idea is the one that's happening right now.