Improv Theater: A laboratory for empowerment

Paralyzed, seated on a wheelchair and while the performance was about to end, the main character asked his audience for a solution to a conflict.He is Alex Uypuangco, founder of University of Cebu Theater Workshop Company in the early 80s, soliciting ideas from a very intimate audience of twenty or less.

Few minutes before a theater performance ends, imagine yourself being asked by the main actors on what to do for them to take. This scenario is, to a certain extent, unique for regular theater-goers who have been exposed to traditional, conventional theater presentationswhose only passive part is just sit comfortably, react intermittently, and applaud.

The opposite was what happened last August 23, 2013 at the second floor of Handuraw Pizza in Gorordo Avenue, Lahug, Cebu City-an entirely different stage and experience. The actors were just within the reach of the audience, literally. Nuances from the environment can be very much part of the actors' sensibilities and interactions. 

It's a different acting performance for the audience to witness where their voices are being heard and considered. Topics for the acting performance could be anything under the sun-ranging from simple friendship issues, family conflicts, gender crisis to even politics. Audiences from all walks of life can very much relate with, so it has become easy for them to come up with decisions.

For the actors, it's a great opportunity for them to develop their communication skills and self-confidence as they can easily express what they really feel in a critical, creative way.

"This kind of performance is called Improvisational Theater, sometimes called just improv. It is a form of theater where most or all of what is performed is created at the moment it is performed. In its purest form, the dialogue, the action, the story and the characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds. It exists in performance as a range of styles of improvisational comedy as well as some non-comedic theatrical performances."

The skills and processes of improvisation are used outside of performance as well. It is often used extensively in drama programs to train actors for stage, film and television and can be an important part of the rehearsal process. It is used in classrooms and businesses as an educational tool and as a way to develop communication and brain-storming skills. It is sometimes used in psychotherapy as a tool to gain insight into a person's thoughts, feelings and relationships.

"Improvised performance is as old as performance itself. The original performers were storytellers. From the 16th to the 18th centuries,Commedia dell'arte performers improvised based on a broad outline in the streets of Italy and in the 1890s theatrical theorists and directors such as Russian, Konstantin Stanislavski and the French, Jacques Copeau, founders of two major streams of acting theory, both heavily utilized improvisation in acting training and rehearsal."

"Modern theatrical improvisation in the United States is generally accepted to have taken form in the improvisational acting exercises developed by Viola Spolin in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, now known as Theater Games, which she codified in her book "Improvisation for the Theater".

In 1981, I had my early immersion with theater workshops of the Philippine Educational Theater Association-Central Institute of Theater Arts in Southeast Asia (PETA-CITASA) under the keen watch of Rody Vera, Al Santos, the late Khryss Adalia, Nestor Horfilla and Gigi Carunungan. Such association has established a reputation of engaging its actors in improvisational acting exercises. 

With passion, AlexUypuangco, founder of Cebu Laboratory Theater Initiative (formerly known as Performance Art Kolektib), has been sensitive to the needs of the aspiring actors to grow. By allowing them to feel towards fellow actors, situations and audiences, it has become a fulfilling experience for both the actors and the audience.

It is an enormously rewarding experience for an audience whose very own ideas have been considered by the stage performers. They are not merely sitting spectators but rather engaging audiences. Their decisions unearth actors' true characters.

Audiences play a big role by creating a major twist in the performance. It's curtain call. Let's take a bow to the audience!