Since my life is no longer being consumed by musical theater (at the moment) I have some time to work with the Improv group that I am a part of. We are always trying to enhance our skills and by doing so try to connect with other groups around the area to help our acting become more organic.
I find that when you work with a specific group of people more than a few times, you know what to expect when you’re on stage with them. With a new group of people it helps you to be on your toes and really hone in on skills that should be reiterated such as listening and giving information so as to move the scene forward.
One group that I found really entertaining and really helpful in terms of long form improvisational comedy is the group know as the Upright Citizens Brigade – ASSSSCAT Improv.
It is amazing what one group of people can do for a prolonged period of time when all they need to build a scene is a one word suggestion or a monologue from one person. Long form is something that our group is really interested in doing. We have been slowly polishing our skills in certain games to help us be able to reach our goal of performing a long form sketch in a performance.
Both long form and short form improv have the same basic rules such as listening, giving information, and creating relationships with your scene partner(s). Getting to a place where everyone in the group can harmoniously be in tune with one another may take some sort of “pump up” or a group “meditation”.
Before performances, our group does what we call “group mind”. We gather in a circle and hold hands with the people next to us and close our eyes. One person at a time says a number starting from the number 1 until more than one person speaks at the same time. We usually try it a few times since we often do not make it past the number 10 in the first round.
The goal of the exercise is to “harmoniously be in tune” with one another so the group may perform well and be aware of guidelines such as listening.
To keep in sync with what we, as a group, should be communicating with one another on, a set of rules must be established. Rules such as providing information, always saying “yes” to your scene partner(s), providing a location, being specific, avoiding questions, and establishing relationships.
I think that one of the greatest things about improvisational comedy is that it is never forced. Just because it has comedy in the title of it does not mean the actors are trying to be funny, it just happens.
Stage Right: All Night, Every Night 
I like your hook because I remember you mentioned earlier in a post how tense you were about the play. So I think you convey how relived you are to be done with your play.
I really enjoyed this post. I like how you make the blog relevant, even to those of us who have little experience when it comes to theatre. One suggestion is that you embed the video into the blog if possible instead of just providing the link. It may spark more of an interest with the reader if it is already there for them. But again, great job!
I like Christina’s suggestion; in fact, throughout the post I kept hoping that a video of you/your improv group would become part of the narrative, too add a visual dimension to the “voice” (that is, your voice) that narrates the post.