Page 36 - October 2022

QUARTER NOTE
Improvisation—Thy Name is Table Topics!
One of the things that attracted me to joining
Toastmasters was Table Topics. As an actor, I’d
already experienced improvisation in a number
of venues and found it to be both freeing and
terrifying. In improvisation, you have to let go of
a lot of expectations in order to listen properly to
the instructions and then follow through as best
you can by making up or taking part in a situation
that can be extremely fluid. Furthermore, it’s not
just about copying the other person; you need to
be willing and able to be spontaneous by creating
an appropriate (or sometimes not-so-appropriate)
situation of your own to keep up with your scene
partner. Sometimes improvisation may involve
a single scene which both partners participate in
creating the scenario, while in other instances you
are required to come up with another situation
on the fly.
36 ONE COMMUNITY
David Freedman, PM2
One of my favorite improvisation exercises
came from an acting class I took a few years ago.
Entitled “What Are You Doing,” the first person
asks, “What are you doing?” The other person
responds by reciting an action, i.e., “I’m doing
jumping jacks!” The first person then mimics
the action and then asks the other person the
same question: “What are you doing?” The scene
partner then has to come up with another action
for you to do. If one or the other partner can’t
come up with an action or perform the action
that the other person mentioned, that person is
out, and the next person in the acting class comes
in and jumps into the exercise. It’s great training
that emphasizes quick thinking and spontaneous
action. Thinking ahead helps very little during
this exercise, either. You have to be willing to jump
to the next activity, and even more importantly,