I went to the Wednesday night drop-in class tonight. It used to be called the beginner class, but we’re trying to make it interesting to experienced improvisors too. Either way, it’s fun to play with new people, and to try to spot talent in the newbies. Tonight, Colette was teaching for the first time, so I went to support her. Her topic was Giving and Taking Focus, which means making yourself centre of attention and then giving that up to someone else when necessary. It was an interesting class.
I was watching the other students very carefully to pick up on their habits. It helped me decide that the class I’m teaching next week will be about Receiving Offers. The class will be designed to allow improvisors to spot and take advantage of the “offers” being given to them by their scene partners. By offers, I mean things that are said and done to advance the scene. I want to teach that anything can be an offer, even a scene partner who is just standing there doing nothing. The keys skills in accepting offers are listening and being observant. There are lots of very fun exercises that exercise these skills. I’m excited about teaching this topic now. 😀