Yesterday in STAC, we worked on more improv. I feel like I was very close to experiencing emotion in acting, but I couldn't quite do it.
When Luke gave us all of the stereotypical archetypes for characters, such as the ticking time bomb, annoying teenager, fun elderly, and others, I couldn't find a good match. I went through all the people in my head that I knew, and none of them could evoke strong emotions from me.
For the ticking time bomb, I tried to think about my mom, because she has a habit of explosive anger. But it didn't make me scared, because my mom's anger doesn't scare me. It evokes my pity more than anything. Sometimes I say things that press her buttons because I know it will make her mad. Obviously, that wasn't going to make me scared.
For the annoying teenager, I tried to imagine one of my irritating roommates from camp who has made me angry on multiple occasions, but it didn't work. Maybe I haven't talked to her enough in recent times, but conjuring up my memory of her didn't make me upset. Actually, I felt like I was trying to conjure up how upset I felt when I conjured up memories of her in the past. This indirect process was not going to make me upset either.
Luke tried to make me scared by threatening to scold me, but that didn't work either. At first I felt a little scared when he proposed the idea, but when I went into the room, he just stared at me, and that made me laugh. Yeah, that wasn't working either.
I sat down, and I carefully watched all of the other scenes people did in order to feel emotion. When I saw everyone else's fiery emotions, I started to feel emotions as well. Especially after I saw Courtney's screaming, I felt this intense desire to scream at someone, and I knew that I was feeling the emotions.
Unfortunately, I only got one try at the improv. That's one thing that disappoints me about improv. As soon as I sit down, I see what I did wrong and I want to try again, but I often have to wait another two weeks. By then, I forget the progress that I've made and I start from zero. I wish I could have the chance to improvise two or three times a period, after watching other people, in order to get better.
Once class ended, I thought about my inability to conjure up an image that made me upset. I realized how mellow my life was. I don't think I've gotten into a fight with someone in...months. I actually can't remember the last time I had a serious fight with anyone. Not my brother, not my parents, nobody. See, when people make me upset, I generally AVOID them. I keep them out of my life. I don't like people who waste my time and my emotions. Apparently I've been so successful at doing this that I cannot think of any person that makes me upset at the thought. The only thing that makes me upset at the thought is my fear of the future. Heck, I don't even fear death anymore. It's ridiculous.
I'm sure it would be unwise to search out unpleasant people in order to make it easier to call upon my negative emotions. On the other hand, I might be able to call upon other people's emotions. I've realized in my life that I am quite good at taking on the emotions that I see other people feel. If someone's crying, I want to cry. If someone's angry, I want to yell. Like I said earlier, seeing Courtney upset invoked more emotion in me than I could invoke on my own. People say I'm good at understanding others. I think this is a tool I can use to my advantage in order to become in touch with my stronger emotions.
Perhaps one method I should try is to imagine how OTHER people would react to certain archetypes and try to use those emotions. For example, I do not have an intense fear of Luke's anger (sorry), but many other people do. I could imagine myself as someone else, imaging the other improviser is Luke, and feel the fear that way. It's worth a shot.
I wish our STAC improv scenes were shorter so we can get more practice. I acknowledge that it's important to work with people one-on-one, but I feel like we aren't getting enough practice. Also, it's can be tough to watch scenes drag on for 10-15 minutes, but maybe I'm just being impatient. There are a lot of people in STAC, and it takes time to work through everyone. I acknowledge that too.
I feel like if we get enough practice, we can do some long form. I've been wanting to do long form improv in STAC for YEARS. The great thing about long form is that people can work off of each others ideas. Scenes expand upon one another, and the performance is cohesive. This form is also more fun to watch than intricate scene work. However, it is geared mainly for comedy. Our improv scenes have mostly been dramatic. This is good preparation for film acting I'm sure.
The benefit of working on long form improv and other kinds of comedic improv is that these kinds of improv are easily performance ready. We could improv for STAC night and other events as well. Also, comedic improv is a lot of fun. I've been doing it for years, and it saddens me that my time to do improv is condensed to a 7 week time period during the summer (3 and a half weeks this year, because I'm going to Europe).
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