I keep coming home with bruises…

When it comes to feedback and directing a group, is there such a thing as being too blunt or too nice?

No brainer. Of course. There are multitudinous levels, and it’s tough to pick the right level for the right group. I always, always err on the side of too nice. It’s just my personality.  There is a time for bluntness, but it is entirely possible to do it in a nice way. I consider myself to be quite good at this, when it’s important. Be blunt, but be nice, and be realistic. As someone that works with a lot of beginning improvisers, there are a ton of things you just have to let go. I like to focus on one skill at a time, and let other things slide for awhile during that particular training time, though it makes the ol’ skin crawl. I also tend to think that being too blunt destroys the sense of safety that you’re supposed to have in the rehearsal space. You just can’t overwhelm people with too much, or they’ll get discouraged.

The improv workshop is not the place for survival of the fittest. It’s not a competitive sport. In competitive sports, you have a concrete goal (sometimes literally), and a concrete strategy to make it to that goal. There are tried, tested, and true strategies for making it to that goal. There are a particular number of spots available on any particular team. The individuals with the best skills to achieve the goal make it. Everyone else is cut. Period.

In improv, there is no particular goal. Our whole deal is that each time, you’re going to see something different; you’ll get a different experience. In sports, you get one of two experiences: Win/Lose (or in the weird sports, Tie). In improv, there are an infinite number of possible goals, and an infinite number of possible ways to get there. Since this is the reality we’re living in, I believe you should be supportive in helping people to discover their own best way to be successful the majority of the time. Being overly blunt would imply that your personal style is the best style, or the only style, and would mean that you’re ignoring and dismissing alternate ways of doing things. Well, who the hell are you? Depending on the person, we might end up with a whole generation of performers that do nothing but poop jokes. Taking a more laid-back approach may take longer, true, but you’ll end up with more diversity on stage, and an overall more interesting experience.

In the end, that’s the real reason for erring on the side of niceness. We’re trying to grow interest in the art of improv, and you’re not going to do that with verbal abuse. If you don’t preserve the sense of fun, openness, and diversity, beginners won’t come back. Sure, I could make people think that I’m some sort of crotchety improv genius, and that it’s a privilege to work with me, so they should just put up with me… but holy crap - that’s no way to live your life. There’s enough negativity in the world without adding it to improvisation.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 09:00 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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