Some people believe you should walk on stage with absolutely nothing.  I disagree.

Some people say you should plan nothing.  That’s impossible.  If I learn to juggle and then I happen to be in a scene, I’ll use that skill right?  We can agree that is not “wrong”.  And we are built with bias, prejudice and ignorance right… I bring those on stage and they become part of the work.  WHY would I not consciously incorporate, wisdom, knowledge and inspiration on stage?

This idea that having a thought before you open your mouth to speak is somehow cheating as an improviser is absurd.  IF you planned all your work and stuck to all your ideas then maybe you would have swung too far to one side in what is healthy for an improviser.  But don’t confuse thoughts and ideas as wrong improvising.

In some formats for example (Micetro or Gorilla) it’s beneficial to walk into the work with inspiration.  I like the idea of knowing my partner and bringing some of their story into the work.

Sandy was feeling uninspired about life and not sure of her direction.  She was torn between making lots of money in a boring job or struggling with an artistic path.  She was a talented girl and my vote was the happy struggle towards passion… Soooo.. near the beginning of the scene where I was a street person and she was an uninspired business person, the theme of her life came out and the story that I had thought about before started to play out.

It was fantastic.  At one point I had a five dollar bill (I think it was a fake, but it looked real).  I started teasing her about how much the money meant to her and how little it meant to me because there was nothing to spend it on.  I had friends, food came from toss away restaurants and I lived in a warm place under a bridge with other homeless friends.
It got to the point where I ripped the money in two.  The audience let out a loud and distinct gasp.  It was one of those moments that you remember for a long time because of how unified the audience was.  Together they had an emotion that was not laughter in an improvised show.  And it was easy to use their experience to continue the scene’s theme about the importance and worth we put on this piece of paper.

The plan was worth it and the experience was memorable.  It was not 100% planned nor unplanned.  But WHY NOT?  If I scripted the piece and rehearsed it, I could see the problem.