No Script Necessary: Alternatives to Going "By the Book"

So you're thumbing through the old drama catalogs and poring over every file of past scripts that your group has compiled over the years and still can't find anything that speaks to the issue that is plaguing your congregation. Just none of the words are leaping off the page saying, "I'm the one!" So what are your options now? Are you just going to have to settle for a sub par script?

Well before you do think about these options that your group can use in a pinch. These are based off the art of improvisational theatre meaning that nothing is written down. Many people remember improv from the show Whose Line is it Anyway that made the art form famous. The only problem with this is that some Drama Ministries will look Improv over as more of a "comedy thing" or more for "acting games". But improv actually predates the Renaissance in the Dark Ages when "scripted theatre" or plays that were written down were outlawed.  Traveling performers, practioners of Commedia Del Arte, would create long pieces of theater that were completely unscripted. But how did they do that? Well here are three exercises that can take your group from basic idea to finished project.

Exercise 1: Bubbling
Bubbling (or in some circles popcorning) is where you take the central idea that you want your scene to talk about work it around to get the juices flowing. Have your actors walk across the room in an undefined path. As they walk throw out a topic (for example stealing). As they walk around your actors will each say the first word related to that first word that relates to it. (for example convenience store, money, embezzlement). Take the first word out of what they're saying that resonates with you and throw that idea out to them. The cycle continues until your group can't think of anything. Write thse words out as you say them. Have your actors think about these words for a few minutes and without too much rest segway immediately into the next exercise which is...

Exercise 2: Workshopping
Workshopping is where you break your team up into pairs or trios and have them take turns onstage improvising different scenes using the ideas that you just came up with. So if you're workshopping stealing then three of your actors could get onstage and act out a scene where a daughter is confessing to her mother and daughter that she stole money from the family vacation jar. Then the next trio will come up onstage and try out a completely different scene. This isn't the time to try to polish anything. Nothing that goes onstage right now is necessarily going to be the finished project. This is the time for your group to tell you what they want to talk about onstage. After you finish one round ask your actors these questions...

• What characters/ideas stood out to you?
• What moments really made an impact on you?
• What characters from other scenes do you want to see in a room together?
• What ideas or characters best serve the main theme?
• What scenes seem to be connected?
• Do some scenes seem to come before or after each other?

Your next job in workshopping is to shake everything up and mix and match characters and scenes and see what new ideas come out. After each round of this ask your group the same above questions. Don't let this go too far and get too complicated or else you run the risk of workshopping something to death. That comes about when you fall in love with the exploration of different possibilities and the fun of being onstage and stop watching and listening for the story to come out. You know when to stop when all of your actors start repeating themselves and going over the same territory or one scene just stands out and screams "I'm the one!" It might take two or three sessions to do this or it might come out in just one so always schedule for more time than you think. When you find one or two scenes that are just begging to be polished move on the to the next step which is...

Exercise Three: Creating the Scenario
Scenarios were scenes used in Commedia Del Arte that served as the "script" for the show. It's not a regular script as in every line and stage direction is written down. A basic scenario has a title and short description of what goes on in the scene complete with a beggining, middle, and end. So taking some of your scenes and ideas from the previous exercise you can polish them up in rehearsals creating a scenario. So your finished scenario could look something like this...

The Family Jar

Little Cindy confesses to her parents that she's been stealing money from the family jar where they save up funds for the annual vacation to the Grand Canyon. Mom and Dad have a nice but funny talk with Cindy and explain to her that stealing is wrong. The Dad counts the money and finds that there isn't enough money to go to the Grand Canyon and discovers that no one ever wanted to go anyway. They decide to have a staycation instead. The End.

Remember that Imporving like this takes a little time. These aren't like acting games on Whose Line that take a couple of minutes. Long-form improvisation takes time and rehearsal... Wait! Improv takes rehearsal!?! Actually in real life it takes a lot of practice and rehearsal to make a good scenario. Just because there is no script doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of work involved.

So try these exercises out with your group and see what happens. Hopefully next time that you have a lack of scripts you'll put down the catalog and start creating new works that will do your team proud!