One of the best improv groups I’ve ever seen is the three person team, Dasariski, consisting of Bob Dassie, Rich Talarico, and Craig Cackowski, who perform at I.O. West in Los Angeles.  They are a great group for a million reasons.  My favorite thing about them is that they are incredibly patient about letting the game come to them.  They are as delighted as the audience by what they discover in their scenes, and they discover a lot.  It’s what makes a Dasariski show a delightful experience.

When I saw that Rich Talarico would be conducting an 8-week class entitled The Way of Improv, I jumped at it.  We had our first class this past week and just as one might expect from a Dasariski player, the coaching was patient, and it was delightful.

Rehearsal space is sacred space, and I’m not going be reporting on these classes, but Rich said something wonderful early in the first class that is worth sharing.  I don’t think he’ll mind, because it is drawn from the commonly-shared language of improvisers.  He said, “We don’t have rules, we have tools.”

That, to me, is a perfect summation of what improvisation is all about.  Of course, there are rules to every game.  In business, there are rules governing every transaction.  What Rich meant is that the art of improvisation itself has no rules.  It has tools.  We put our tools to work to liberate performance.  Rules are just there to give shape and context to the performance.  In terms of improvisation, rules are to tools what the block of wood is to the hammer, what the plaster is to the putty knife.

When you invoke rules to guide your process you are using a block of wood to hit the nail.  You are throwing wet plaster at a crack in the wall.  To solve the problem, bring your toolbox, not your rulebox.