My mind has still been on improvisers fighting onstage, because it’s a common affliction. At last night’s drop-in workshop, I decided to lean into it. Rather than discouraging the students from getting into a disagreement, I had them steer into the skid and purposely get into a disagreement.
Here was the change I had them work on.
Instead of being argumentative about the disagreement, I encouraged them to be curious about their scene partner’s point of view and to try to learn about their side of the disagreement. I often see improvisers trying to win an argument and convert their scene partner to their side of the fence. But that’s often not the reality of how we disagree, and it’s not easy to change someone’s mind, certainly not in the course of a 3-minute scene. It’s also usually okay to have a different point of view. That’s often what makes scenes/life interesting.
It was a difficult concept to teach, but the students handled it awesomely.
Improv Tip
In your next disagreement onstage or off, try to be curious instead of argumentative, and accept that it’s okay to have different points of view.