Improv Say What?

To take a break from all the script writing and dramaturgical work for our fall adaptation of Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, we chose for this Friday to be dedicated to improving our improv skills. Did we improve? Not so much, but we sure had a lot of fun. Our teacher started off by parceling out various improv books filled with exercises. We then flipped through them for about ten minutes until we were able to find two or so exercises. Afterwards, we just went around the room telling each other about the exercises and then putting them into action. The only hindrance I found was that some of my classmates chose to read out entire blurbs for the different situations that the player had to be put into. With all these long descriptions, I felt as though the entire scene was already directed out, leaving no room for actual improvisation. This completely limited my stream of thinking when I had to go up and improv this monologue about a girl who was madly in love with her neighbor. This might have just been a simple mistake on their part considering that they really haven't had theater experience. When it was my turn, I chose to go with the "Foreign Film" and "Hitchhiker With an Attitude" exercise. I felt both of them created interesting and exciting results because I was able to pose very general scenes that could really go anywhere.