"Just be yourself! But like 10% more yourself.
I’m mostly positive I was taught this by Gavin Speiller in a UCB 401 class: You just have to be yourself in improv. But like... 10% more yourself. All your thoughts, all your opinions and feelings, all your experiences, they’re more than enough to make a scene funny and authentic and compelling. You don’t have to invent or fake anything. You can just be you and it will work!
But this is THEATER, so you gotta dial it up a bit. Say the thing you’d stop yourself from saying in normal conversation. Give the opinion you know would raise an eyebrow. It doesn’t have to be anything wild or problematic! Just care a bit more than you usually would, volunteer a bit more, feel and emote and react a bit more intensely. Imagine you’ve been cast as yourself in a play about you. Play that version of you. Doesn’t have to be a lot. Just 10% more.
In real life, we’re all trying to fit in and get by and go unnoticed. We aren’t trying to do that in improv! We want to be called out, we want to get into arguments, we want to make things worse and look like a fool. Improv scenes are powered by people caring more than they should, whether it’s about a relationship or a thing or an activity. It’s being self-righteous, positively or negatively, and refusing to back down. That’s not so different from how we justify choices and feelings to ourselves in real life. You just have to show your work a bit more on stage.
What I love about this approach to improv is it means you can go really far just by listening to your own voice. Before you go on stage, take a minute to simply reflect on your day... what happened, who you talked to and what about. Moments that made you happy, moments that made you cringe, moments where someone WRONGED you and you will NEVER FORGIVE them. If something comes up in a scene that reminds you of a real opinion or emotion or experience you’ve had, use that feeling! Have you ever noticed that almost every Park Bench of Truth scene is fun to watch?
I think this can also help us get past being passive in scenes, or not making clear choices, kicking the can down the road by negotiating the thing with your scene partner. When you dial yourself up a bit, you’re hopefully also getting more engaged with the scene and your partner, making more decisions and finding ways to play them actively. Be personal, be impulsive. Take your hands off the steering wheel, be yourself in the scene, and let go just a bit.
Doesn’t have to be a lot. Just like 10%."
