I recently ran a practice group with some students in our Highwire education program. We have wanted to find more ways to help them bridge the gap between classes and performance, so I ran this session like it was team practice. We had eight people there.
In this session, I found one of my favorite things about coaching which also happens to be a difficult aspect to work into a curriculum or lesson plan - the nuances of support.
I love to provide support. and I talked with the group about the importance of that role. I think newer improvisers often feel a lot of pressure to initiate, but also feel a little nervous about stepping out with someone since they don't know what's going to happen. So they are stuck in between two worlds.
I told them that I really unlocked the secret of my comfort on stage when I embraced a support role. I realized that I didn't initiate early scenes as well as people on my team so I focused on second beats and tags and things of that nature. This allowed me to step out and just follow the fun with a teammate who initiated.
When I watched this group - mostly folks who have been improvising for a year or less - I saw three specific things I felt needed extra attention but didn't come to mind right away.
The initiation for the first scene said something about talking to a group of people. It wasn't a classic "Everybody get in here" line, but the initiation clearly called for multiple people on stage. The problem was that I had encouraged them to start this montage with two-person scenes so they could get settled. While giving notes, I pointed out that, regardless of the situation, you should have the instinct to join the scene in this case. The coach isn’t always right! You don't have to do anything more than fill the space. The scene didn't really suffer, but I let them know that this is one of the triggers they should be ready to jump at in order to provide support.
Another scene took place at a business and one character pointed out that a line had formed. That is another trigger to get out there and be part of the scene. Even if you don't do anything other than stand in line, provide that stage picture and support for the overall good.
The last instance came from the same scene, I think. Two characters were filming a social media video to promote the business. I don't remember all of it, but a cow-crab hybrid had become a running bit in the scenes. Someone stepped out and did a funny dance as if they were the mascot of the business. Perfect. I praised them for recognizing the need for that support. However, at the very end of the set, those two people came back to do another video. This time, the mascot did not appear. I pointed out in notes how much we need to mirror that original scene. If you provide that silly background support in one scene, you have to be ready for a callback because the audience will eat that up and all you have to do what you did before.
The small details of support can sometimes take a while to sink in for newer improvisers, but they can add so much to a performance. You can add so much with so little.