The pressure is real. You’re on stage or in the rehearsal room, the scene is unfolding, and suddenly, you feel a moment of panic. Do I know what I’m doing? Am I trusting my scene partner? Am I fully there?
20+ years of improv comedy shows and workshops, live from Times Square NYC and touring nationwide. We daily work with corporate teams and student groups from around the world!
The secret to fully giving yourself to a scene, trusting yourself, and truly connecting with your scene partner lies in remembering one crucial distinction:
As an actor, none of us has a clue—but our characters know everything about their world.
Unlock the Flow: Simple Choices Over Panic
The biggest hurdle we face in the moment of creation is the internal noise—the voice of the actor judging the performance. To silence that voice and unlock the flow, adopt a mindset of radical simplicity and acceptance:
- Make One Simple Choice: Don’t try to solve the whole scene at once. Focus on one simple, immediate choice about your character’s reality. For example, My character is cold, My character doesn’t trust this chair, or My character is excited by the word ‘pizza’.
- Play and Respond: Simply embody that reality and then make another choice. You are not writing a masterpiece; you are living a moment. Calmly think and, if appropriate, say “Yes, and…” to everything your scene partner offers, no matter how bizarre.
- Listen with Your Eyes: Catch yourself thinking and judging. When you do, immediately shift your focus outward. Stop thinking and start listening with your eyes and responding from your character’s place.
The Power of “In Character”
Your body’s natural reactions are not interruptions; they are gifts that inform your character. Anything that happens is not you (the actor) getting in the way; it’s the raw material for the creation:
- Own the Reaction: If you have to sneeze, cough, or laugh, do it in character.
- Embrace the Blank: If you are confused, be confused as your character. If you draw a blank, do it in character.
Anything else is the ego and insecurity of you, the actor, getting in the way of this creation of yours and your scene partner’s.
Don’t Stop, Don’t Make the Face
Improv, whether practiced formally or simply in a rehearsal, is one big first draft of a play exploding from our minds to the stage. Any edits, judgments, fears, or physical stopping destroy your personal flow and the creative current of your team.
- Don’t Stop, Don’t make the face.
- Make simple choices.
- Embody those choices.
- Trust the words that flow.
If you genuinely have nothing to say, make a physical choice until words naturally flow. A change in posture, a step closer, a slow blink—these are all strong responses.
In time, being on stage will be no different than being at lunch with a friend. Your surreal lives on stage will resemble reality more and more, regardless of the scene’s absurdity, because you will have mastered the art of being present and trusting.
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