improvarama

The best place to wait for inspiration is in a place where it is certain to show up. Where is that for you? Onstage? Backstage? Greenroom? Workplace? Library? Laboratory? How about this -- wherever you are, bring your inspiration with you. -- doug smith

How's your creative impulse? Do you roll with it, or resist it? Do you chase it, or embrace it? If you don't trust the creative impulse it might stop trusting you. Where will you be then? Trust your creative impulse. -- doug smith  

Do something creative  every day and feel how much wonder comes your way. -- doug smith

  This is a visualizer. Practice your vision, provoke your creativity, delight your senses by staring at this with clear, fresh eyes. Let the visualizer see you as you see it. Relax. Breathe. Take your time in allowing a story to form.  The image will speak to you when you take your time, and it may tell a different story each time you look at it.  I'll share many of these visualizers, frozen moments in time in a universe that never freezes that honors only constant motion. Artists sometimes (you, and I) take that motion and freeze it long enough to glean some meaning, some spark of wonder, some fabulous fable of life. -- doug smith

  out of order all awry start to laugh ache to cry waves of drama surrounding us broken dreams rusted trust. DEBRIEF: What scene occurs to you? Does this spark drama? Do you feel comedy? Is it a musical? Give it time. Give your creativity time. Commit.

  We make ego into a bad word but try excelling without it. That tension between control and out-of-control? That's magic! -- doug smith

When we learn to improvise we dramatically increase and improve our possibilities -- not just in improv, but also in everything we do. -- doug smith  

Maybe it's not a paradox. Maybe it just feels counter-intuitive. Still, it seems to be true: To get more done, practice creating times when you get nothing done. Schedule down-town. Focus on not focusing. Let your mind wander and explore. Creative artists know that this works. It might feel disorienting at first, yet it does work. To get more done, sometimes you've got to do less. -- doug smith  

  Two workers install a box. A third person objects to the way that it is being installed. They cannot agree on the purpose of the box or the way it is being configured. RAISE THE STAKES: The box begins making noise. The box begins smoking. The box begins ticking. Animal sounds emanate from the box.

  What Do You Make of This? Does Bernie want you to draw? Would you rather write a poem? I think Bernie is about to sing. Do you?

  The less creative you feel the closer you are to feeling creative again. Creativity is waiting...let it in. -- doug smith

Assignment: Create a work of art, in any medium (such as an acting scene, a song, a collage, a drawing, a poem -- you get the idea) based on this quote: The only limits to love are the limits we impose from fear. -- doug smith

  The imagination likes to dare you to go deeper. Go ahead, but buckle-up. -- doug smith

Lust lives with despair. Passion falls to circumstance. Love seeks to understand but it does not despair when it does not. -- doug smith

  Improv Activity: Draw a map. Pay no attention to accuracy, simply represent some area with your own original map. Write three lines describing your map. Next Level: Improvise a scene based on your map, or, write a short piece (poem, story, description) based on your map. Materials Needed: Paper and pen or something else to construct your map.

Challenges? Of course! Problems? Everywhere! Improvisation gives you and advantage: you can think on your feet in the moment, fearlessly. Creativity gives you an edge -- what you try that doesn't fly shows you a better way to get by. Don't stop creating until you stop breathing.  Don't stop improvising until you die. Keep the fun alive. -- doug smith  

It's awkward to experience a creative block when you need to create on the spot. It feels like driving an old country winding road on a dark night when your headlights suddenly go out. Not fun. Scary, even.  Ah, but sometimes creativity feels like that. Sometimes improvisation feels less than automatic. Should we keep driving, or stop in our tracks? Maybe coast? What drives you, what guides you is still there. As long as we put in the hours and work the practice, our practice will kick in and get us going. Don't knock the blocks, they are there to build on. Creative break-thru come after creative blocks. And -- those creative break-thru are sweet indeed. -- doug smith  

Find the place where you are the most creative and spend much more time there. -- doug smith

What bothers you can also make you more creative.  It's a push (and sometimes a shove)! It's a moment of inspiration! It's a call to do something...new. WRITING PROMPT: Think about something that you find utterly aggravating. Now, write for two minutes on what to do about that. -- doug smith  

 Some people sing fantastically. Some people do not think that they can sing at all. If you have a voice, you can sing. If you allow yourself to find that voice and sing from your heart (and from your toes) it will not matter that you do not sound like someone else you'd consider a great singer. You sound like yourself. You sound great. Can you improve? Of course! Should you ever stop singing? No! What could be a faster path to creativity than singing? No one else can sing your song for you. Sing! -- doug smith