improvarama

When money rules, thieves will prosper. -- doug smith  

What to do: Form two evenly distributed lines of people facing each other. In silence, practice smiling. Small smiles, big smiles, devious smiles, friendly smiles...say nothing, simply smile. Enhancements: If you have a musician, encourage them to improvise quiet music as you all smile. Variation: Practice with hand-mirrors. Hold the mirrors up to your line partner to show them their smile. End scene when: If laughter ensues, let it trickle until everyone is laughing. If laughter does not ensue, someone must initiate it until it does spread. Allow everyone to savor the laughter until it slowly (or suddenly) trickles out. -- doug smith Some thoughts on smiles: The best use of a mirror is to practice your smile. A smile can help your attitude get over itself. Practicing your smile is not only good for you, it's good for everyone around you, too. It's harder to be mad at someone who likes you enough to smile for you. Even a curious smile is better than no smile at all. It's ea...

Improv Prompt Four characters take the stage. The first three have the task of creating a new line of poetry to add to the accumulating lines of poetry until a logical or satisfying conclusion is reached. Make no attempt to make this funny. The fourth person, having heard the first three lines, creates a two line chorus. They will then repeat this chorus each round. "Why not make it funny?" "It might BE funny. The guideline though is to make no ATTEMPT to make it funny. The harder you try NOT to make it funny, the greater potential it has." -- doug smith

Search for any TV listings -- I like to work from an image of a page from TV Guide, but any TV listings will work. Randomly pick the description of one show -- don't cherry pick or look for sensible listings -- the improv challenge is to work with whatever you choose. For added fun, ask someone in the audience to pick and read the description to you, without telling what show it describes. Work with that description AND...GO.

Creativity Generator: Picture Scene Prompt 1. Display the picture 2. Start the scene You can also use this as a Picture This Prompt: 1. Display the picture 2. Write for two minutes inspired by the picture -- doug smith

Sometimes the impulse to run away is exactly right. -- Doug Smith