I’ve found that the best way to teach is to be direct. Our teaching approach is honest individual feedback, repetition of simple concepts, and guidance for keeping the integrity and truth of your character. Improv students who are wanting to get the most out of their improv classes aren’t content with a lack of continuous, genuine feedback. They desire teachers who will help them reach their goals. That’s what we do. That’s what makes us unique in San Diego improv classes.
The best way to learn improv is to do it. That’s why in our improv classes, we don’t spend time with “warm ups” or learning improv “forms.” Pretending to throw a ball around isn’t going to put you in a headspace to do improv. Warm ups are a waste of time, they generally take up at least 20 minutes of class time, and there is PLENTY to cover in our classes without needing to pad them with pointless warm ups. Likewise, learning improv “forms” in your improv classes takes away from the focus of your individual growth. Our shows follow the long-form “Armando” format, using our guest stand up comics as our “monologists.” This is the easiest and most fun format to play. Students who see our shows will understand this format immediately. So, if they end up playing in our troupe, they will already know the form we play.
Our improv classes have no more than 8 students each class, in order to ensure individual attention. It’s easy to get lost in the crowd with classes that have more than 8 students. We promise that you’ll get the feedback you need, spending a lot of time doing a lot of exercises.
I like to think that as a teacher, my job is a goat herder of goats* that poop gold. You’re going to poop gold, your classmates and teachers, and eventually the audience, are going to delight in that pooped gold, because what you bring to the stage is enough, by paying attention to what you do, and keeping on reinvesting in it, you’re going to succeed with pooping gold just from your own unique life experience and point of view. I just keep you on the path you need to be on as you poop that gold. The goal of each improv class is simply to apply the concept of that day, there’s no need to try to be funny, the funny will come in improv classes, as a result of applying the principles we teach you.
I believe that improv isn’t about following rules. Rules are meant to be understood before they can be broken, and we deal with those issues as they come up, rather than laying out all the “improv rules” that need to be followed at the beginning of your improv classes. Improv classes, and your entire improv journey, will be full of Aha! moments, which are the result of allowing your playing (doing improv is called “playing”) to be free. Once you start doing improv, you’ll immediately start to see the same kind of Aha! moments in your real life. Improv will help you have a more self=reflective mindset. You’ll become mindful of everything around you, you’ll find joy in things you didn’t before, because improv gives you the courage and the wisdom to see and understand different points of view.
Improv is a journey that never ends. No improviser of merit has ever said, “Ok, I’ve learned enough, I know it all. Don’t give me notes, I don’t need them.” That’s because the best improvisers always have “beginner’s mind.” (“Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” is the best non-improv book I’ve read to help with improv.) They’re always learning, always improving, always challenging themselves. Those are the types of improv students we mold in our improv classes. Learning improv isn’t hard, but, it is a challenge to a lot of people to be able to think and react simply, to trust that less is more, and to genuinely pay attention to things, when our monkey minds** are all over the place, wanting to win and be right and fight and judge and be better than and do all other sorts of human grossness. Improv is therapeutic, but it’s not therapy. It will improve your life, it can help you keep this crazy world in perspective, and it can help you laugh at yourself, to not take yourself so seriously. When you turn off your monkey mind and embrace the weirdness, embrace the awkwardness and hilarity of what it means to be human, then you can hold up a funhouse mirror to your teammates and the audience and go down a rabbit hole of funny!
I hope to see you in our next free intro workshop or improv class!
*I say goats instead of sheep because sheep are mindless followers and goats are bad ass.
** “Monkey mind” is a Zen Buddhist concept which is continually addressed in our classes.
The monkey is reaching
For the moon in the water.
Until death overtakes him
He’ll never give up.
If he’d let go the branch and
Disappear in the deep pool,
The whole world would shine
With dazzling pureness.
– Hakuin Ekaku