Your Improv Brain

·E50

Confidence vs Hesitation in Improv Scenes

July 20
22 mins

Episode Description

WORKSHOPS! Check out what's coming up for the Off Script Workshops. We're working on stuff brought up in this ep. https://yourimprovbrain.com/offscript

If you start building your next line while your scene partner is still talking, you might be solving the wrong problem. This episode is about the improv pause, the beat between an offer and your response.

Every improv scene has gaps in it, and most of the time nobody notices them because they stay short and disappear into the rhythm of the dialogue. When a pause runs longer, people start reading it, and the reading is usually some version of hesitation. That gets you the standard notes about committing faster or trusting your first instinct, which assume something fairly specific about what was going on inside your head during that silence. I talk about what a pause can actually be, why two completely different internal situations can produce almost identical silences on the outside, and what you can put into a beat so it reads the way you want it to.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
  • Why speeding up your response can cost you the offer you needed most
  • The difference between a pause that reads as blanking and one that reads as a choice
  • Why the note to just be quicker asks you to fix the one thing that might not be available
  • What to put into a beat so your scene partner stops filling it in for you
  • A couple of options when an offer arrives with more information in it than you can hold

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Building your line while your partner is still talking

1:55 What this episode is about

2:17 Improv as a receiving activity first

3:05 Beats and gaps, and when people start noticing them

4:47 The note you get when a pause reads as a confidence problem

6:56 Two very different things that look identical from outside

9:10 The third kind of pause

10:00 The fix almost everyone arrives at on their own

12:20 Processing delays and working memory inside a scene

13:43 What a confident performer is actually doing in a beat

16:20 Reacting before you respond

18:17 Options when the offer has too much in it

20:35 Where the phrase "juicy pauses" came from

RESOURCES:

Suzi Barrett, improv podcaster, who coined the "juicy pauses" note: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgWKnIrmQ973mnHJtRRNAdA

Earlier episodes on blanking and freezing on stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeilTyCoEKE (and check the description for many more!)

Earlier episode on silence and pauses as a chosen dramatic tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkIxMS8R30E

Downloadable content

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop

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About

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen.



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