Story Robot

I’m heading up to Wellington on Thursday for the New Zealand Improv Festival (hosted by WIT, who are awesome).

With so much good improv going on around NZ, I’m stoked to see some of it being brought together for a few days.

Will report back next week.

Saki Miyamoto (talented artist and translator) enjoyed Vinny’s guest post so much that she decided to translate it into Japanese. I provide it here for my other Japanese readers.

「 残念なお知らせ 」 Francois Vincent著

君は失敗から逃れることはできない。
もしもまだ一度も失敗を経験していないのであれば、君はまだ何も学んでいない。
失敗なくそれをうまくやってのけたのなら、君はもうそれを会得したということだ。

君は自分の殻を破らなければならない。
君の力の全てを出し切り、ぬるま湯から飛び出すのだ。
しかし君はまた失敗する。
もし、まだ失敗していないのであれば、君はまだ全力を出し切っていないということだ。

君は疲れきって、くじけそうになる。
それでもまた壁にぶちあたり、迷い、とことん失敗を繰り返す。
しかしそうしているうちに、ある日君は成功する。いつしか君はそれを会得し、乗り越えるのだ。

君はこの失敗と気づきを繰り返すだろう。そうしてこそ君は立派に成長する。
さぁ、恐れることはない。楽しもうではないか。

幸せになる君へ、ひとつだけ忠告しておく。

君はその時、また失敗を経験する。

This website has been inundated with spam over the last few months. I’m afraid that I’ve deleted and possibly missed some genuine comments accidentally.
If I’ve seemingly ignored you or deleted you I am very very sorry. I hope to get things sorted out soon.

Still I can’t help but feel that all is well with the world.

I’ve been revising my introductory lesson plans.*

Generally, after introducing the concept of yesand, I’ll get the students to work on it using Yesand experts

Quick description:
The students pretend to be experts on a topic. They take turns making statements about the topic and must agree completely with any statements made by the other player. Traditionally this is done by starting each sentence with ‘yes! and…’

As an exercise it can be a little hit and miss so I’ve started substituting a slightly different exercise that hasn’t failed me yet.

It’s called Good Times**.
Two students are both recounting an experience that they shared together. They take turns remembering something that happened, and must agree completely with what the other player said. Sentences start with ‘yesand’ or I high energy ‘yeah yeah yeah…and!’
The more enthusiasm this is played with the better.

The fact that it is more story based makes it more intuitive, and more useful.

After this I sometimes use some tricks I stole from Emma Brittenden. Where the students pretend to be two old ladies who start every sentence with ‘oooh, I know…’, or two robots that start every sentence with ‘affirmative…’ or any other pair of characters that inspires the students.

*Of course I change depending on how the class is going, but these are the exercises I tend to hit early on.
**I learnt this game from noted improviser and card manipulator Javier Jarquin.

I’ve found that when I’m improvising I can only work on one thing at time.

So for example, if I decide that for this show I will work on making more specific offers then that is fine, but if I decide I will work on making specific offers and making strong character choices then I will probably do neither.

I have to remind myself of this when I’m teaching. Because new students have so many things they could be working on it’s very easy to overload them.
Focus on one thing. Do it so often that it can be done without thinking. Then move on to the next thing.