2qtr2008 - Book Review – Improv Wisdom

Title: Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up
Authors: Patricia Ryan Madson
ISBN-13: 9781400081882

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but I did with Improv Wisdom – and I’m glad I did. Turns out, it was really clever, practical, insightful, and fun.

Patricia Ryan Madson, its author and an award-winning Senior Lecturer Emerita at Stanford University, has been teaching acting and improv for 40+ years. And it’s clearly been a labor of love – and mastery – for her.

In Improv Wisdom, not only does Madson share her considerable expertise on the topic, but she endearingly shares a very engaging way of thinking with us, as well. “Life is an improvisation,” she says, “and if we are lucky a long one!”

I don’t even know this woman, but I like her! I really do!

According to Madson, improv has 13 ‘maxims’ – and they apply not only to improv, but to life itself. They are as follows:

1. Say Yes!
2. Don’t Prepare
3. Just Show Up
4. Start Anywhere
5. Be Average
6. Pay Attention
7. Face the Facts
8. Stay on Course
9. Wake Up to the Gifts
10. Make Mistakes, Please
11. Act Now
12. Take Care of Each Other
13. Enjoy the Ride

Life is an improv, indeed!

Some of my favorite snippets:

• “Saying yes is an act of courage and optimism: it allows you to share control. It is a way to make your partner happy. Yes expands your world.”
• “The spirit of improvising is embodied in the notion of ‘yes and.’ Agreement begins the process; what comes next is to add something or develop the offer in a positive direction. Avoiding this step is a form of blocking.”
• “The habit of excessive planning impedes our ability to see what is actually in front of us. The mind that is occupied is missing the present.”
• “Fear is not the problem; allowing your attention to be consumed by it is.”
• “Make a list of five places that are your ‘hot spots,’ places where the important things in life happen for you. Why not put the book down, pick one of the places on your list, and show up there?”
• “There’s no need to find the right starting place. With a big task or a confusing problem, when you don’t know where to start, begin with the most obvious thing, whatever is in front of you.”
• “The improviser focuses on making that idea into a good one, rather than searching for a ‘good idea’.”
• “When asked to uncover what is obvious to you, count on the fact that your view is already unique.”
• “Life is attention, and what we are attending to determines to a great extent how we experience the world.”

This is good stuff, whether she’s talking about improv or not, don’t you think? And there’s much, much, more:

• “Wishing things were different (or that I was different) simply wastes time. The improviser can’t afford unrealistic thinking. Instead, she builds bridges over rocky terrain and turns lemons into lemonade. She works with what is actually in front of her, setting aside the temptation to dwell on what it is not.”
• “Life is all about balancing not about being balanced … embrace the wobble.”
• “Some gifts are not objects, but support and encouragement we give each other… make a point of thanking people for thankless jobs.”
• “If you can’t get out of it, get into it.”
• “When I see something that needs to be done, I usually do it without debate. The improviser in me is trained to take action rather than muse over whose job it may be.”
  “Learning how to work together moment by moment without a known formula is the essence of improvisation.”
• “The improv ‘talent,’ which involves listening carefully, observing the actions of others, contributing, supporting, leading, following, filling in the gaps, and looking for the appropriate ending, can be taught and learned.”

From my own experience, I am continually amazed by what good things tend to happen whenever I just let go and … go! That’s not to say that planning doesn’t have its part to play. But Woody Allen was really on to something when he said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

And so is Patricia Ryan Madson with what she’s written in Improv Wisdom.