Week 3 1/2: The Happiest Place on Earth

One of the things I’ve noticed about the improv workshop I’m taking, at ComedySportz, is that after each class, I find myself wishing we had another session the next day so I could take what we worked on and immediately put it to use. With that said, I certainly did not want to wait two weeks between classes. Before I signed up for the workshop, I had booked and paid for a week at Disney World, which is a trip I take each year. But…wanting to stay sharp, I asked instructor Ed Trout for some solo exercises I could do at the happiest place on earth.

One area that I wanted to concentrate on was pantomiming. In the middle of a scene, it’s easy to forget little details. For example…if you’re getting out of an invisible car, you need to remember to take out your invisible keys and shut the invisible door. One of the exercises Ed sent me was to take note of something you’re doing, then remove all the actual objects and pantomime it. At first, this proved challenging. You spend a whole lot of your time at Disney World waiting in line, and pantomiming that isn’t much different than actually doing it. However, as the week went on, there were plenty of opportunities…getting off and on buses, interacting with characters, taking pictures and even the movements of the rides themselves. Admittedly, I didn’t do the pantomime right after the original action…I waited until I was back in the room. Even in a land of talking mice and evil octopi, that comes off as a little weird.

Another suggested activity was to give yourself a character and play it as you interract with someone else who doesn’t know you’re doing it. Now…it has to be believable. My week one character of a southern physicist bodybuilder might have been tough to pull off, even the land of mouse-talking and villianous octopi. But…just adding an accent or something simple like that is certainly doable. It’s a good exercise in keeping to your character…you can’t accidentally drop your accent or else you’ll have a bit of an awkward explanation to give.

The week was good at Disney World…it always is. But…I’m looking forward to getting back to the actual class as well. Improv, like Disney, is a world where talking animals and almost anything else you can think of has a place.

Check back to read this week’s class blog on Thursday 10/6/2011