Hello performers!
I’ve recently let my third podcast, Liminal Passengers, free into the world. This celebration of surrealism in audio form is partly artistic indulgence, but also a resource for writing and performance. While Introverted Improvisers hopes to introduce people to the joy and freedom of improv, plus celebrates really fun work and community in audio, Liminal Passengers is all about transporting the listener.
If you want to be good at audio improv, improve your creative writing, enhance your vocal performance, or need improvisational storytelling ideas, this is your resource.
While there is so much technique that goes into improvisational storytelling for audio, below are some forms to play with uninhibitedly, regardless of your level of comfort with rich detail or vocal control.
- All edits are ORGANIC (come to a natural pause or distinct interruption & redirection)
- Unless decided by group, recommended “popcorn-style,” a technique of no set order, letting the players speak when inspired
- Listed are recommended run times.
Shorter, familiar feeling forms:
Scene-to-Subject, a.k.a. “The Weed”: Start by broadly painting the scene, whether a room or a landscape. The sky, the furniture, the dollops of setting. As if a cinematographer, start to zoom in to an area: the river, the bookshelf near the window. Zoom in further: the stones, the books. Finally, land on a subject: the river stone, the bookmark. Give this object meaning, or even life. What stories does it hold, or even, can it become anthropomorphic? Discover its story, and see if it can reclaim that entire room. This may wander off course, which is completely wonderful too. Trust the space, the pause, the tension. Examples are Tiny Tears and The Tide. 12 min.
Poetic Montage, a.k.a. “Microcosms”: This is all about group mind and flow. Discover micro/mini worlds in detail, then find a reason to get carried away to the next; everyone must be on board. This truly feels like a dream, but what eliminates the chaos are moments of grounding in the next world. Ground by finding the details, the small purpose of each “microcosm.” At the end, challenge yourself to come either full circle or incorporate all the details in a final idea. Example is The Goddess and the Dragonfly. 12-15 min.
Musical Montage, a.k.a. “Scene-to-Score”: *Must have music/underscoring playlist ready in cue. A montage which alternates a grounded scene followed by an underscored scene. Begin with any suggestion and have a grounded improv scene. Find the natural end of it, either by coming to the organic stop and waiting, or give space for a very distinctly different voice to enter with an offer clearly pulled from the previous scene. State a word or short phrase, and another player or tech will begin randomized music from the playlist. A second person joins and uses the musical tone to build off the offer presented. Do NOT address the music as if it were a part of the scene. This is a wonderful way to steer your scenes towards a type of energy or rhythm. Example: Presidential Wombs of Uncertainty.
Poetic/loose forms:
For energy – “Crescendo/Decrescendo”: caring less about what you say, start with soft/short noises and phrases. Build in pace, energy, sound to a climactic middle, then come back down. 8 min.
For group mind – “Down The River”: all members focus on carrying & deepening ideas of one player. Wherever their mind wanders, everyone follows/”ands”/supports/builds whenever they have an offer. Great for practicing focus and utter surrender; also great for the conductor to feel when distinct beat shifts need to happen. 8-12 min.
For monologue – “Snowball With a Bone”: popcorn a narrative (but don’t forget to make it about the details and not the plot) that you get lost in. When someone is especially moved by a specific image or event, they burst into monologue heavy with either emotion or passionate language, like a dog with a bone, or a snowball down a mountain, until they’ve exhausted that energy. Take note that it should feel like striking a match: it’s an enormous pop but the flame fizzles so everyone gets back to group play. This could happen 1-4 times. 8-12 min.
Longer forms:
The Trip(tych): A trio performs a three part piece, incorporating improv, music, and poetry. This narrative set takes a main character from the real world through a transformation in their subconscious mind. Very simply, it should be a grounded trio monoscene, a surreal dream-type scene, back to a transformed protagonist in the trio monoscene.
Here are the specifics:
1) It begins with a grounded trio monoscene in an every day location (a day at the beach, camping, an airport). Three characters may enter and exit from scene, but clear protagonist should emerge from the improv; they must have a want, flaw, or worry. The protagonist finds reason to enter a more subconscious state; they fall asleep, drink something relaxing, zone out, or are simply left alone. 8 min.
- ~Interim~ As the protagonist leaves their conscious mind, the two other players swirl vocally, pulling from the previous scene’s words, theme, and detail. As in improviser’s note, here is where the group decides what, thematically, the Trip is going to explore. This is word/idea mining. 3 minute piece.
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- this is either underscored or musically improvised in audio; in person may add dance or projection of art
- improvisers may have decided previous on an improvised poetry form to use here
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2) The protagonist “lands” in their other world, and the alternate players are dreamlike guides, alternate characters, or any strange support needed. Throughout the trip, the protagonist retains their character. The Trip of the subconscious may draw from any surreal storytelling set, including the ones listed above in this blog. Two recommendations:
- The Weed: The protagonist is the subject in the Scene-to-Subject, but doesn’t play themself, they play the inanimate (or animal). Their worldview is expressed via this alternate subject through personification and metaphor.
- Microcosms: The protagonist plays themself and is whisked to different mini dreamworlds. In each dreamworld, the protagonist is meant to discover just a little something more about their situation. These dreamworlds should be directed at challenging/supporting the protagonists main want or flaw
At the end of this mini-set, the protagonist should have gone on a journey of reflection and revelation, ready to bring to the real world. 10 min.
- ~Brief interim~ after so much surrealism, the audience needs to quickly come back to the real world. This is a short transition of vocal swirling that returns the protagonist to their waking mind. 1 min.
3) Back in the real world, the 2 alternate players are in conversation (hint: can it relate tangentially to something obscure in the dream?) and finally the protagonist wakes. We discover how the protagonist has changed, if they have. You may feel the call to make it simplistic and sudden; you might decide that within your own protag portrayal, you want the ending to be nuanced and complex.
Remember that all threads here are inspired by other themes and words, effortlessly woven. Let everything permeate!
The Dalloway (coming soon!)