How to help other people with improv

[gmkmc]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, I wasn't sure where to ask.

So we have a local comedy scene out here in Korea (with english speaking foreigners from all over the world, but mostly from America) and for the most part we do stand up comedy. We try to do improv at least twice a month, and we get get an average amount of volunteers (no one's getting paid, it's just for fun) but what I'm trying to figure out is how to train or help people practice at getting in the right mindset for doing stage "Whose Line is it" style improv?

Some folks are naturals and others are somewhat painful for me to watch, or do a scene with. I'm just wondering what you guys do in these types of situations.

 

[JRellman]

Hey! I'm from Nebraska and had the same problem with my high school troupe. We were new, but we had no resources to help us. We got a bunch of books to help us with the games and stuff, but ultimately, even though we knew the games, a lot of people still were doing poor scenes and it was awful to watch. Yes Anding, Giving and Taking, Specific Choices, and finding the Game will help the scene work dramatically. I recommend getting some books that address the basic rules of improv and do these exercises with your troupe. It took us a while, but eventually we got pretty good.

 

[mike short]

Are there any cities nearby you with more improv? Perhaps you can reach out to the improvisors there and arrange some workshops. When I was in college in upstate NY, we flew up an NYC improvisor to give us a weekend intensive. Currently the kids in that troupe have made a pretty good relationship with troupes in nearby closer cities, and I've flown up there too to teach them what I know. And some improvisors love traveling and teaching. For example, I think our own Minneapolis-based Mr. Stampede is currently teaching in Australia. I bet some people would love to add Korea and Nebraska to their list of places they've been to and done improv.

And also it takes a while to really learn this stuff and get it to a point where you really feel good about putting it in front of an audience. So keep working at it. It kinda of makes me think of the quote at start of this podcast: http://podcast.improvresourcecenter...21_irc_podcast_2010_04_21_kurt_braunohler.mp3 But it does take a while, so go easy on yourself.

Which reminds me, there's a lot more online resources now then there were when I was starting out in college. Go listen to podcasts, watch sets on Youtube, troll through message boards. Toy around with things you see, hear, and read. Somethings will feel like they work really well, and those things you can keep.

 

[Holmes]

I'd lead a workshop via skype.
(Though I'm probably not the ideal teacher for short-form, Whose-Line-style improv.)

 

[gmkmc]

Thanks for all the responses folks. I live out in Korea, so as far as I know, we're the only people who are doing some sort of improv thing like this that speak English. So no luck finding near by cities. But yeah, if anyone ever happens to make it out to Korea and wants to do some improv, come on out to Songtan area or hit me up via this. It's more of an open mic sort of thing, so we're not getting paid, just practicing/doing for fun.

I will definitely look into some of those websites you guys posted, as we got an improv night coming up this Wednesday.