When done well, an improvised montage show is a wonderful exploration of improvisation. The players use one audience suggestion to create an entire show of material without any pre-planning or preparation. Read on to learn about do a montage show for yourself.
Instructions
do an Improvised Montage Show
1. Get a suggestion from the audience. You will want a suggestion that really inspires your fellow players, so asking for something that could have emotional connections is a good start. You can ask for a fear or a favorite vacation place or a cherished childhood memory.
2. Start the scene using one or more players as soon as the suggestion is accepted. The scene can be at any location with any type of character and at any period in history. Players should take care to either mention the suggestion or make it clear that the suggestion inspired the scene. For example, if the suggestion is a a fear of snakes, the scene could start at the reptile exhibit at the zoo, or deep in an amazon jungle or it could feature a musician called Snake. You really can do anything with the scene, but the audience will be much more invested in your scene work if you make it clear that the suggestion inspired the scenes. Otherwise, it looks like you could have pre-planned the scenes before the show.The scene should continue, using all the improv tools that you would use any any game, scene or exercise. Players may enter and exit. Characters should be established and have goals and wants. And players should take care to busy themselves with object work.
3. Edit at a laugh or beat. What makes a montage different than regular scene work is that as scenes progress, other players will wipe, or edit, the scenes and start new ones. So, all players should be watching (if possible) or listening closely to what is going on on stage. Players should let what is going on in the scene on stage inspire a new, but unrelated scene. When the scene on stage reaches a natural shift or after a big laugh, players waiting off stage should wipe, or edit, the scene in progress and begin a new scene.Players can wipe a scene by running across the stage, sounding a double clap, or any predetermined signal to let the players on stage know that something new is about to happen.
4. Forward established scenes. After three or four story lines have been established through wiping and starting new scenes, players should start to advance the stories in the scenes that have been established. With each new edit, players should return to the characters introduced in previous scenes. These revisited scenes should move forward in time so that the story progresses.
5. Pull the lights when the stories come to an end. You have probably already established how long your show will be, so as you get to the end of your allotted time, story lines should begin to wrap up and come to natural conclusions. Finally, your stage manager pulls the lights and your show is done!
