Moving Improv Online Part One

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Zoom improv

In the midst of a global pandemic, improvisers have had to make huge shifts to continue any sense of work, and for many, huge swathes of income have disappeared in a heartbeat.In this, the first of two episodes on the subject, we are going to examine the challenges people have

This…. Is the Improv Chronicle Podcast. I’m Lloydie

It’s Tuesday 7th April 2020

If you were looking for a typical two weeks in improv, you would look almost anywhere other than the past fortnight. In the midst of a global pandemic, improvisers have had to make huge shifts to continue any sense of work, and for many, huge swathes of income have disappeared in a heartbeat.

For some, this has understandably meant taking a break for financial or for important mental health reasons. Others have been driven to adapt and use their improv skills to “yes and” the situation.

Neither response is right- the only right response must surely be what works for any individual. In this, the first of two episodes on the subject, we are going to examine the challenges people have felt adapting improv to online platforms and the community it has helped create. 

I'm Owen Scrivens and I learned to improvise in Liverpool currently I improvise in Newcastle. I am co director of Open Heart Theatre alongside Alex Fradera and William Steel and we run a monthly show up here called “Let Us Make It up To You”

“Let Us Make It Up To You” have been pretty bold, even trying musical formats - so what have been the challenges 

One of the things that I realised by myself I think it's several of the other people said the same is not having the immediate audience reaction. People can do sign language clapping on Zoom which is nice but it doesn't have that same immediate feeling you get from laughter. A lot of us who do this especially on the comedy end of things really thrive on audience response. The whole idea of being in the same room as an audience is one of the things we love about i improvisation and so to lose the immediate response and not really know what the audience is thinking has been really difficult for me and I was speaking to one of my friends who's an actress Katie Tranter who works in our group and she said we just gotta trust ourselves more as actors then we have to in the past. The same way you would do in screen acting you’ve just got to do it and then put it out there and then get the reaction afterwards and that’s something that's new for improvisation almost and is learning to trust yourself. That's been both a challenge and something that's been quite nice in the end as well. Something that’s really pleased me about it is I'm definitely someone who, at times, can get over excited and speak of other people however much I've tried that is whenever someone asks me to something I will focus on a show that's pretty much my my focus almost every show is just leave space, don’t speak over people. This more than ever is now essential because Zoom or a lot of them don't really cope with more than one voice at a time so giving space to make sure that person is finished, really focus on what they're saying, and then saying your bit and making sure it has an end, that sort of space which I love in improvisation when it happens, that has been a great practice for me to do that

In Leeds in the UK Sophie Owen runs the improv section of Leeds University's comedy society and they've moved everything they do online 

It's been really interesting. So at the minute we're using zoom for online improv sessions like quite a lot of people are doing. It's interesting like to talk about the the difficulties of the format because I watched a really great seminar by Embodied Facilitator who basically London organization to train people from all kinds of embodied disciplines like yoga, martial arts, mindfulness, massage, meditation - they did a seminar aimed at those kind of practitioners. The whole ethos of the seminar was, like, look for the advantages not for why this is a compromise and I was like, well if yoga good practitioners can think in that way about an online medium then improvisers should as well. I guess the thing that's been really difficult is you have to work really hard to make sure people aren't talked over because there's a number of reasons why that happens like lag and some people got quiet microphones which is not their fault obviously. But it means even if you're quite a confident personality, if your microphone is quiet you find yourself getting talked over. It’s the same with choppy internet connection. With my group we started developing like a kind of code of etiquette where we have physical symbols to show you “I want to make a point about this” or “I wanna make a point but it's like a tangent to the point you're making it is more of a joke” or that kind of thing. What I see is in the lot is that because you're having to work a lot harder to make sure people heard and work out how to pass the spotlight this is like it is this like a kind of training ground for being better that when we are back in physical spaces again 

My name is Varoon Anand. I’m the artistic director of Kaivalya Plays which is a Delhi based theater organization. We’re actually registered as an NGO in the capital of India.

Varoon thinks in some ways online has been less of a challenge than running improv sessions in real life face to face.

I know it sounds silly but it doesn't feel challenging right now. I mean okay so you have the natural thing of looking at the technological issues of people who don't have the fastest internet connections. Thankfully India has I believe one of the cheapest data rates in the world. We actually have quite fast internet - you have a lot of access to using data it's a very competitive time in India telecommunications so that hasn't been done much of a problem but it does crop up now and then. The other thing is just managing people's commitments. Surprisingly enough I think it's harder for people when they're dealing with a mental health issue to show up to a physical workshop. I'll take the effort to wake up get ready and go. It's far easier to cancel plans sometimes. But doing it on an online link has a safety in it. You can log in and log out immediately without having to go through all that effort so in fact there's some easier things about just going online checking out the course. You can turn your camera off so you don't have to be fully “in it” and then you can slowly, gradually get into it so those things really help. But naturally there are small challenges like getting people to understand how the app works from our side too. We have found a lot more actual facilities that allow us to maintain performance safety for example. The chat rooms can be shut down so people don't send private messages. You can have control over who is speaking by muting and unmuting. These things are far more difficult to facilitate I think physically and in fact far easier online. And even the fear of physical intimacy I think goes away by working online. So at this point maybe it's just early in the game for us but we see so many more advantages to facilitating online than in person

So far we've many talked about running workshops and sessions for others but what about shows?

Hello my name is Nick and I’m an improviser with U. K. improv group Do Not Adjust Your Stage

CLIP: 
“I'm not to go don't go the piece of paper. 
It doesn’t feel like you’re a doctor, Doctor Pestle.
Well what does a doctor look like to you eh? What does a doctor look like to you?
Well I don't know what they look but like they sound like someone who knows what they're a doctor in. 
This is a doctor. 
I do imagine them in that sort of hat actually…”

When we're performing on stage you know me and my group, Do Not Adjust Your Stage, we've been performing for such a long time - performing improv for ten, twelve years and so there's all these things that you've worked out how to do without even realising which make it really, really easy. So something as simple as the best way to begin a show and get a suggestion. That’s second nature to us now and how to do that in a really confident why that communicates to the audience you're in safe hands and this is going to be at a great improv show. But actually it isn't second nature in terms of how to do that in an online context. Those small things that communicate to your audience this is going to be great - actually we're working out how you do those when you perform online I think

One of the advantages of online shows is a global reach. Elana Fishbein is a performer and teacher of the magnet theater in New York City USA she teaches all kinds of improv to all ages and all backgrounds. 

Yeah it's interesting how you know all the governments of different countries in different states are going into border enforcement and all of us in creative fields are just tearing down all those borders because they're not real they're completely artificial and we're we're crossing over more than ever. Improv teaches us to practice empathy and to take on someone else's point of view to walk in their shoes and I hope that we can continue practicing that kind of work because I think it makes us better people I think that people need perspective now more than ever.

What people need from their improvisation thing that kept cropping up in the conversations I was having and one word kept coming up - connection - it's not an unusual word to hear improvisers use but, understandably I guess, I'm hearing it used a lot more often at the moment. Owen Scrivens in Newcastle again 

I think that there’s definitely a need there for me personally. I think there are several different needs being served. One is, I think, for some of the group are living on their own through this situation and have that full isolation, and it's been great to give them an outlet both to speak to people socially as well as doing something then that they enjoy. That's been wonderful and I think that is a need that people have - human beings are social creatures by nature. I think we have that need to socialise. I think there's also, yeah, I definitely have that need to be creative. And as soon as I lost the like knowing that I was going to not have my regular evenings I would normally spend doing this, I was like oh no,what am I going to do but it's actually turned out to be that I'm probably doing more than I was doing before

And in Delhi the community and connection is vital to the work of Varoon’s group

Well yes, for us when we started working on this workshop which looked at therapeutic effects of improv and mental health we realise that have to be a consistent program. We couldn't just do a one week workshop or three day workshop and then disappear. We started noticing that the people who came to the workshops found relief from it and they needed it to be consistent so the lockdown affected everything because all of a sudden we would vanish so there was a big pressure on us to find ways to become available again. People who are at home, that may also not be the safest space for them. A lot of times of people come to us you're coming to us dealing with issues that range from being in proximity from their families so now they're in a really tough situation where they're stuck at home surrounded by people that make them feel the least safe. So there was a big push on our part to find out how we could go on line and thankfully I mean through the Applied Improvisation Network we found all these different online facilitation courses and online Zoom courses and it's absolutely amazing how translatable short form improv games and even long form improv shows are to the web and to our online platforms. So we're really glad we've been able to reach out to our own patrons and also finding different ways of producing theatrical work online.

Varoonmentions the possibility thrown up by moving online and Elana in New York thinks it could also present gifts to our artistic work as well.

I always think that, you know, when you have limitations there are so many more things to discover. I'm quite excited by having limitations. I'm obviously devastated by why we have these limitations I mean I feel like I am like emotionally dead inside right now quite frankly. I'm not processing what's going on with Covid, it's very weird and distant. It's hard to fully comprehend all the tragedy. I feel like I've thrown all of my energy into figuring out how to do improv online as like a coping mechanism and I've kind of for the last I I kind of went into a quarantine isolation type type situation around March eleventh so I've been in it for a while. The Magnet closed on March twelfth I have it in my notes and ever since then I've been kind of in a manic state just figuring out how to keep keep doing improv through the crisis. And I figured out a lot with other people which is which is like the thing that's keeping me going is interesting. 

Yeah, what are the things that keep us going through an enforced period in our own homes? Nick from Do Not Adjust Your Stage in London

I think I wanted to distract myself and do the thing that I really loved doing so that is the reason for me. I think I wanted a distraction and wanted to try to keep doing the thing that brings me the most joy in life which is which is usually getting onstage improvising in front of an audience and we couldn't do that so it was like, right, how can we try to do the next best
And how much joy isonline improv bringing you?
It's really enjoyable because you're you're all doing the same things you still creating things from nothing you'll still getting interaction and reaction from the audience and you're still working collaboratively with a group of people that you really trust and you really enjoy working with. So a lot of the things of the same. I guess five because it is new, it is slightly more difficult and I think there is something wonderful about being able to see the audience that they right in front of you which you don't get in quite the same way

And for some watching others take a chance on a new outlet has been really inspiring. Sophie Owen…

I'm just overjoyed by the way that improv is kind of just jumped online and throwing the spaghetti planet at the world planet and everyone is showing so much support for each other and it makes me really proud to be a part of a community that takes this attitude towards its practice rather than just like sitting in the corner, like well I guess we can't do improv now improve is canceled I guess…

Improv isn't canceled and if you are Let Us Make It Up To You, well, their murder mystery was live online last week

CLIP: 
“Holding its in is not a good 
you’re right inspector right 
now I'm definitely going to look at further need to join the dots and yes I think I need to cross reference what you are saying I believe thank you for your time okay I'm gonna have another drink we'll see you in a bit”

We just made an effort really early on to get everyone we could together and try different things and some of them were just us playing our normal games over Zoom and trying to work out what warm up games work well, Which games don't work, having fun when they don't. It's almost as much fun as having fun when they don’t work. And then after that I was trying to work out okay what would this look like as a show. What should we try and do. What can we do to keep to keep this performance skill alive and then initially the first show we did was an abridged musical. We're quite lucky in that several of the people in our group are multi instrumentalists so we all sat with a camera on ourselves and we just sang songs to each other. We sort of essentially just started off as just a theatre sports of singing songs to each other. So like we challenge you to sing a love song about cats or sing a sad song about a day that you had. So it's just getting people to sing in their own room because you lose that choral ability with singing but that's something really nice about just seeing someone come up with a song on their own in a space and we actually found that some of the songs were really nice and quite nice enclosed songs because they didn't have that same performance stress with them. It was just someone sat at their computer singing a song. And then so we will eventually put together into a format which is based on a one man show I used to do years ago which is where you tell the story of and describe what's happening in the stage musical and sing the songs almost as if it's like an audience with someone telling the story of the musical after the fact it's happened. We've done that once online and we've also done we have a format which is a murder mystery which is called Sydney Bingham Is Dead and we just play that almost identically to how we do on stage. It's just trying to work out how to best not speak over each other, how to give each other space. It’s actually taught a lot of good improvisation skills of allowing people space, good acting and that's what we've been doing as far as sort of trying to get it out there.

And there's so many discoveries we can still make as Elana Fishbein at The Magnet explains

You know, now we don't have a stage anymore so we have these little boxes we are performing in next to each other. I mean it's still it's still weird I think we're still making discoveries in it but realising if I back away it it creates more space for me to perform. You know just figuring out all of the corners of that box that you can play in and playing with depth and playing with voice and playing with stepping outside that box. It's like giving someone literally giving someone a piece of paper and one kind of drawing implement and saying “draw absolutely everything you can draw with these two tools”. I think that's a good thing. That's how we make discoveries, you know, don't make discoveries when everything is at our disposal we become overwhelmed with the possibilities and so it's even even thinking about how can I how can I teach within these limitations how can I can get people to explore that box and helping them make discoveries within these limitations. I think that you know we as improvisers are incredibly equipped to adapt to new situations, adapt to new realities and say “yes this is true okay let's play within this” you know we've been training for this our entire lives. We also have been trained to like mess up and fail and pick ourselves up again it's all about resiliency right and not taking things too seriously or feeling the weight of it. It's about holding challenges lightly and being able to play within those challenges. So I feel like as improvisers, improv teachers have like this this new mission where we need to help everyone else kind of embrace this new mindset so that they don't get stuck 

Next time……. On the improv chronicle podcast..

In part two of these conversations about switching to online improv, the discoveries, the moments of joy and the future of online improv. How something that has become necessary may end up leading our art form somewhere new.

The improv chronicle podcast is produced and presented by me, Lloydie James Lloyd. Please subscribe and rate us on your favourite podcast app by going to ratethispodcast.com/improvchronicle If you have an idea for a possible episode go to - improv chronicle .com