When Can You Come for a ReVisit?

~ PART 12 of the Series: ReV up Your Improv Scenes ~

Well you’ve done it. You’ve navigated successfully through to the next act of your scene. You’ve made a highly actional and pivotal choice and flung yourself headlong into the second act. By nearly all accounts, everything should flow smoothly and easily from here. The hardest part is done. Now is your opportunity to have fun playing in the wonderful sandbox you’ve created. Let your story unfold. 

Of course you still have to be mindful of your work and your follow through, following all the “rules” you’ve learned over time – continue to say yes, and continue to do your part of staying with and attending to the scene, and especially to your scene partners. 

The story of the scene should unfold rather effortlessly - if you are staying true to your character, true to the reality of your scene and story, and true to all you have set up to this point. 

Soon, you’ll be at the point where the third element of the RV method comes into play: ReVisit.

In subsequent posts, we will talk about, discuss and discover several of the opportunities before you, always with an eye on the scene currently underway. We will explore from the standpoint of continually answering the question – “what does the scene need/want?” 

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Don't Make it Better - Make it Worse

~ PART 11 of the Series: ReV up Your Improv Scenes ~

Congratulations! You've made it into Act II of your improv scene. [insert trumpet fanfare here].

You've set it up nicely, introducing, through discovery and spontaneous creative association, several wonderful elements into your scene. You've made the leap into Act II with an action or offer that spins the world (normal up till this moment) out of control, or at least unbalancing the natural order set up so far.

In screenplay parlance, the first act sets up the "normal world," then, as we just discussed in the previous post, something hurls us into a new world or new universe that is Act II – the portal of the ReVolt moment.

A great example of this in the movies is "Back To The Future." It's so beautiful in this movie because the new universe is actually the exact same universe but in the past, so it's totally unfamiliar to the protagonist, Marty McFly. The mechanism that flings him from his "normal" world to this new world is a custom, science-laden DeLorean.

From this point forward, the story (or the universe of the story) is out of balance and the protagonist is looking to restore balance. In many stories - the method of restoring, or goal of restored balance is known, and the choices made in the story are to that end, confounded by various obstacles, challenges and complications.

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