What improv forms aren’t free?
I’d be honored to hear if anyone tries these out.
It’s A Catastrophe!
For medium- to large-size teams (probably 6-10 performers). Plays best if everyone is interested in the storytelling possibilities.
SUMMARY: This form begins at its ending, then explores the path the characters took to arrive there. For a movie comparison, see: Fight Club, Sunset Blvd., Pulp Fiction, Citizen Kane, etc.
OPENER: Get a location from the audience. Then, one at a time, the performers join in a giant freeze frame of a climactic moment at that location. Give about 2 seconds for each player to join the frozen scene; most of them should be directly connected to one another, and most of the performers should be able to see one another. No performer should talk or make any sounds.
Finally, once the entire team has joined on stage in their catastrophic image, the last performer up delivers a single line. The line should be very specific and will connect to the scene, but nobody needs to know how at this point. Swipe edit.
SCENE WORK: From here on, any progression of scenes is fair game—provided they all point toward the original catastrophic climax. Players will connect characters with one another, establish motivations, and find games that all lead to the original catastrophic freeze frame moment. Finally, when the set’s time is nearly up, the performers will dramatize the scene that results in the iconic catastrophe. The set’s black out should come shortly after the freeze frame is revisited and resolved; it can be satisfying to make the first line the final line. Or, you may add a short denouement. Either way, you will have ‘made sense’ of the absurd opening image.
The Tarantino
For medium-sized teams (ideally 6 performers). Again, this plays best with a focus on storytelling.
SUMMARY: Three 2-person scenes happen ‘simultaneously’, then conjoin to form one big, climactic scene.
OPENER: Get a location from the audience.
SCENE WORK: The team splits into pairs, and each pair performs a 2-person scene at a different part of the location, knowing they will ultimately need to connect.
To illustrate simultaneity, the performers need to declare the time. The first pair should announce the time when their scene begins, as they take the stage*. i.e., “It’s Sunday, 7:30 AM at the library.” When the subsequent pairs enter, they should also announce the same time. One helpful tip to distinguish these simultaneous scenes is to play them in different parts of the stage. For example, if you’re in a library, one scene may be at the check-out desk, another one is behind the stacks, and another one is at a bike rack outside; on stage, these could be stage right, center stage, and stage left.
*Note: there are more organic ways to express the time, such as a common sound effect repeating at the same ‘time’ (like a rooster crowing), but in our experience the audience was too disoriented and needed the clarity. A more organic approach might be more artful, but I suspect it would be too subtle for audiences who aren’t expecting timey-wimey shenanigans.
Each 2-person scene should heighten to a cliffhanger-like state in roughly 7 minutes, each. Ideally, the endings will naturally result in the 3 different scenes connecting. When the 3rd scene reaches its high point, the other four performers rejoin the stage, and the 3 scenes must now collide. Each of the disparate relationships should have a strong reason to meet, and a strong reaction to meeting.
How long the resulting scene lasts is more a function of your set’s dramatic arc. This is the final scene. Explore the implications of your story and games, make it explosive, then get out.
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Thanks to anyone who read this far. If you have any questions about how either form works, please contact me.
Phil Gross, Game Designer 