· KEEP IT CLEAN. Your goal is not to shock an audience. Be creative and avoid inappropriate material. Respect other actors onstage with you by not asking them to visit issues and vulgarities they do not wish to express. Respect your audience likewise.
· KEEP THE AUDIENCE INVOLVED. Every choice we make in creating a theatrical experience is, in its origin and in its purpose, designed to be broadcast to an audience.
· AVOID THE WORDS YES AND NO. These responses, and questions that can be answered with one of these words, restrict further development of a script or storyline. Each character should add to the story’s depth and richness, yes and no are terminal responses. If you do use yes or no, add another phrase or statement to your response to keep the improvisation moving forward.
· NEVER RESPOND WITH A MONOSYLLABLE. Just like yes and no, single syllable responses are terminal in an improvisation.
· ADD TO THE IMPROVISATION. Be an active participant so that the other participants do not have to compensate for your lack of involvement.
· THE IMPROVISATION MUST MAKE SENSE. There should be a “beginning”, a “middle” and an “end”.
· ACCEPT THE REALITY THAT IS GIVEN TO YOU. If sense is to be made of your improvisation, then you must work within the reality provided by you. Don’t discount the information other participants or prompts give you, that is resisting and takes a logical sequence of events out of play. Sometimes you will be thrown a curveball, but that is where improvisation gets interesting! If the prompt or another participant says you are an alien, then be an alien!
· SPEAK LOUDLY ENOUGH TO BE HEARD THROUGHOUT THE SPACE. We call this “projection”.
· DO NOT HIDE behind people, furniture, or even your own physical presence.
· MOVE ABOUT FREELY. Try to avoid just standing there and talking. That is not very stimulating to an audience. They came to the theatre to “see” a show.
· TAKE PLENTY OF TIME to speak and to move.
· STAY IN CHARACTER. Listen and speak as your character. Actors must layer on more than just their own mannerisms. React in the way your character would.
Contributing source: The Stage and the School
Glencoe, McGraw- Hill