New Year, New Habits
Note: This is a reprint of a previous Improv Illusionist newsletter. If you’re not receiving my email newsletter, you can subscribe here and get my “Learning the Improv Illusion” series as a bonus.
Welcome to another issue of the Improv Illusionist Newsletter, a monthly update from me, David Raitt, with a focus on the improv skills of environment, object work, and physicality in character and performance. I’m honoured by your interest.
Happy New Year!
I hope you had a restful holiday season and are excited to get back to improv!
Thanks to all who filled out my Annual Newsletter Survey. It’s still up if you want help shape this newsletter into something even more useful for you each month. (Congratulations to Michael B. of Dearborn, MI, USA who won the book draw!)
Now, let’s dive into 2024…
New Habits to build your improv skills
By now, you’re probably sick of the whole “New Year, New You” thing. But January always inspires thoughts of self-improvement, so it’s worth talking about how you can do that with improv.
One great way to improve yourself in any area is to develop new habits. Of course, habit formation itself can be very challenging. I know, because for each of the habits I’ll list below, I fall off the wagon all the time. But I’ve found that when I work on these regularly, my performance skills get better.
Some helpful improv habits and ways you can build them…
Research
Physical improv is about trying to recreate the real world on stage. Researching real world detail trains your mind to be flexible, so those details come to mind more easily when you’re improvising. This helps you add realism to your environments and object work, and also avoid clichés and boring scene work.
Paying attention to details can be difficult when you’re caught up in doing other things. One thing you can try is to set up a random alarm on your phone. When it goes off every day, whatever you’re doing, take a few moments to study the details of your surroundings and activity. Look around you and observe with all your five senses.
Every so often, pause the TV show or movie you’re watching and study the background. Production teams put a lot of work into making their sets look realistic. See what details they include. (Also look at camera angles or film tricks you might adapt for the stage.)
Journaling
Improv is ephemeral—it disappears from memory almost as soon as you finish. It can be very helpful to write down what you did, not only to preserve good ideas for the future, but also to spot patterns of behaviour to improve or eliminate from your performance.
Make a habit to jot down your thoughts quickly after every show, as soon as you can. Then work on a second habit to review your notes regularly, especially before shows, rehearsals, and classes, and make plans for what you might work on.
In case you missed it, I’ve written a whole guide to getting better through journaling on the website, including a free downloadable template with prompts for your notes. (Share it with your friends!)
Solo practice
Working solo can feel nerdy and awkward, but it’s one of the best ways to improve your object work. And you can work solo anytime to make real gains very quickly. Consider filming yourself so you can see how it looks to others. Remember this is all private practice for yourself. No one else has to see it.
Recall the Muscle Memory exercise from The Improv Illusionist book (or the bonus email series you got in signing up for my newsletter list). When you’re working with real objects, look for little Trouble moves, the micro-adjustments we all make when using objects, like hitching up your belt while pulling on a pair of jeans. These details are subtle but powerful.
The exercise list on the website includes more solo exercises you can play with.
Group practice
The habit here is to regularly schedule rehearsals with your team or company. The more you rehearse with your fellow players, the more you get to know each other and what each of you brings to the work. It enhances your “group mind.”
Try to find at least one day a month when everyone can commit to a few hours’ practice. Have everyone bring a specific thing they want to work on. You can agree on common themes in advance, and have everyone suggest an exercise. (The Things to Try section in this newsletter always has stuff you can work on.)
Failing this, consider taking an improv class, or visiting a local open jam, so you get group time with other improvisers regularly.
All the best for your improv in 2024!
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Want more improv tips for the new year? You can read last year’s email about Improv Intentions.
Things to Try
Exercises, scenes, and practices to work out your physical improv skills.
- Take a “research walk.” Try to involve all your senses, or consider focusing on one of your lesser used ones. Deliberately notice details and reflect on how you might recreate them on stage. You can do this anywhere, indoors or outdoors.
- Set up an improv journal. Write your current thoughts about improv—what you do well and what you think you need to work on. Commit to logging your shows, classes, and rehearsals, and review your notes before the next one. Set objectives for your performance. Even if you don’t get the chance to achieve them, it trains your mind to spot opportunities while performing.
- Solo: Try the Chatterbox exercise. Choose and perform an activity with small objects and very fine detail, for example, needlepoint, painting tiny figurines, building a model airplane. Maintain this activity while you improvise a monologue about anything except the activity. You can pause the activity occasionally, but don’t stop talking. Watch for repetition of movement and try to have a variety of components to the activity. See if you can notice how the energy of your speech can affect your activity, and vice versa. (This is also great for developing characters!)
- If you have a team or company of fellow improvisers, take the lead to book a rehearsal session with your group. Then plan out specifically what you’d like to work on.
More for the Improv Illusionist
The Improv Illusionist book – Preview and order info
Improv Exercises for Physical Skills
Improv Books — Reviews & Recommendations
Improv Podcasts — Reviews & Recommendations
Interesting Improv Links
Improv Nonsense – How To Get Better At Improv
Will Hines writes a great improv newsletter on Substack – I recommend you subscribe. Here’s his take on improving your skills. Note that you can increase “What You Bring” by developing good practice habits. This is fully within your control.
Improv Chronicle – Expert tips and ‘into the shoulds’
Another recommended newsletter on Substack, this one supplementing the Improv Chronicle podcast. In this article, Lloydie notes that the language we use is important, not just for teaching, but also for how we treat ourselves.
Question(s) of the Month
Do you have any regular habits that help you keep your improv skills sharp?
Hit Reply and share. I love to chat with readers, and it gives me ideas for future content to help the whole community.
Do you have any feedback about Improv Illusionist? Send me a message or just reply to this email. Seriously, I read and respond to just about everything.
I’ll be back on February 1st.
Ex nihilo!
— Dave
