Improv For Couples

[JoshYellow]

Would you be interested in a workshop for you and your partner?
What would you want to cover?

I've been teaching a couples' workshop twice a week for nearly two years now and thought you might like a version of it.

[Spots]

"whether or not to give him / her that note" about their general habits.

[Pdyx]

I saw the discussion on FB that led to this topic, but I'm curious Josh if you're more interested more in "couples doing improv together to get better at doing improv together" or "couples using improv to be a healthier couple" as your angle. Or some third angle or combination of these two things.

[JoshYellow]

I'm personally really interested in using improvisation to become a better person. So I'd prefer to apply improvisation to relationships and personal development. But I understand not everyone is into that.

[Spots]

I don't think that people "are not into that" so much as that it's the scariest thing imaginable.


You'd have to let folks test the water with their big toe and reassure them as you walk em' in.

[Pdyx]

I'm personally really interested in using improvisation to become a better person. So I'd prefer to apply improvisation to relationships and personal development. But I understand not everyone is into that.

That's what I was more intrigued by, personally. But perhaps that doesn't shock you.

[JoshYellow]

Haha. Not shocked, Patrick
What would you want it to cover? Okay, if you aren't sure. I'm just curios where people are.

[JoshYellow]

Jesse,

What is the scariest thing imaginable? I want to make sure I understand what you are saying.

[Spots]

Accessing true feelings or anything genuine about self.


I make the mistake all the time that "because this person or that person ALSO loves improv, they must enjoy improv as a means to try to grow as a person."

It's not entirely true. I've made that mistake countless times. At New Movement we teach the game. More often than not I see people using "finding the game" as a means to hide behind it-- gaining confidence only in their ability to keep up appearances on stage-- rather than use the game as a true challenge to discovery.


Ryan Hill and I have never met yet we've come to bond because we're in this minority of improvisers. For me the work's not fulfilling unless there's real growth behind it. The majority of folks will always come to improv and feel freed by it, initially. But they prefer to stay on the surface unless pushed. Trying to grow as a person means you have to submerge & access the scary things inside. That's what I mean. Many of us have improv in common. But the majority will always resort to being "too cool for school" and try to keep comedy on the surface because it's the path of least resistance.


So in reflecting on that I guess I would maybe suggest beginning your workshop like that? Start "on the surface", earning more and more trust and familarity, and ramp your way toward deeper things? I dunno. I just imagine it being terrifying. I was in a troupe with a married couple and they couldn't maintain. I wouldn't consider the experience a waste of time but if they had considered how receiving notes from each other would later grind their gears-- it would have gone differently.

[Spots]

The more I think about couples rehearsing with each other, the healthier I can see it being. I just had this mindblowing thought after I typed that last post. And so I think you should REALLY do this.

By keeping the improviser couple "on the surface" and playing the game or the format, they can cathartically work out their shit without it "being real."

Like I've heard that if you have a grudge with someone you should write to yourself a letter and pretend you are that person apologizing to yourself. There's a cathartic release in your primal brain even though the experience isn't genuine.


This is a really really really really healthy thing now that I think about it. Doesn't matter how far you submerge under the surface. People will dig it and benefit from it!!


Improv for couples, in any capacity, sounds awesome.

[JoshYellow]

Thanks, Jesse.

[Pdyx]

Haha. Not shocked, Patrick
What would you want it to cover? Okay, if you aren't sure. I'm just curios where people are.

I'm not sure, I'm just intrigued because of my interests in improv, personal growth and relationship growth.

That all said, related somewhat to the previous discussion, I think it might be hard to do this in a larger group of couples than in an individual couple session, because of inhibitions in front of a group of strangers/peers, but it would certainly make it more economically viable for all parties.