MY GOAL IS TO GET YOU INTO TROUBLE.
How?
ACT BEFORE YOU THINK… IMPROVISE.
Somewhere along the line, we’ve become focused on the wrong things—trying to control and manipulate our circumstances and our partners to achieve a specific outcome. We’re working for the result. We want others to think we are “good” (actors, people, whatever), so we only let them see the aspects of us we want them to see. What we think they want us to be, or do. What we think is going to get us the job.
But what if we could reconnect to our organic impulses and behavior by bringing ourselves back to ONLY this moment? And opening ourselves to whatever is there? To begin with agreement, and then respond truthfully WITHOUT thinking? To take reasoning and plotting and planning out of the equation, leave ourselves alone, and imagine “What if…?”
Then, DO IT and see what happens.
Improv makes this possible.
BUT…
‘I already know how to act.’
Good for you for seriously pursuing your craft. Difficult as it can be to accept, however, there is always more to discover. And most of us are too quick to abandon the fundamental work. We are sure we’ve outgrown it.
Yet, at our core, we actors are experience junkies. In a perpetual state of engagement. Ever curious. Hungry for something not yet known—about ourselves, our world, and our work.
Improv creates opportunities to make these discoveries. When responding truthfully in the moment to unrehearsed, unscripted circumstances, we find out how well we truly know ourselves, and how well we’ve actually mastered our craft.
CHOOSE
TO BE AUTHENTIC.
I dare you to show me who you are.
Improv won’t let you hide. It puts truth front and center, and reveals the authentic you, unanticipated moment by unanticipated moment. And THAT is the person we want to see.
Returning to the fundamentals can be the scariest thing. We may feel loss of control, and even embarrassed when we realize we don’t have all the answers—especially for something we’ve been doing for a long time. Yet, it is precisely the place where you uncover what is uniquely you. Your truest impulses. Where you are most real—generous, selfless and available.
Show yourself by bravely improvising. Say “Yes!”
REdiscover
ESSENTIAL SKILLS
Listening
Observation
Agreement
Mirroring
Endowments
Story Building
Give & Take
Attention & Focus
Intention
Actor’s Faith
LET THE TROUBLE BEGIN.
Written for actors, IMPROV AND THE ACTOR’S IMAGINATION brings to life the skills of improvisation through practical exercises, games, and scenes, and applies those skills to the craft of acting and beyond.
Actor and teacher Robert Z Grant shares his improvised approach for scripted and unscripted work alike, curated from decades of experience as a professional actor, improviser and human being. Actors (and everyone) looking to expand their possibilities are encouraged to generously give themselves permission to follow their own instincts, to respond simply and truthfully, and to release the awesome power of their imaginations.
Get yourself into trouble and see what happens!
IMPROV AND THE ACTOR’S IMAGINATION
AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO GET YOURSELF INTO TROUBLE
Robert Z Grant
Available in Limited Ediition Full-Color and Standard Black-and-White
I+AI blog
WORKSHOPS & Events
IMPROVISATION FOR ACTORS — LEVEL ONE
WILLIAM ESPER STUDIO
New York, NY
Begins OCTOBER 2024
IMPROVISATION FOR ACTORS — LEVEL TWO
WILLIAM ESPER STUDIO
New York, NY
Begins SPRING 2025
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