#viola spolin

Every few months I meet someone in Improv that has never heard of Viola. I think this is the third time I threw together an article on the subject. We don’t need to know all the names to perform Improv, but folks should be at least conversational. But if you are trying to work in Improv and you have not read “Improvisation for the Theater: A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques”, I mean,…

This is the story of Viola Spolin and her building the foundations of improvisational theater. Set aside an hour and watch this. So many of the folks who have entertained us have an origin tied back to this woman's life-work.

Honestly, happy tears every time I watch this.

And it happened in Chicago.

Bonus Round!

We're nearing the close of our second full week of classes, so I figure this entry is long over due. I'm ashamed to admit that this delay is one of which I am fully aware, and one that stands in direct violation of the principles I've been trying to live by. Someone at CSSSA -- I think it was Ed -- said, "If you wait for your epiphany to arrive before you start your work, you'll never lift a finger." I've been holding out for my epiphany. No bueno. Anyway, though perhaps not revelatory, it has certainly been interesting to listen to our daily journal presentations. I'd never really stopped to consider the sheer breadth of experiences, attitudes, and rationales that would be present in the theatre classroom, so I think it's a good, healthy thing to start the day with. It's good to know where people are coming from, and where they'd like to go, and why they'd like to go there. We've all come to some mutual understanding of each other's motives and desires, and I think that will serve to shape our work together in the coming years. An impressive number of people have bared their insecurities in front a group of strangers, which I respect and admire. I wasn't brave enough to do that. I am using this exercise as a conscious effort to rid myself of judgment. I figure that's a pretty god place to start, right?  We've only just started our work with Viola Spolin's improv techniques, and I'm frustrated that I haven't been completely able to connect in class. True, it's only been a few days, but I haven't quite been able to reach yet reached a point of focus, of stillness, of release from the bondage of self. I've been in that space before -- I practically spent a month in it -- and reading about Spolin, her ideologies, and her work, I remember what that felt like. I know what these exercises can accomplish, and how they settle in the body when they do for the player what they are supposed to do. Spolin talks a lot about the "moment of explosion", for example, this point that everything sort of  builds to in an improvisation, this ignition of feeling and uncensored creative flow. In my experience, the moment of explosion is usually preceded by a strange kind of internal quiet, where the player moves from self-consciousness to nonjudgmental awareness. You keep the perception (heighten it, even), but the snide and frantic internal monologue fades. You're absorbed by the task at hand. "Mirror" is a really good exercise for that, I think. We haven't played it in class yet, but we did some extensive work in rehearsal, and it's one of my personal favorites. If you're in the right head-space, you get lost; you move from imitation from reflection (something we talked a lot about, actually). It's almost like a meditation, if you do it for long enough.

Point is, I couldn't quite reach that space this week. My head's been too busy, I think, and I haven't give it time to clear. I've purchased a few volumes of Spolin's work from Amazon (including Theatre Games for the Lone Actor), so hopefully I'll be able to continue to work toward that mental/physical state on my own time. 

Who was Viola Spolin?

Born November 7th, 1906, in Chicago, Illinois; died November 22nd, 1994

Was raised in a theatre-saturated family, and studied to be a settlement worker as a young woman

Studied at Neva Boyd's Group Work School in Chicago; strongly affected by ideas about group leadership, social group work, and recreation

Deeply fascinated by the ways in which games influenced the social behaviors of inner-city/immigrant students

Worked as drama supervisor for WPA's Recreation Project in Chicago; realized there was a desperate need for a theatre study system that was easy to use and unhindered by cultural barriers

Founded the Young Actors Company in Hollywood (1946)

Working with her son in later years, Spolin developed over 220 exercises published in several volumes (each of which had a different purpose)

What are the characteristics/principles of her work? 

Though Spolin's games are each tailored to a different purpose and vary widely in style and execution, each exercise shares a series of key characteristics, aims, and objectives. For example, each game:

focuses on the idea of individual creativity, seeks to develop it

adapts and focuses the idea of play as a tool to unlock the capacity for self-expression

is intended to solve a specific acting problem

is designed to be effective and understandable regardless of skill level, ethnic/cultural background, or education

is intended to be personally liberating, inside and outside of the theatre

is aimed at ridding an actor of preconceptions about words, actions, characters, or relationships

requires only, a space, and the rules of the game

involves, creates, or refines one or more of the following: physicalization ("showing and not telling"), sponaneity ("a moment of explosion"), intuition ("unhampered knowledge beyond the sensory equipment"), audience ("part of the game, not the lonely looker-onners"), transformation ("appearance of a new reality")

affects internal and external communication skills in a group

increases sensitivity 

increases emotional and spatial awareness

What do others say about her?

"structures designed to almost fool spontaneity into being" (a review in the Fall/Winter 1963 edition of Film Quarterly)

"has had a lasting effect on the way actors and comedians play" (Robert Loerzel, Playbill - June 2012) 

"her book is the Bible... High Priestess of Improvisation" (Rob Reiner, as quoted by Loerzel)