3 Quick Improv Tips for Actors

Your audience can be a painful critic, so when it comes to improv, it's important for actors know their game.  Here are some improv tips for actors ready to play. 

1. Let Go

Audiences respond to both the unexpected - or shock and experiences they can relate to. Both connections are trigger best when you leave your inhibitions and the door and let it all go.  

For example, when you admit to the fact that you pick your nose in the elevator in hopes that you can get your treasure in time, is sure to get a laugh out of people. Some will be laugh because they didn’t see it coming (and maybe they can relate) and others will laugh because they were internally caught by the guilt of also owning such a habit. 

All over the world, at all times, people in society are playing to please social norms and what's expect of them. When you let go of your filter and just let your honest fly- the vulnerability, creative freedom and spontaneity sets your audience up to fully enjoy the experience as they too are more likely to let go and enjoy the fun in it all. 

2. Value Integrity

There are times on stage, when the audience is painfully quiet. The discomfort is dreadful. That moment when you realized your material was lifeless and you can't rewind the clock and do it differently.  

Don't be someone you're not.  If you are impersonating someone in an inauthentic way or trying too hard to make something fit, your viewers will see right through you and think that rather that being an actor, you are simply being someone or something you are not.

3. Get Specific

Specificity is golden in the land of improv. If you're doing a scene and say your are at a cafe, then every listener will have a different image in their minds.  Get them on the same track as you and be as specific as possible.  When you say you really enjoyed your date at Pier's Patisserie, people are able to imagine you in a quaint old french cafe and bakery  and are able to resonate with the feelings of love and flirtation with you. 

It isn't always easy, but when you exercise this over time, it will begin to come more fluidly and your acting will be able to progress to the next level.

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Remember, your audience has come to you to be entertained, so show them what you've got and BE YOU.  You became an actor because you knew you were good at relating stories and emotion to people.  Grab your adult intellect and dive into the childhood imagination that still lives inside you.  Take people on a ride - don't just tell them *about* it.  THAT is the key to improve in acting.  

We love seeing you follow your dreams at the Acting School for Film and Television in New York City.  So if you're ready to learn more skills and about what it takes to succeed in performance, get it touch!

Please let us know your YOUR favorite acting tips are in the comments below! 

By: Navae Fiona