See the list of posts by
clicking this orange thingy
Here is a link to the video series "Thanks For Taking My Call"
A feed of four videos of a fun and satirical look at the people who call into "open lines" on
shows like C Span's Washington Week. Just click view and enjoy yourself.
The Book
The Playful book is here!
You can learn to find the funny.
You can learn to be spontaneous just as you would learn a golf swing, or dance step.
The book Meet Your Playful Self traces the 30 year development
of paths you can follow into your intuitive/playful self and includes 47 detailed, specific exercises for teachers,
managers, actors, improvisers, or ...Anyone!
You can begin to learn the
Path to Meet Your Playful Self by watching other people working on the paths in a workshop setting.
So just relax and have fun watching as you are on your way to meet your intuitive - playful self!
”
# 1 - Improvisation can mean a lot of different things.
So let's start with a look at what Meet Your Playful self -
improvisation is all about by watching the first video of the series
Improvisation is...
# 2 - Meeting your playful self is for everyone.
Even though the exercises and paths you will observe,
came from people interested in performing, this tutorial is focused
on how you can use them to be a more fun and playful person.
In the next video I talk about how I came to change my view of
improvisation, and is an introduction to a workshop
with some students of Independence High School.
from Independence High school who were doing the exercise for
the first time. In this segment they demonstrate the Meet Your Playful Self
Improvisation exercises - TALKING FAST. Here is a warm up exercise
to do at the beginning of a workshop since it serves to clear the mind of all the
compulsive negative thinking, problems, fears and worries that may have haunted our week or day.
The TALKING FAST game we use on the video
is called "Zip,Zap,Zoop". There are others you can use in workshops like Zoom,
Swartz, Profigliano, or One-Word-At-A-Time story. You can find a host of other
games at Improv Encyclopedia
or you can make up your own.
Just push yourselves to go faster than the speed at which you feel comfortable.
This pushes you to react without thinking as you will see in the video.
Meet Your Playful Self - Improvisation Workshop 2
TALKING FAST
# 4 - In this segment the Independence High School students
demonstrate the Meet Your Playful Self - Improvisation Workshop
COUNTING - LISTENING.
The COUNTING GAME exercise is very simple and silly at first. Yet, when a group does it
for the first time, they are likely to find it difficult to count past 10, as you will see in the video.
Why is that? Once the group is aware that their thoughts are focused on themselves - Is it MY turn? I need to count now.-
they see how this self-focus is depriving them of being aware of
what is happening with the whole group. When they shift the focus away from themselves and on
to the whole group, they will reach a higher count!
Next the students look at the anxiety that crops up when there is a pause
between the numbers and how this discomfort pushes us to say a number just so there
is no silence. When you become aware that the silence, is not boring, or unnatural,
or any cause for anxiety and just accept it as part of living in the world
or in a moment..what happens? The count of the group is likely to go even higher.
One more thing is going on in the video....a hint is "tone of voice".
Watch the video and see if you can pick up on what is going on with the tone of voice.
Meet Your Playful Self - Improvisation Workshop
COUNTING - LISTENING
# 5 - In this segment the students demonstrate BEING.
BEING is the path to experience silence without boredom.
You become less aware of the passage of time because you move into
a place where time is unimportant and unrecognized. Time separates conceptual events,
but is of no value in the intuitive and playful world. As time becomes unimportant, you move
yourself out of the conceptual plane into the playful plane. You can do this most
anytime you want 24/7.
You might be thinking that this is just like meditation, self-hypnosis, or any number of other
psychological or spiritual practices, and here I will say yes...and....
You will get no argument from me. Yes, all of these practices share the common goal
of moving you into an intuitive or playful place where your
thought process slows down, and you feel more
focused, relaxed and alive.
Another way to look at what the students are doing is that they
are playing with a mental image. Learning to play with image and then bringing
that moment of play back out into the conceptual world is the core of improvisation and
meeting your playful self. The act of bridging boredom into being and then
- being into playful - is the very dynamic that energizes improvisation into a performance
that delights audiences. These are skills you can learn and bring into your life
as you become a more playful person.
The next video features quotes from the well known.
It is in the same formate as the earlier video "Improvisation is...",
and is part of series called "Mind Play" or exercises that allow you to
play with and direct your thoughts. You can begin to direct your thoughts in the present moment
rather than
finding yourslef at the mercy of unconscious, habitual, thought streams developed through the course of your life.
#6 - In this segment the students demonstrate
YES...AND...
As we look at practicing the yes...and...statement as a exercise that can lead us to
becoming a more playful,let's look at why it is so necessary and basic in
coloring our perceptions and vital to a playful communication. It is a first and primary step simply because
it holds the dialogue and action of a conversation in a spontaneous and intuitive place.
In other words the action expressed in Yes...and... help keep the action in the now. Playing in the spontaneous now is what
playful improvisation is all about. Even though an observer may have no idea that the yes...and...statement is
being used, the spontaneous NOW is electric, fascinating, and often funny.
When improvised performance moves out of the spontaneous now, the interest of the observer
spirals downward and falls as flat as stomped gum.
/Teeter Toter
The yes...and... statement is the perfect place to
find the transition point between predictable and spontaneous.
If the conceptual path and the intuitive path were playing on a teeter toter,
yes...and... is the fulcrum on which the balance rests.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the final segment of the workshop with the students from Independence High
at the Trempealeau County Commuinty Television studio as they performed and played
through four of the forty-seven exercises of Meet Your Playful Self -
and it was FUN!
Playful Videos - Fun with Form
I make videos for fun. The images are often a series of playful mistakes or coincidences. The final form
seldom represents the original plan. Of course, I am always pleased when other people watch and share one of
the series of mistakes and coincidences. It is just playful fun with form using this marvelous canvas of
technology that allows almost anyone to play with creation of form in a manner that was once only the privilege
of a few.
The video below was the most "popular" pieces of this form play on U tube last year, probably because it features Eckhart
Tolle. He is the spiritual teacher whose voice lead me out of denial and alcoholism. Had I not been lifted, I
would not have enjoyed the dance of the humming birds that hot summer afternoon. This moment of sharing a bit of
beauty with you, here and now, would not be happening.
Enjoy Yourself!
Enjoy Yourself!
This page touches on some of the actions you can take to bring more playfulness into the world. You can
take the next step by joining Let Us Play! on the causes page on face book.
Or buy the book at the Get the Book link at the top of the page and start your own workshop group in your community
The most important thing to do is
Enjoy Yourself!
More to Come.....working on it
In the meantime, why not write me a note to tell me how I am doing?
