All Actors Should Do Improv
2021 marks my 26th year as a professional actor, 19th year in comedy, 17th with a primary focus in Improv.
There are so many reasons to do Improv, regardless of your career path. Because my money comes from corporate team building you will find plenty of blog posts from me and others touting the benefits of creative, presentation and team skills training, as well as empathy and self confidence.
Actors need all that and more.
For me one of the best reasons to do improv is being on stage ALL the time. I am ALWAYS creating. I am always collaborating with other amazingly talented artists. I am always making choices.
When I go to audition for TV FILM, or even get on stage, I don’t have to think about process. I don’t fret about making choices. I don’t fret about being unsure about what the project wants or needs.
Doing improv, and teaching it, allows me to practice my art daily.
And unlike other showcase theater, I get to play amazing rolls EVERY show.
That all being said, I catch my self being lazy. When you do 10–20 shows a week, many for youth audiences, it is easy to just wing it.
Fortunately, thanks to all the training and experience, I can wing and still impress.
However, when I truly focus, dig a little deeper, warm-up physically, vocally and mentally, breathe the way I was trained to breathe, I catch myself making amazing choices.
As a result when I have a script to tackle making choices is second nature, especially when you have just a few words to say, and very little direction for that self tape.
This all being said, I would not waste a lot of time in Improv Classes. This is not an ad for my classes. That’s what my corporate team building blog posts are for. Spend your money learning skills you can’t learn on your own — speech, movement, dance, singing etc.
Join a troupe. Start a troupe with some friends. Start playing in rehearsal and get yourselves stage time somewhere, as often as possible.
If you are a trained actor out of college, you know how to create a character. You know what a play looks like. You know how a story works. Now just get up and do. Get on stage. Have fun.
Do the work. Keep a journal. Before a show/rehearsal, clear your mind and just do. After a show, spend the time reflecting. What worked? What flopped? What was just good enough?
Every time you are on stage, as long as you are not phoning in the performance, you are building your instrument as a performing artist. You are training your body, mind and soul to be an artist, so when you have those “important" moments (the big audition for series regular etc) you don’t have to think. You just do!
Long story short, an accountant, doctor or lawyer spends 40–80 hours a week doing their job.
Want to be a great artist? A working artist?
