Relating an Incident – Adding Color
Active Listening
This is a good warm-up to the exercise VERBALIZING THE WHERE. In this exercise, Player A narrates a simple story. I.e., “I was walking down the street and saw a parked car, blocking the house on the corner. etc. Player B listens and sees color as the story is being told. (Sidecoaching eye contact is helpful. It keeps players out of their head and in present time) Player B repeats the story back adding the color she saw as the story was told. Reverse so both players have the experience.
Things to Consider
There is a tendency to try to listen to the story and ‘remember it’, thinking that one could add color after. You can tell if this happens because the story is not repeated, but embellished. (Imposing one’s own frame of reference). If this happens ask in evaluation and try a simpler story. Eventually everyone gets it. This is found in Improvisation for the Theater in the Refining Awareness section.
