Big question! There are many, many ways to approach this. Here are some initial thoughts:
1. Don't focus on plot! Improv tends to be disastrous if the actors focus on trying to create a well-structured plot, and "narrative" forms like an improvised one act tend to fall into this trap. Instead, the actors should be working to create meaningful relationships, and patterns of emotional change/development. In terms of relationships, audiences can only be as invested as the characters themselves. If all the characters are apathetic toward each other, and have no reason to be together, why are they even on stage? Encourage your actors to create relationships where the characters care about each other, and encourage them to actively discuss and evaluate their characters' relationships in scenes! This, really, is what your show will be "about." In terms of emotional change, encourage your actors to be emotionally vulnerable, and to actively choose to be affected by what the other characters are saying and doing. If everyone plays high status and refuses to be affected by anything, your show will go nowhere. Emotional change is the dramatic action that will drive your show.
2. Likewise, don't focus on creating conflict! Conflict generally just happens, and looking at improv in terms of the conflict is not very helpful. Conflict can also be quite detrimental if the actors fall into the trap of identifying with their characters. No one likes to lose, and so actors can end up making horrible choices in order to position their actors to "win" a conflict. The question is not "What would my character do in real life," nor is it "What does my character need to do for the conflict to be resolved," but rather "How can I maneuver my character into situations that will allow them to be more greatly affected by the other characters".
3. There are lots of ways to structure an improvised one act. I highly recommend Asaf Ronen's book Directing Improv for ideas and inspiration. If you have a smaller group (2-4 actors) you may want to simply go with a monoscene, where the action simply takes place in one location, with all the actors on stage throughout all or most of the play. These tend to be more conversational, and can really allow the actors to focus on their emotions and relationships. If you have a larger group (5-12), you may want to go with something more along the lines of a Time Dash. This is a pretty standard structure that underlies a lot of genre shows and long forms (like the Harold). Basically, you begin by performing a series of three very different improvised scenes that have very little to do with each other. Then, we keep returning to these scene threads as time progresses. Eventually, after 2 or three "beats" with each scene thread, they start connecting together into a finale that involves all the various characters. If you go this route, I highly recommend you "set your teepee poles far apart." In other words, try to make the initial scenes as disparate as possible. They can, perhaps, be tied together by a single genre or location (which is a great thing to ask an audience for as a suggestion), but should all feel very different and should not reference each other. This gives the audience more variety, and makes things feel more spectacular when everything comes together at the end. In truth, the real challenge is never to find ways to connect the different scenes (that's easy!), but rather to postpone those connections until the end of the show. As an example: If I'm performing a musical that takes place in a factory, and the first scene is a foreman who is terrified because the safety inspector is coming today, I do NOT want the next scene to be the safety inspector getting ready to visit the factory, nor do I want the third scene to involve the owner of the factory considering firing the foreman if the safety inspection goes poorly. Instead, I'd rather see the actors explore a wide variety of characters and situations that could also exist in and around a factory: A union rep urging the workers to fight for better conditions, a budding romance on the assembly line, a parent-child duo experiencing bring-your-child-to-work day, a journalist interviewing workers for a new NPR podcast, the factory owner on their deathbed fighting with their spoiled children over who gets the factory in the will, the spouses of the workers hanging out at the company picnic, the rats in the factory starving to death searching for sustenance, etc.
4. Finally, I actually consider narrative long form structures to be more challenging than other, non-linear long forms. If you're interested in doing a little exploring, I encourage you to go out and make some connections in your local improv community, and specifically look for people doing (high quality) long form improv. They might be able to provide some guidance in coaching your students and finding structures that work best for your kids. I also recommend the book Improvise: Scene from the Inside Out, by Mick Napier.
Best wishes!!!
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Brogan Rogan
Theatre/Film Teacher
Draper UT
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-27-2019 10:34
From: Valerie O'Riordan
Subject: Improvised One-Act
I am producing Student-directed one-acts in the fall, as I did years ago with four seniors who were awesome. Three were published scripts and one was an experiment with improvisation. However, it's been a long time and I can't even recall how we approached it, even though it worked well. Basically we had the format/flow of the show and at each performance we would take audience suggestions. The theme would be the suggestion and the format would follow what they learned in rehearsal. ANYONE OUT THERE have some guidelines written down for such a thing?
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Ms. Valerie O'Riordan | Acting & Frosh Skills Teacher, Drama Club Moderator
House of Russi (2019 Chaminade Cup Winner!) Provincial, ESU Shakespeare Coordinator-SF Branch
Archbishop Riordan High School
175 Frida Kahlo Way, San Francisco, CA 94112
Office: 415.587.5866, Fax: 415.587.1310