I’ve just returned from the Chicago Improv Festival, where I performed with Improv-Abilities. It was a great time, and I learned so much that it’ll take me a while to process it all. In my continuing effort to try to not be quite so long winded, I’ll split up my highlights. I love it… every time I go to Chicago, I come back with a series of new blog postings.

The first one is the one that has helped me personally, and one which I plan on immediately implementing in every troupe I coach. The concept is “Predator Mind,” a technique originally from Todd Stashwick, an actor who I enjoyed watching on “The Riches” before I even knew he was an improviser.

Predator mind is basically a state of hyperawareness, useful especially as you’re on the side of a scene. Like a dinosaur, hawk, or wolf, you immerse yourself in the scene, even though you’re not in it. You look for any opportunity to support the scene, heighten it, or clarify it. Many times, a scene does not need your support, and like a good predator, you know enough to stay out of the scene.

There is nothing about this technique that I don’t like. It solves the problem of improvisers sitting down when they’re on the sides. When implemented, every improviser listens as if they are actively participating in every scene. When you have the minds of your entire troupe engaged in every scene, you have increased the potential for something mind-blowing.

It seems like a very simple technique… and it is. That’s what makes it such a valuable tool. Every single member of your troupe can start doing this within 15 minutes. Perhaps it’s just a mental shift. It’s one thing to say, “Support your fellow troupe members.” But if you engage your Predator Mind, it provides a type of framework that makes giving that support much easier.

More cool techniques and observations to come…