In this issue:

• Improv News: Interesting Links from around the Web
• Feature: Be an Awesome Scene Partner (book excerpt)
• Highlights from the Improv Illusionist website
• Your Question(s) of the Month

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Improv News: Interesting Links from around the Web

1. An interesting comparison of Status in Eastern/Western cultures. Note the description of physical characteristics of status. And remember that high status doesn’t necessarily mean you run the show!​
Status in Western and Eastern Improv​

2. Many people don’t realize Alan Alda is a Second City alum. For years he’s been using improv to teach scientists how to communicate better. Fascinating.
​Alan Alda really wants to talk to you about science​

3. The latest “COVID Sucks” news…
​Eight Months After Shuttering Their NYC Venue, Upright Citizens Brigade Closes L.A.’s Sunset Theater​

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Every issue of this newsletter contains an exclusive or “subscribers-first” feature. Please pass it on to your fellow improvisers to encourage them to subscribe!

Feature: Be an Awesome Scene Partner

HAPPY NEW YEAR! It’s that time when we reflect on the past and resolve to improve for the future. Every year, I think about my attitude toward improv. Am I taking too much charge in scenes? Or am I remembering to think about my partner(s) and how I can help them? Then I resolve to do more of the latter.

In another excerpt from my book The Improv Illusionist (currently seeking publication), here’s how being a better scene partner is just one of the benefits of a focus on object work…

You can get ideas from the environment even if you’re not the one doing the object work. One simple move from a great partner can open up a whole world of ideas for you.

I did a scene once where my partner and I were a couple chatting over a glass of wine. I hadn’t given much thought to where we were. If you’d stopped us and asked, I might have said we were at her apartment, or a generic restaurant. Then, to refill our glasses, she reached down and took the bottle out of a cooler at her feet. I immediately got the sense that we were outside in the park, which gave me an emotional response — I was worried we’d get caught by the cops for drinking in public. She countered by complaining I wasn’t adventurous enough. It developed into a fantastic relationship scene where we dared each other to do more and more outrageous things in a public place. (And the cops did end up catching us in the end.) All traced back to a quick little object move.

Improv is about making your scene partner look good. When you explore the environment, you’re giving them a sense of place that helps inform their choices. Physical skills add to the well-rounded skillset of an ideal improv partner.

(Stay tuned to future issues of this newsletter for updates on my book!)

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Highlights from the Improv Illusionist website

• ​Improv Books — Reviews & Recommendations: A list of books I’ve read, with recommendations on who they’re best for.
• Podcast Reviews coming soon! Which are your favourites? Send me a note so I can check them out.

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Your Question(s) of the Month
(because I never seem to ask only one)

Do you have any improv-related New Year’s Resolutions?
What do you want to work on this year to get better?

Hit Reply and share your opinion. I love to chat with readers, and it gives me ideas for future content to help the whole community.

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See you next month!

Ex nihilo,
​Dave

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P.S.: I’d love your feedback on what to include in this newsletter. Reply to this email, or use the Contact form on the website. I read and respond to everything. Thank you!