Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation (13 page)

This "group mind" is not a phenomenon exclusive to insects and improvisers, though. As
cited in the previous chapter, a football team is at its best when everyone knows what everyone
else is doing, and other groups working closely toward a common goal may also achieve this
state. Still, it is very difficult to describe, and not always achieved.

Many improvisers experience that feeling of amazement that comes from leaving the
stage, saying to their fellow players, "How the hell did we
do
that?!" When they break it down
and
try to analyze it, they discover that the Harold is simply created by the group process —
following each moment, step by step, never forgetting anything. They always accept the ideas
of the other players without judging them to be "good" or "bad," always thinking, "This is now
our
idea."

The ImprovOlympic workshops constantly prove that a group can achieve powers greater
than the individual human mind. Scenes created have turned out to be prophetic, and ESP has
actually occurred on stage. Players are able to speak simultaneously, at a normal rate of speed,
saying the exact same thing, word for word. Some teams became oracles on stage, answering
the great questions of the universe, one word at a time, leaving audiences chilled and
astonished.

Audiences have
witnessed the group mind linking up to a universal intelligence, enabling
them to perform fantastic, sometimes unbelievable feats. It only happens when the group
members are finely attuned to each other, but it almost seems like they are tapping into the
same universal consciousness that enables individuals with special abilities. Somehow, we are
able to connect to it —
and all improvisers know the value of connections!

THE COCKTAIL PARTY

The Cocktail Party is an exercise that allows the actors to experience the process of the
group mind, and makes an
excellent opening game in a Harold. It also teaches players to give
and take focus in group scenes, as well as allowing players to discover levels of meaning and
connections within their work.

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At one time, large group scenes were considered dangerous and difficult to pull off. There
is no reason why a large group of people should have trouble on stage, as long as everyone
knows where thefocus of the scene is. Of course,
the focus can be —
and usually is —
passed
around the stage just as a volleyball is batted around a court.

One of the best ways to teach the give and take of focus is the Cocktail Party game.

The group is broken up into pairs, and told they are couples at a cocktail party. They are
scattered around the stage, so there is some space between each couple. Each pair is given a
number, and when it is called out by an outside director, that couple and their conversation
takes focus.

Each couple is involved in a separate conversation when their number is called, and when
another number is called, the focus is passed to the next couple. All the other couples quietly
listen to the couple who has the focus, although they behave as if they are still involved in
conversation with their partners. Each time a number is called, the last couple speaking gives
up the focus to the next couple.

After one round of discussions, numbers are no longer called out. The players must pass
the focus by themselves. The actors must edit each other every time a thought has been
completed by a couple.

Very quickly, a natural rhythm develops, and the actors pass the focus more and more
rapidly. They can sense when the person speaking is ready to pass the focus, and they learn that
focus can be given, as well as taken.

At the
beginning of the game, the couples' topics of discussion are as different from each
other as possible. This chaos is necessary, so that the group mind can utilize it in interesting
ways. No matter how different the topics are kept at the beginning, they
always connect by the
end of the game, usually in the most unexpected ways.

The discussion topics are like the poles of a teepee. At the bottom, the poles are far apart,
but as they progress upward, they get closer together, until they finally connect at the top. This
principle is often utilized in a Harold as well —
the farther apart the scenes or discussion
topics, the more amazing it is when they finally all connect.

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Since each individual in the Cocktail Party game can hear everything that is being said,
the group mind can commence its takeover. The separate conversations begin to connect on
various levels, and individual ideas are unified into a much larger theme. This is all
accomplished as a result of the group mind.

The following example of a Cocktail Party game was performed by four pairs of
improvisers.

One of the persons in Couple # 1 is discussing his teaching job, and how he is affected by
the banning of books.

Couple #2 is discussing political dealings between the Russian republics and'the U.S.
president.

Couple #3 is commenting on the rescue of trapped whales in the Arctic.

And Couple #4 is talking about mass murderers.

Here are how the conversations advanced:

COUPLE 1: "Book banning in schools is done out of ignorance."
"I agree. Children need to learn about their world. Their learning shouldn't

be censored."

COUPLE 3: "I was happy that people cared to save those whales that were

stuck in the ice."

"It's nice that man has befriended a species for a change, instead of killing

it."

COUPLE 4: "I read a book about mass murderers. It said they believe they

are inevitable products of society."

COUPLE 2: "Glasnost was an important step."

"It's nice to see better relations with the Russians."

COUPLE 3: "It's like a fairy tale come true. Russia and the U.S. coming

together to break the ice and free the whales."

COUPLE 1: "I can't teach
Huckleberry Finn. It's a classic. So now, I have

my class reading
Moby Dick. They don't like it very much."
"Why not?"

"They don't like the idea of wanting revenge on
a whale."

COUPLE 4: "Some kill because they want revenge on people they hate."
"Insane."

"Actually, some are thought to be sane."

COUPLE 3: "If we could only stop killing whales and dolphins. They're so

intelligent."

"Unfortunately,
we
aren't. We save them, but we kill them."

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"It's sick."

COUPLE 1: "Is Ahab too much of a fanatic for your students?"

"No, it's not that. They want gore ... like the senseless violence they get

from
Friday the 13th”

COUPLE 4: "It's hard to follow the logic of someone that crazy."

COUPLE 2: "Just think: peace throughout the world. Now
that's
a fairy

tale."

COUPLE 4: "Society is changing and our criminals are approaching the

norm."

COUPLE 3: "It's criminal. The world is for us, yet we destroy it."

COUPLE 2: "Maybe the next generation will save the world."

COUPLE 1: "This new generation was raised on senseless violence."

COUPLE 3: "I'm all for saving the whales. Let's pray we can save

ourselves."

The conversations all progress and heighten, but the sections of each couples' dialog
become shorter and shorter as the piece grows. We can see a major theme emerge out of the
conversations, one that could not be planned ahead of time. This theme could be explored
further, if the Cocktail Party were used as an opening for a Harold. In the case of this example,
the Harold would focus on the next generation and their responsibilities to the world they have
inherited.

REFLECTION SCENES

This exercise is a series of two-person scenes that reflect the ideas of the entire group.

It begins with two actors starting a scene without any input on the themes or locations.
They must complete a scene that is as rich as possible, both physically and verbally. When this
scene is completed, another two players take the stage. They improvise a totally different
scene, but one that somehow is inspired by something they noticed in the previous scene. It can
be a physical inspiration, or an idea created by the theme developed out of the previous scene.
It can be anything at all, as long as there is something derived from the first scene.

A third scene is then improvised by two players who are inspired by anything they saw in
the previous two scenes, and so on.

This example of a reflection exercise took place in a workshop situation.

Scene one involved a young woman and her domineering parents. The woman was tired
of feeling inferior, so she decided to join the army and "be all that she could be."

The second scene revealed a relationship between two roommates who had been friends
since childhood, a friendship threatened when one of them turned "punk." His new clothes,
earrings, and shaved haircut would be unacceptable at the places the two of them used to visit
together. To solve the problem of not being able to go out together, the punk roommate
transformed his conservative roommate to a punk look that can be used on a temporary basis.

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Scene three took place at a car dealership, where a man wanted to buy a Porsche. The
salesman thought the customer looked too conservative to drive such a flashy car, and wanting
a satisfied customer, tried selling him a car more suitable to his image.

The fourth scene was at a carnival, where two workers were observing people from the
big city, noting the differences ranging from punkers to yuppies. But no matter what the
customers looked like, the carnies put them all into one category —
"marks."

Scene five portrayed a man attempting his first parachute jump. We learned he was in
training for the Air Force, and that this jump was one of the many tests he was facing to
overcome his fears. As the plane increased its altitude, he noticed a carnival below in the
distance.

These scenes all seemed to reflect attitudes about self-
image, and the image that others
perceive. The scenes also connected on a physical level. The punkers seen at the carnival were
obviously the roommates from the second scene, and the carnival itself was the same one seen
from the plane by the reluctant paratrooper. The Air Force scene was inspired by the line from
the first scene, "Be all that you can be."

If this
piece had been an actual Harold, the Air Force trainee would have undoubtedly met
the young woman from the first scene, after she had joined the service.

When doing reflection scenes, the group begins to notice ideas that are constantly being
recycled on many levels. Soon, these totally separate scenes each become a part of a large
group piece, from which a major theme emerges.

Another example of a series of reflection scenes began with a Tai Chi class between a
master and his student. The spiritually heightened master teaches his student how to join him
on the spiritual plane; the scene also has sexual overtones, as both are orgasmic when they
reach the same spiritual plane.

The second scene saw an Eastern Indian cab driver pick up a fare who turns out to be a
New Age crystal salesman. The salesman has a crystal for every ailment, including one for
masculinity and fertility, which seems to be the cab driver's problem.

Scene three was a meeting for singles called the "I'm Sensational Club." A man
approaches a woman saying, "You're
sensational," the mandatory greeting for the club. She
comments on his huge "aura," another sexual overtone. They compare their astrology signs
and spirituality, and can't believe how perfect they are for each other. They discuss being
drawn together spiritually from across the room. At the end of the scene, they are the only two
members who show up for the meeting.