ALAMOSA — It’s a Saturday night. You walk into a theatre and take your seat. Before you is a stage with a set designed to amplify or interpret the tone or the theme for the story that’s about to take place - a suburban living room or a city street in a big city or maybe an 18th century castle. The house lights go down, the audience gets quiet, the stage lights come up and the actors walk on stage.  

For the next ninety minutes or so, you’re willing to suspend disbelief as the actors perform a play with skill and talent such that, sometimes, they make it almost look easy. And then, all of a sudden, the unexpected happens. An actor misses his cue. He’s supposed to be on stage, but he’s not, and the actors who are on stage have to figure out what to do. With no warning, the actors have to improvise — right there, in real time and in front of a live audience that’s wondering what’s going to happen next.  

To Adams State University (ASU) Professor of Theatre Jenna Nielsen, that ability to improvise is as much a part of the actor’s training as anything the audience has seen up to that point. 

“Training in improvisation — usually called ‘improv’ — teaches skills in active listening,” she says, “trusting one's own impulses and those of your fellow performers, living fully in the moment, and connection with the audience, to name just a few.”  

Nielsen teaches Improvisation at ASU. To get a clearer sense of what she was talking about, the Valley Courier sat in on one of her classes. 

For 50 minutes, students went through a series of exercises that were both challenging and fun, showing — rather than simply telling — the importance of paying attention, listening to what others are saying and then responding.  

In one exercise, a group of students were instructed to tell a story one word at a time. The first student starts the story with a single word. The second student says a word building upon the first word, followed by the next student and the next. The only rule is that the story has to make sense, which it did along with lots of laughter as the students became increasingly challenged the more complex the story became.  

As was her habit at the end of each exercise, Nielsen then discussed what the students had experienced. “You don’t know what’s going to happen next in the story — you can’t know what’s going to happen until the person right before you speaks. So, what does that mean? You have to listen closely to what’s being said and you have to give up control of how the story is going to go.” 

Another exercise involved two students improvising a scene while the other students watched.  

The premise was simple. Without discussing what they’re going to do first, one student started with an action that the other student then joined in doing. The two students are to engage in a conversation that will reveal to the audience what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and what their relationship is to each other.   

Sometimes, the motions at first seemed nonsensical but would quickly make some sort of sense as the students played off each other, exploring what they were doing in real time. 

In one scenario, the relationship between two students had been established when one of the students “made a mistake” and referred to the other student in a way that suggested a different relationship than what had been established. 

The student, Javier Rodriguez — quickly admitted to the error and continued with the scene. 

At the end, Nielsen used that to make another point, referring to Rodriguez’s “mistake” as a “happy accident.”   

“The audience always wants to be one step ahead of us,” Nielsen said. “So, give them what they want. That’s what makes what happened a ‘happy accident’.” 

When asked at what level of experience is training in improvisation most beneficial to an actor, Nielsen said, “An actor's performance on stage is shaped by many practices. Some of those are specifically addressed in improvisation training and some are not.  

“Through that lens, we see that improvisation can be beneficial to an actor training at any stage. For new actors, it can be a great introduction to some of the skills I mentioned. For a more seasoned actor, it can introduce and reinforce skills in a different way.  

“There really is no perfect sequence for when actors are introduced to various techniques as each artist is going to respond differently based on what works for them.  

“But also, not all improvisers act in traditional scripted work and not all actors improvise. They’re skills that enhance one another but don't have to overlap.” 

Improvisation can assist for those moments when things on stage don’t go as planned – like an actor misses a cue and doesn’t go on stage at the right time or a piece of the set breaks or a prop breaks.  

“Actors in those situations might have to adapt and improvise. Active listening and being open in the moment is important but it’s just as important for actors in scripted work. 

“The reason why live performance is so compelling is that the performers are not just responding to the script, they’re also responding to one another in real time in front of the audience.  

“A riveting performance is one where the characters don't know what’s going to happen next. The actors obviously know as they have rehearsed and prepared. But the true craft of acting is the ability to play a character so believably that the audience sees someone experiencing something new and for the first time. And professional stage actors accomplish that living in the moment eight times a week! 

Nielsen brings with her extensive experience in both acting and directing in various regions of the United States and Scotland. When asked what draws her to the theatre, she writes, “Theatre creates empathy in a world where we’re often told that compassion for others is dying. You can’t judge another person if you’re going to become them, as an actor must. We tell stories which invite our audience on an empathic journey with us… and we all come out of the production more compassionate and more ready to help our fellow man. That is why theatre was and forever will be crucial to the human experience.”