Unicorn Warpath Reading Group discussion

We have been talking a lot about fear this week, so I remembered this book: Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

The clincher was flipping it open to page 71 and seeing the sentence "Unfortunately healthy artistic environments are as common as unicorns."

Amazon tells me my copy should be delivered on Wednesday. I can't wait to start reading it!

I've been thinking a lot about fear lately--well, "lately" as in "the last few years." It's amazing how powerful it is in driving our behavior and even our self-identity; I think art is one important way of facing and challenging fears. I'm really looking forward to exploring the subject together through the book and our discussions.

So, even though my hard copy hasn't come yet, I've started reading it via the Amazon "Look Inside" feature. When should we start discussing content?

Dawn wrote: "So, even though my hard copy hasn't come yet, I've started reading it via the Amazon "Look Inside" feature. When should we start discussing content?"
AS SOON AS WE WALK ON STAGE.
Your comments are already there. The power of beginnings, right? The fear of starting, empty page syndrome, empty comment page syndrome, empty stage syndrome.

Heh, well, I have no fear of empty comments. I fear more that I will dominate the conversation, or spoil people (do spoilers apply here?).

Actually, now that I see it written out, that is one of my onstage fears, too: sometimes I avoid editing or naming or starting a new scene or _________-ing because I'm afraid I'll be perceived as barging in on other people's work, or playing out of turn if not everyone else has had a go. Hmm.

I'm afraid I'll be perceived as barging in on other people's work, or playing out of turn if not everyone else has had a go.
I think there is a deep politeness that is limiting to improvisors. I have wondered if it is specifically a female trait, but I would guess that is correlation and not causation. But I have wondered how fear of being unfair or fear of domination of the work limits our work together.

I think there is a deep politeness that is limiting to improvisors. I have wondered if it is specifically a female trait, but I would guess that is correlation and not causation. But I have wondered how fear of being unfair or fear of domination of the work limits our work together. "

I have thought about this, too, and I think it's true. But I think it's a politeness that ultimately goes back to a more basic fear of doing something wrong. "What if I wasn't supposed to do that? What if I am making a colossal mistake?"

Maybe I will make a resolution to be rude. Or at least, give myself permission to be rude if I feel like it, without guilt. I might make some of those colossal mistakes in the process, but they will probably be more interesting mistakes than the ones I make by not doing things. (Hmm. Maybe that's the real resolution: try to make more interesting mistakes. That definitely seems like an attainable goal, and it sounds better than just "be rude." You can take the girl out of the Midwest...)

Dawn wrote: "What if I wasn't supposed to do that? What if I am making a colossal mistake?"
Yeah, I think the BIGGEST takeaway from Craig's workshop is that there ISN'T ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO. It seems so silly now to say, but that was a really big fear killer for me, do everything with purpose.
In general, I see so many people living their lives waiting for permission from .... something? someone? to do what they want to do or be who they want to be. That I think is why I am drawn to improvising, I don't need permission there.

I agree--part of the appeal of improv is that you have to create it in the moment. No time to ask opinions, or permission, or to revise your own work. Your inner editor has to shut up until the show's over, otherwise there won't even be a show.

I'm moving really slowly through the book, even though it's short and a quick read. Part of it is a lack of time, but mostly it's because I keep going back to reread, highlight, and reflect on parts that stick with me. Today I've been thinking about two sentences on p. 20:

"Art is like beginning a sentence before you know the ending."

"Art happens between you and something--a subject, an idea, a technique--and both you and that something need to be free to move."

Both of these could have been written specifically about improv. The first, for obvious reasons, and the second makes me think about formats and themes. You may start out with the idea of doing a specific format and with a specific audience suggestion, but both need to be malleable as the show evolves. This is part of why I'm so excited about our decision to drop (most) rules in performances--I think we're opening ourselves up to more risk taking, and the opportunity to (maybe) create some real art, if we get away from painting by numbers and focus more on listening and really letting the show emerge on its own terms.

Nina wrote: "I'm afraid I'll be perceived as barging in on other people's work, or playing out of turn if not everyone else has had a go.
I think there is a deep politeness that is limiting to improvisors. I have wondered if it is specifically a female trait..."

I don't think it's a specifically female trait. I struggle with that as well, but I've been repeatedly accused of being "too nice" throughout my life. I'll ask my inner asshole, as soon as I find out where he is hiding.

To some level, my being "too nice" is coming from a place of fear. Fear that I will offend, hurt someone's feelings, overstep a boundary, etc. All of which are rooted in the basic fear that my actions will cause people not to like me. Which being a social animal, a human, is pretty deep seated fear. Being shunned in the caveman days, was essentially a death sentence.

I loved the pottery teacher's exercise, half the class focusing on quantity the other half quality. It would be good advice for beginning improv students to forget about quality and go for quantity--get in as many scenes as you can. They will be in a lot of bad scenes, but they'll learn so much quicker.

I myself have found myself paralyzed by wanting to only deliver quality.

Yeah, concentrating on practicing and performing as much as possible is definitely a better strategy than my first instinct, which is also to want to be "good enough" before performing. Which, as that pottery exercise demonstrates, is counter-productive.

I've been thinking about the section the authors call "Canon," which is really about process. Obviously there are some differences when you're working in a group, so process is a set of collaborative decisions.

One thing I think we still struggle with a bit is coming up with warmups that work well for us as a group. We each have our favorites and least favorites (it's no secret I love the Food Pyramid and despise Hot Spot, for example), but sometimes our warmups feel as though we take the path of least resistance and focus mainly on energy. One reason the Beastie Boys has become a favorite is because it combines good energy, fun, and some wordplay, but I think it would be good for us to expand our repertoire.

Maybe it would be good to think about what improv muscles we specifically want to warm up before practices and shows: energy, of course, and wordplay, but what else? Maybe expressing emotions and relationships? Naming? (Beastie Boys does use names, but interesting or memorable names usually don't rhyme that well, so we get a lot of Bill/Bob/John.)

What do the rest of you think?

More on the topic of fear, here's a fantastic TED talk about vulnerability. A lot of the fears we face in doing improv are fears of being vulnerable, of allowing ourselves to be seen. This is the biggest change in myself that I've noticed since starting out, that I am more willing to open up (both onstage and off), but I still struggle a lot with "showing weakness" (and yes, that is how I instinctively think of it, so clearly it's a work in progress). Anyway, I think the speaker here does a great job of explaining both why it's hard, and why it's necessary, and I'm hoping you'll find it as helpful as I did.