Improv Teachings at Michigan State University
A couple weeks ago I contacted the Roial Players, Michigan State's improv troupe to see if they were interested in any coaching. They were! :)
I taught a character workshop which focused on the teachings of Viola Spolin. I had the kids doing spacewalks and more spacewalks and more spacewalks. I shared gems of her story that I've picked up from other teachers. For instance, that she was a school teacher teaching non-English speaking children theatre games - that's from Rachael Mason. "A spark in the universe is just a spark, but a spark in a box is an explosion" That's the gem from Paul Valliancourt.
I think the Roials had fun with me. I'm glad I got to teach them some things, and play with them. In addition to the space walks we played character baseball, hitchhiker, did naming things and talked a little about sweep editing. They're shows are mainly short form but they try to end with 20 minutes of long form. I hope they think about some of the things we went over and really can use it in their upcoming shows. I also hope at some point I'll be able to catch them.
I had so much fun with them. Those three hours flew by and we crammed so much in. #GoGreen