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Unscripted
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Improv in Everyday Life
Write a blog post that explores how the core improv principle of “Yes, And” can help people navigate daily life. Begin with a relatable everyday scenario (like a last-minute change at work, a family disagreement, or a travel mishap). Show how most people’s first instinct is to resist or shut it down with a “no.” Then, contrast that with the improv mindset of accepting the reality in front of you (Yes) and adding something positive to move it forward (And).
Connect this idea to benefits such as:
What I've Learned About ADHD and Improv (And Why the Science Finally Agrees)
My wife has ADHD. And I've taught enough improv classes over the years to know she's not alone in the room. A lot of the adults who show up to learn improv are walking in with brains that move different, and they don't always know that what they're looking for is a structure that finally fits how they think instead of fighting it. So when Chris Gethard's guest column landed in my inbox the other day, one line hit harder than the rest. He said improv unlocks ADHD in kids. He w
Claudia Dot
11 hours ago3 min read
Letting Go of the Script
I watched two improvisers walk on stage last week. The first one had an idea, you could see it in her eyes, that little plan she was carrying: I'm going to be a flight attendant, and the scene is an airplane. She opened with it. The second player accepted it, but the whole thing felt flat. The offers were polite but thin and the scene ended politely four minutes later with a weak button and a relieved audience. The second pair walked out and one of them just looked at the oth
Claudia Dot
Jun 153 min read
The Four Levels of Active Listening
You're on stage your scene partner says something and you have to decide in a split second: do you go with it or do you push past it? Most of the time you know you should go with it but it feels like giving up your idea. What you're really doing though is listening. Not the kind of listening where you wait for your turn to talk but the kind that actually changes you in the middle of a scene. Not all listening is the same. There's a spectrum from the obvious adjustments everyo
Claudia Dot
Jun 74 min read
The World Is This Stage
You've been on stage your whole life, you just didn't know it. That sounds like a line from an improv warm-up or maybe a philosophy class you slept through in college, but I mean it literally. Every single day you walk out your front door and you step into a scene that's already started, one with set pieces and supporting characters and plot twists you never saw coming, and the only question is whether you're going to play your part on autopilot or actually show up for it. I
Claudia Dot
Jun 43 min read
When the Unusual Thing Stalls, Try Opposites. And Why Relationships Still Come First.
There's a concept from UCB training that I keep coming back to, even though I've never set foot in their building. Not yet, anyway. But their philosophy adds useful depth to my own, so I pay attention. The idea: find the unusual thing in your scene. The bank robber who cares more about the tellers' feelings than the money. The doctor who's afraid of blood. That one offbeat detail that makes the scene play. "Unusual" is vague on purpose. It's whatever you notice as unexpected.
Claudia Dot
Jun 32 min read
The Permission to Be Intentional
Will Hines is an improv performer and teacher you might know from the UCB Theatre in New York or from his book How to Be the Greatest Improviser on Earth and his newsletter Will Hines Improv Nonsense which has become a kind of water cooler for improvisers who think seriously about what they do. He recently wrote something that stopped me cold. The Toronto problem is too much agreement and not enough direction. He was teaching in Toronto and noticed that players would agree be
Claudia Dot
Jun 14 min read
Physicality Is a $10 Bill
I had a student once who could talk his way through any scene. Fast lines, clever setups, always had something to say. And the audience liked him well enough. But he never really landed. There was always this gap between what he was saying and what the scene actually needed. One night I told him, "For the next five minutes, you cannot speak a single word. You can make sound, but no language. You have to find the scene through your body." He looked terrified. But he did it. An
Claudia Dot
May 283 min read
The People Who Yes, And You
You know the ones I'm talking about. The people who tell you "you killed it" when you're pretty sure you barely survived. The ones who point out a strength you didn't even know was there. The ones who celebrate your show even when you spent the whole set chasing a tag that never landed. These aren't yes-men. They're not enablers. They're witnesses. And in improv, same as in life, that's a very different thing. The scene partner you deserve In a scene, the best partner doesn't
Claudia Dot
May 252 min read
The Thing You Can't Find Alone
Here's something I've noticed after years of teaching improv. When you ask a new student to come up with something funny on their own, a character or a line or a scene starter, they freeze. Their brain starts racing through every movie they've ever seen and every comedian they've ever liked and every idea they've already had, and what comes out is usually fine. Serviceable. But it rarely surprises anyone, including them. But put that same person on stage with a partner. Give
Claudia Dot
May 243 min read
There Is No One Way to Improv
A few days ago, Lloydie over at Improv Chronicle published a piece called "When Dogma Dies, Improv Comes Alive." It's a good read. The central idea is that an informed point of view is worth more than one you inherited just because it's the only school you've ever known. And the pool metaphor stuck with me: you can't see the water you've been swimming in until you get out. I read it and nodded along. But the more I sat with it, the more I realized the real takeaway isn't just
Claudia Dot
May 233 min read
The Best Idea in the Room Is the One Nobody Brought
I spent years walking into scenes thinking I needed to have something, a premise or a character choice or a funny line in my back pocket, something to prove I belonged on that stage. What I learned is that the opposite is true. The best scenes I've ever been in, the ones that made the audience gasp or laugh so hard they couldn't breathe, none of them started with a plan. They started with nothing, two people looking at each other with no idea what was happening and trusting t
Claudia Dot
May 223 min read
Your Questions Are Only as Good as What You Carry Into Them
If you've ever taken an improv class, especially Level 1, you've heard it: "Don't ask questions." It gets delivered like a commandment, usually right after someone opens a scene with a wide-eyed "What are you doing?" and the teacher gently steers them toward making a statement instead. I get why the rule exists. It's a training wheel. And training wheels serve a real purpose: they keep you from falling before you've learned to balance. But here's the thing about training whee
Claudia Dot
May 212 min read
The Moment You Commit, Everything Changes
Here's something I notice teaching improv. When a student makes a character choice, there's always a moment of hesitation. A half second where they could pull back, soften it, make it safer. And sometimes they do. But when they don't and they commit fully, that's when the scene comes alive. What Commitment Looks Like Onstage In improv there's no script and no safety net. The only thing that makes a character real is you deciding they're real and then acting like it. If you're
Claudia Dot
May 202 min read
Permission to Be Silly: A Modest Case for Strategic Foolishness
Let me tell you something I wish someone had told me ten years ago: you're taking this way too seriously. And by "this" I mean everything, your job, your relationships, your side hustle, your fitness journey, your Instagram aesthetic, the way you frame every conversation like it's a negotiation. You've turned your life into a strategic plan and somewhere along the way you forgot that living is supposed to be part of it. I know because I've been there. Twenty-plus years as an
Claudia Dot
May 184 min read
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