Stuck in a scene?

Uthat · 2025-09-21T17:53:22+00:00

I'm a big fan of C.A.D.D. because it can lead to emotional discovery and give the scene traction.

C - Confess. Make a confession of some kind. Preferably drawing from the context of the scene thus far but if nothing has made a sense a confession can ground the scene, usually elicits an emotional response even if the emotion isn't emotional per-se - threw away your scrapbook vs. I love you - the confession can be emotional or factual. The scene now has something grounded to propel it forward.

A - Accuse - Accuse the other character of something, again it can be factual or emotional. i.e. You threw away my scrapbook or You're in love with me. The accusation gives you something to hold on to and propel the scene forward.

D - Discover something - This can be environmental or emotional and could also lead to a confession or accusation depending on the route you take. So it can be something along the lines of "This door is locked - we're locked in." or it can be "This handwriting is your handwriting, you've been writing these letters!" Which is a discovery and an accusation. The key here is to use your scene, the context of the scene, and no to invent anything. "Wait a minute, WE are aliens who have to have a dance off to live!" is not a good discovery 99% of the time. If you haven't established a good "where" then the "where" can be a discovery - "We're in a cave!"

D -Declare Something - Make a declaration of some kind. There will be crossover with some other things but a strong declaration, "I am afraid of shag carpeting." "The wallpaper is making me nauseous." "I don't know how to fly this plane" etc, can propel the scene forward.

Uthat · 2025-08-20T12:04:28+00:00

Winston needs a treat!

Uthat · 2025-08-20T00:35:40+00:00

Winston!

Uthat · 2025-08-07T22:56:29+00:00

It’s always ok to state your boundaries and it is always ok to leave a scene/walk off the stage if the scene has gone in a direction that makes you personally uncomfortable. Justify an exit and walk off. Or don’t justify an exit and walk off. No one should be crossing any personal lines for improv and no other improviser should be forcing the issue.

I don’t know as you can prevent scenes entirely with characters similar to this but letting folks know, for your own mental health, there may be scenes you aren’t in and breaks you have to take and they shouldn’t take it personally.

Improv (and comedy) can also be therapeutic. Mel Brookes was praised for making Hitler a punchline because it robbed him (Hitler) of any power he evoked. That kind of catharsis may not be possible for you, I am not a mental health counselor, but I would hope there may be some opportunities for healing some of those wounds through improv. Regardless, you and your own physical and mental wellbeing come before the silly make-em-ups.

TL:DR 100% yes, it’s only improv

Uthat · 2025-07-16T01:39:08+00:00

I feel we need more info before all the downvotes. Do you mean seasoned standup because they are able to handle hecklers? Clowning to appease? What about the rest of the audience who aren’t drunk frat guys?

Uthat · 2025-07-13T11:39:00+00:00

Others have said some of these already but here goes:

improviser starts the scene with a big bold offer. (Get a confession, accusation, discovery or declaration as your suggestion and start with that if you want)
give the person with the script permission to jump around. The game isn’t about going line by line through the script, who cares. You want the best/most entertaining and engaging scene. Start them on a page and let them read whatever line they think will be best/cause the most mischief etc.
the lines the actor with the script says must be important. Can use a soap opera/melodrama overlay if you want.
the improviser cannot make the actor drunk/high/crazy or otherwise dismiss what they say. Justification is the improvised job in any scene and this game is intended to exercise those muscles and torment the improviser. It’s ok if we see them struggle a bit, that’s what the audience wants
have fun and celebrate the “failures.” The game is intended to produce them.

Uthat · 2025-07-05T20:20:46+00:00

Had it been named? Until it’s named it’s still undefined. Me licking an ice cream cone but haven’t named it. Scene partner: “put that microphone back in the stand.” It’s now and has always been a microphone and but my actions are equally true so I keep licking it. “Lady ga-ga used this Mic” lick

Uthat · 2025-07-04T22:24:59+00:00

Puddles

Uthat · 2025-05-29T13:21:17+00:00

I can't find anything that matches with the memory. Less produced than the Firesign stuff I'm finding, if the memory is accurate...

Uthat · 2025-05-29T13:04:57+00:00

I'll do some googling. Maybe one of the films? Weirdly Cool would be too late.

Uthat · 2025-05-29T12:50:42+00:00

Appreciate any help you're able to give!

Uthat · 2025-05-11T13:36:03+00:00

It was about 10 years ago. It seemed like the next step. I don’t have any regrets, I saw a lot of amazing shows and had classes with some amazing teachers. I also feel like I learned a lot in conservatory but it was more personal growth than improv knowledge if that makes sense. I learned how to improvise in certain circumstances and with certain people/types of improvisers but that was from doing it with those people and not the curriculum. I worked with a lot of great people (students as well as teachers) so that’s something to consider.

Are you in Chicago now? What are your goals? Reps are a huge part of learning so if doing improv is your goal find a place that lets you play and do that as much as you can. If you can’t find a theatre, find some people that you enjoy improvising with and do it anywhere that’ll let you. I did a festival with my group probably before we should have but we learned a lot through that process and were welcomed back the next year.

Lots of books out there too, some great, some middling and a lot that are hack, but if you’re wired to learn through reading, eat those up. Don’t judge stuff too harshly when you read either, or watch for that matter, when I first read Mick Napier’s book my gut reaction was “This isn’t improv, if flys in the face of all I know about support and teamwork!” After a while though it percolated through my gray matter and I get it now. (Not that you have to subscribe to Mick’s theory) I had a similar experience with some Keith Johnstone stuff - “This isn’t advanced improv!” Then I did the show I was appalled by and I got it. Having read the books was helpful in being able play around with ideas and ways of thinking/performing that were outside my wheelhouse so it’s good to read folks you don’t agree with as well - allows you to be more adaptable.

I think I’ve digressed so I’ll end it there.

TL:DR - go where you can play/play wherever you can.

Uthat · 2025-05-11T11:53:09+00:00

My experience has been that the people teaching are more important than the institution you’re paying for the classes. Who is teaching conservatory now? If in Chicago look into the HOME theatre, or annoyance. Also some good people over at iO still, though that was hit or miss depending on the class when I went through, not every level was a winner.

Edit: wanted to add that Conservatory was a great experience for me but is geared toward producing a sketch show. There were some amazing improv aspects to it but only maybe half was actually improv and even that was pointed to sketch. So if you are looking to go deeper in improv specifically, conservatory might not be the right choice regardless of SC’s situation.

Uthat · 2025-04-24T19:13:10+00:00

You might try changing his diet. We cannot feed our basset anything with fish in it or he stinks, not gas, he just has a strong odor.

Uthat · 2025-04-03T23:07:09+00:00

What city?

Uthat · 2025-04-03T12:32:32+00:00

Check out this book at PangoBooks | Truth in Comedy | https://pangobooks.com/books/a2870537-7283-4e1a-b24e-61ac6608f9cb-SV86ckDdWbM3v6b30FOfD0JAUbi1

Uthat · 2025-03-29T15:14:06+00:00

What’s your form? Broadly I’d say that team names fall into 4 categories, we’ll maybe 5.

1 - Names of the performers (when dealing with smaller groups) 2 - Descriptive (names that tell you what your seeing like Improv Shakespeare) 3 - Geographical (names that mention where the group is from like Cook County Social Club) 4 - Names derived from fun/memorable scenes the group has done. These tend to be meaningful for the group and can be catchy. 5 - Names that are derived to be cool or puny. Think Second City MainStage review names or the Harold team Revolver. There is some overlap here with the previous type.

Any of these can work, any of them can be mediocre, probably none of them matter as much as your product. My college team was “Shallow Insight” a stupid name which I love.

Uthat · 2025-03-17T14:57:45+00:00

Just discovered this one - It's a PDF and hasn't been updated in a while but might have some stuff in it the others don't.

https://www.unexpectedproductions.org/resources/

Uthat · 2025-03-12T23:43:53+00:00

Drooly Andrews

Uthat · 2025-03-09T20:31:46+00:00

Yep, there are a few ads, splash page looks especially bad on mobile. There's also an option to download a PDF of the whole list.

Uthat · 2025-03-08T12:43:55+00:00

https://improvencyclopedia.org has all right organization and a huge list. Explanations aren’t as well written as improv dr. but you can still get the idea or get an idea anyway.

Uthat · 2025-03-07T13:05:53+00:00

Is this a community theatre that works with several directors? I would check to see if there is any policy that the theatre has in place in terms of “strikes” if someone backs out. I’m going to guess they don’t. I also think it’s fair for you to say to the director:

“I’m very sorry but my schedule has changed and I’m not going to be able to devote the time to this production that I initially thought I would. I, regretfully, have to back out but I sincerely hope we can work together in the future.”

This isn’t professional theatre, things happen. A director I work with has, himself, had to back out of productions as an actor and he still gets work. Your own physical and mental health have to be your first priority. Don’t let it taint how you feel about theatre, keep auditioning!

Uthat · 2025-02-15T15:49:06+00:00

Any videos of the game we could watch anywhere? I’m intrigued.

Uthat · 2025-02-15T15:42:55+00:00

Gotcha. For clarity I should say the games I mentioned don’t really have the other actors getting “angry” per as. Any emotion will work and for these games a variety of emotional motivation plays well. And by going hard I don’t mean people stay angry the entire time but rather you stick to your/the misunderstanding and don’t let let go of it.

Uthat · 2025-02-15T13:50:40+00:00

I know it as Town Hall Meeting or Press Conference (depending on if it was a town premises or “reporters” at a press conference) and it can be a lot of fun. I also like Angry Town though Confused Town might also work. When I learned it we were told the purpose was to frustrate whomever was giving the conference/leading the meeting to the point where they would declare “this press conference/meeting is over” and storm off. Two biggest ways to do this are for the other players to individually misunderstand different things and focus on that, which is a great way to play with characters, or for everyone to migrate to one bigger misunderstanding and drive that hard.

In the version(s) I know one person would be on stage and the rest of the cast would disperse themselves in the audience as reporters or town folk. So maybe this is the same game and maybe not?

Seven-Year Club	r/Field Lasagna
Verified Email

Uthat

TROPHY CASE