Valerie Harper shares her life and work with Spolin Games
Valerie Harper’s Improv Odyssey has shaped her life and career. In this 1994 interview with freelance journalist, Carol Grey, she speaks about the transformative power and wisdom of Viola Spolin’s philosophy. I am proud to know her and have her endorsement as a fellow player on this fantastic journey. “Viola Spolin had genius. Gary Schwartz.. read more →
Just Be Yourself
We ape, we mimic, we mock. We act. — Laurence Olivier Have you ever walked into an interview or an audition and the interviewer, in an effort to relax you, tells you “just be yourself”? And rather than helping you, you only get more butterflies in your stomach? Your mind races. “What does that mean.. read more →
Play is Essential to Life & Work
I got this link from a colleague, Rob Adler. Again, here is someone else who sees what we need as a society and how important play is. This argues for the same paradigm shift Improv Odyssey advocates. There are people out there who can lead you back to that essential ingredient that not only relieves.. read more →
The Difference between Spolin Games and Popular Improv
There is a profundity in Spolin’s work that is hard to capture and commoditize. It cannot be learned intellectually, but must be experienced firsthand to really be understood. There are only a handful of teachers carrying on her tradition, myself being one of them.
Improvisation began with Spolin. But other popular forms have emerged as more popular and have swept the world. I will try to explain the reason for this. read more →
Beginner’s Mind
Beginner’s Mind “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few…” Zen master Shunryu Suzuki Beginner’s mind is experiencing a thing for the first time. “Firsts” are always memorable. Improvisation is a constant search for ‘first times’. I once did a wonderful improv scene in Viola’s class using the.. read more →
A Question of Evaluating Students
I recently got a letter from a teacher who uses Spolin Games in the classroom. She asked an interesting question: …Here’s my question: what theatre game would you recommend I use in evaluating the ability level or strength of a 4-6 grader performing improvisation? In other words, which game might let me know which student.. read more →
NO FAIL NO FEAR
“I don’t believe in success and failure.” – Viola Spolin. We all approach new things with some trepidation. I’ve been told by new students that they are there in the workshop because Improv terrifies them and they want to face that fear. Bravo to them for their courage, but ‘sheesh!” I tell them that they.. read more →
Direct Experience and Peak Experiences
“What we are after is a direct experience!” — Viola Spolin I used to think that a direct experience is the same as what Abraham Maslow called the ‘peak experience’. Maslow coined the term to describe what other people have referred to as a ‘religious experience’ as in a born again feeling where the subject.. read more →
Playing Creates Community
In our ever more complex and technological era, true person to person interaction is lost as we interact with each other via technology instead. (witness this blog) The technological revolution has brought us closer in one respect, but the need to interact in a wholesome way within our local community, person to person, is still.. read more →
Why Freeze Tag is the Anti-Improv Game
“The heart of improvisation is transformation” – Viola Spolin Playwriting: Manipulation of situation and fellow actors; an unwillingness to believe that a scene will evolve out of the group playing; not understanding the focus; deliberately using old action, dialogue, information, and facts (ad-libbing) instead of spontaneous selection during improvisation; not usable in impeovisational theater. “Stop playwriting!” — Improvisation.. read more →