Suggestions, anyone?

[Zack Bly]

Is it really important to stick with your suggestion during a show?

It seems like the majority of us have some kind of laissez-faire attitude towards suggestions: we don't really need to take them too seriously. After all, we're the ones doing the hard work on stage, why should we be kept from doing what we really want to while we're up there?

I've seen some great improv shows with "muggle†" friends of mine, and it's interesting to note how our opinions of the show differ at the end.

ME: Wow, what an awesome show! (lists the various "check marks" for a good show: energy, commitment, etc.)
MUGGLE: Yes, but what did it have to do with (telephone, cucumber sandwich, Righteous Brothers, lightning storm, etc.)?

While some of us (I'm mighty guilty of this too) can't quite remember the suggestion at the end of a particularly runaway-exciting show, the muggle in the audience probably will...and maybe wonder why we asked for it at all.

One thing I've been trying to do for the longest time is remember the suggestion all the way through the piece and during the last stretch try to find some kind of witty way to tie it all back in to the original suggestion but I'm not really very good at it, since I've never been able to remember it.

I guess in the end it is the same question that lies at the heart of so many of the problems of our art: are we performing to entertain the audience, or are we performing to express ourselves? If it's the latter, then I think we're doing well. If it's the former, then perhaps we might want some more thought on our habits.

If anyone has any light to shed on the subject, I'd appreciate hearing some other viewpoints.

† sorry to perpetuate the use of this word but it's faster than typing "non-improviser" over and over.

[CoreyBrown]

In my experience using the suggestion as is tends to lead to boring scenes because no one is putting thought into it.

(Dog) I love your dog
(Subway) Well here we are in the subway
(Computer) My computer is awesome

This doesn't always come true, but from my experience it does happen often. So I try my hardest to do the A to C thing. The connection is there, you just have to search for it. That way I don't block myself into situational scenarios that take a lot of effort. I perform for the audience, the suggestion is for me though.

I play to have fun.

[KatyJack]

should you remember what your suggestion is and let that affect you throught the piece? absolutely.

should you say your suggestion in every single scene and have it be what all of your scenes are about? no. that would be crazy boring.

but just because you dont say "dog" in every scene doesnt mean you havent used the suggestion. maybe the audience wont get it, but if youre doing your job, they wont care because theyll be laughing or crying or somehow being affected by what youre doing.

im firm in the belief that wathcing someone or some group of people express themselves is really entertaining.

[Zach]

† sorry to perpetuate the use of this word but it's faster than typing "non-improviser" over and over.
MUGGLE: Keep using the word (the one thing Ross and I disagree on) - anyone want to see Prisoner of Azkaban on Friday?

sidenote: sorry for hijacking this thread. see HP movie thread in play forum

SUGGESTIONS: Harold group games are a great place for an ensemble to readdress (pay tribute to) the audience suggestion in a more direct way to further connect and insprire the next beat of scenes. A suggestion can also be treated like THE callback. Hold onto it, keep it at the front of your brain, and you can sell the ultimate end to your show. I am happy to talk about this in person, Zack.

[Lisa P]

I like to think of the suggestion as a jumping off point, since what we really want to try to do is see where we can go from there. I find it boring whenever I use the suggestion directly in the first line.

That being said, I remember back when I was a muggle being really confused because the scenes had nothing to do with the suggestions. Maybe we should ask for inspiration, or even tell the audience we want a word to use as a jumping off point. That way maybe they won't think they're literally suggesting the theme of the show.

[KatyJack]

Maybe we should ask for inspiration, or even tell the audience we want a word to use as a jumping off point. That way maybe they won't think they're literally suggesting the theme of the show.

we do. thats why we say "give us a word to get us started" not "give us a word or theme for us to center our entire show around"

[Kit's Alter Ego]

The suggestion also plays different roles in different pieces. People expect more or less suggestion-prominence, and coaches promote different ways to work them in, depending on what you're presenting.

HAROLD
*Opening Game supposedly takes suggestion and manages to somehow glean three sub-suggestions ("Shamrock-nipples" if you will) from it. These subsuggestions relate to the suggestion and then provide more inspiration for the three beats.
*As Zach said, group games are Suggestion-Reprisal Birthday Parties.

LARONDE
*Standard Version (intros go A-B, B-C, C-D, D-A): Suggestion is mostly for first intro, and each new intro after that uses the most recently introduced character as its suggestion. The run of scenes following the intro use characters as their suggestions.
*Indecision Theater Version (i.e. intros not in order): Suggestion goes for some or all of intros. The suggestion is central.

DECONSTRUCTION
*Suggestion used for long first scene. Next three scenes use first scene as inspiration. Next three use previous three as inspiration. Et cetera.

MONTAGE
*Standard Montage (i.e. a bunch of scenes): Suggestion may or may not work into scenes, but usually it provides a relay-race checkpoint for the players; if there isn't a scene concept to revisit from earlier in the montage, you can tag the suggestion and get the momentum back up.
*Theme Montage (e.g. "Regicide: In every scene, a king must die."): suggestion will be in every scene come hell or high water.

SHORT-FORM (the other white improv)
*Suggestions are frequent and used in many ways for various games.
***Interpreter & Styles Replay: Suggestions are part of the rules and are to be followed.
***Musical Comedy & Pick-A-Play: Suggestions are jump-off points.
***Arms Expert/Helping Hands & other audience participation games: Suggestion is jump-off point, but audience volunteer will give most of suggestions, which will then be followed/gently made fun of (as in Sound Effects).

In general, I think of suggestions as starting points, to be revisited if possible...but as gifts to the audience, not as a duty to them.

--Kit

[Ross White]

Couldn't agree more that a group game is a fantastic time to honor a suggestion. But, when done well, a Harold will truly explode and explore a suggestion-- any suggestion-- into component parts, related themes, or visual pictures inspired by the word or phrase. The audience should be able to see this (doesn't always happen, and I am OK with that). But I am irritated when improvisers work too far away from a suggestion through the whole piece. I love initiations that don't necessarily have any connection, but the actors find those connections and play them.

[Lisa P]

Maybe we should ask for inspiration, or even tell the audience we want a word to use as a jumping off point. That way maybe they won't think they're literally suggesting the theme of the show.

we do. thats why we say "give us a word to get us started" not "give us a word or theme for us to center our entire show around"Usually we hear "We need a suggestion from the audience" before the "Give us a word" part. I think that implies to the inexperienced audience member that we will be using that suggestion as the theme. WE know what we mean, but they don't.

[Jennings]

Mildly tangental, but I'd love to see the whole "suggestion ritual" be pared down bigtime. Less "you, random audience member, have we ever met before? No? Good. Now, person with whom I have no connection, would you hop around on one foot and spin about counterclockwise? Yes, that's right. Sir, please, it's only a half hour show. No, sir, counterclockwise. Very good. Now, I happened to swipe your wallet before the show, and I'm rifling through it right now. Sir, please continue to spin. Now, I notice you have exactly twenty-seven dollars in your wallet, which is exactly enough money to build your own teddy bear at Build-A-Bear. Sir, while you continue to hop and spin, would you tell me the first thing that comes to mind when I say 'construct a teddy bear for twenty-seven dollars'? Please sir, we've only got a limited amount of time here. 'Fuck you'? All right, our suggestion is 'fuck you'" and more "we need a single word to inspire us."

And hell, if you don't want to use a suggestion, then don't ask for one. Asking for a suggestion is entering into a contract with the audience, and if you don't want to do that, then don't. Not like there's a law or anything.

[CoreyBrown]

Scott!!!

BEST POST EVER!

[jillybee72]

All you cats got solid and amazing points.

- Our show "Defending Your Life" used no suggestion at all and it was really wonderful. The inspiration came from each other.
- On the other hand, I think of my solo show "Drum Machine" as a collaboration with the audience, and couldn't do it without them, thus the suggestions are the entire foundation - plus they establish the rapport, indeed.

Different takes for different shows, ain't no one-size-fits-all.

[J_Scronce]

I like to think that I always use the suggestions, albeit in an indirect way. After all, we're taught to make leaps from A to C.

[Zack Bly]

Well, I suppose I'm coming from maybe a biased viewpoint, since we in CHiPs sometimes have a tendency to treat the suggestion like a formality and a figurehead than anything else....


In my experience using the suggestion as is tends to lead to boring scenes because no one is putting thought into it.

(Dog) I love your dog
(Subway) Well here we are in the subway
(Computer) My computer is awesome

Yes, given, it can get pretty boring if you do it that way. But even the most boring opening line in the world is awesome if you fully accept it and then tweak it; take it to the next level as it were. What if you got "drunk" as a suggestion? Terror city, right? Who wants to do a drunk-scene Harold? But, as Dave Siegel found out in New York, boring opening lines can lead to comedy gold:

One scene initiated with the other girl saying "You're drunk" and Caitlin yes anded that she was drunk and had just completed a conference call absolutely smashed. In what seemed like an instant she had this really rich "business suit" drunk character.

And about these A to C leaps. We do them so deftly, but the unsuspecting Muggle might not really be able to appreciate them for what they're worth. In Truth in Comedy the A to C leap is described as something to skip over a super-obvious link in the chain. However, if all we do is A to C leaps, we're missing out on roughly half of the chain altogether. So, again, these muggles are watching a show which they're enjoying, but they can't quite figure out how it all happened and what bearing that word at the beginning had to do with anything.

All I'm saying is that using the suggestion more literally, or using it as a seperate strand to incorporate wholly into the tapestry of our longform, while it may seem boring to those of us who are lucky enough to do this on a regular basis, may turn that extra corner and leave the audience member that much more satisfied.

I, too, play to have fun...but what's more fun than working six things into one scene in the end and pull of an amazing blackout?

[jesstah]

I voted wrong. I meant to hit inspiration.

Suggestions keep me truly out of my head and in the moment. I feel empty and the audience fills me.

Ew.

While working in scenes, esp. with Joe, I never know how things are going to go, but the suggestion or theme is there looming and finds its way back in. We recently did a practice where we used abortion and I didn't realize until I wrote about the scenes we did in a post that they all touched on our suggestion or themes found in our opener. Especially the psychaitrist scene where Joe's mom thought she was trying to kill him.

Suggestions are the fuel and every now and again you step on the gas.

That's less sexual.

-Jesster

[Zach]

but what's more fun than working six things into one scene in the end and pull of an amazing blackout?
Answer: Nothing

good thread, zack. everyone should exercise the brain muscle. always work to stretch your ability to hold information in the 50% of your brain which should be the restless rolodex (whiteboard) of show details. the subconcious focus should always be the suggestion, continuing to inspire and influence the work, even when the longform group mind has exploded the suggestion to create a theme. you can also share your A to C path with the audience by showing them the C to A connection later. think about the last unfamiliar place you went: when i personally need to remember how to drive somewhere i need to be mindful of both my initial trip going and my trip back so i can later visualize all the connecting roads in my mind.

Kit - Thanks for your breakdowns. We have a totally different contract with the audience in short game play.

[Dave Siegel]

Very cool thread. The improv section of the board seemed to lie dormat for awhile and its nice to see it poppin' like this.

Taking an audience suggestion can serve as a double edged sword. Although a slight exageration, Jennings made a good point about just getting to the damn...well, point, when getting a suggestion.

Asking someone who hasn't been to a show before what the first thing that comes to their mind when they think of cookie dough left on the windowsill with morning dew on it often leads to a 30 second, awkard pause of the person going "um, um, um, hell I dunno" after having initially tried to hide anyway.

As an audience member, I like it best when the team storms out, says "We need a one word suggestion to start us off" (who the hell cares who yells it) and the show starts like someone fired a pistol.

Many non-improvisor muggles, after seeing a longform show, coming away feeling confused when a suggestion doesn't play at all into the content of a show. If you do get a sugestion, I feel the team then has a duty to use it.

But we've all taken a couple classes and understand you don't have to be so literal about it. Zach makes an very interesting point about using the suggestion in group games or as THE callback. In an ideal world, the opening to a Harold fleshes out a number of themes and ideas related to that suggestion. As we've all learned, ANY suggestion lends itself to an infite array of themes and ideas.

The scenework then further fattens out the themes brought out in the opening, and if the audience sees a fairly direct suggestion callback in a group game after seeing various "suggestion themes" explored in the scenwork...thats when jaws really drop.

[Ross White]

By the way... to me, this is common sense. If you improvise, shut the hell up and NEVER give a suggestion. If an audience member notes you giving a suggestion and then later sees you onstage, some of the fun is lost.

I cannot stress enough-- improvisers, no matter what your experience level, should shut the hell up and let the muggles give the suggestion.

There, I said muggles. Are you happy?

*shoots self in face*

[Kit's Alter Ego]

Nooooo! Ross is dead! And now I have this scar on my forehead!
http://img35.photobucket.com/albums/v107/xchamberx/kit_blur.jpg

--Kit

PS: Ethan can't be Sirius. :D
PPS: In my defense, the conversation seemed to have run its course (thanks to Zach's chicken soup).

[melanie]

Here's a suggestion...I know improvisers shouldn't make them, you can shoot me later.

When you ask for a suggestion, take a few seconds to explain to the audience what improv is and how the suggestion will be used. Then your contract with the audience can be explicit.

"Everything that you are about to see on stage is completely improvised. None of it was scripted ahead of time. Just to get our creative energy going, we're going to need a suggestion from the audience. Whatever your suggestion brings to mind will be the theme of the next scene(s)".

*yawn* I bore myself sometimes...Scott's suggestion was a lot more fun, but you may find that this will help non-improvisers to understand what they're watching.