Quotes About Improvisation

Acting is never done. We're trying to keep it real and make sure that you're entertained and it seems unrehearsed.

I think any entertainer just sort of goes along with whatever comes along.

The music becomes something that is its own entity.

Understanding listening is an epiphany moment for every improviser. At least for me it was.

There are not that many jobs as an actor where you don't get to know what your character will be doing from episode to episode.

First, master your instrument. Then forget all that bullshit and play!

Only someone who is well prepared has the opportunity to improvise.

Only he who is well prepared has any opportunity to improvise.

It was funny yet pitiable when I imagined how they gathered whatever white cloth they could find, attached it to a dead twig, and marched forward just to surrender

What do these children do without storybooks?" Naftali asked. And Reb Zebulun replied: "They have to make do. Storybooks aren't bread. You can live without them." I couldn't live without them." Naftali said.

I just don't want to bother looking at recipes. To me, that's not cooking—being tied to a piece of paper." He

What Romantic terminology called genius or talent or inspiration is nothing other than finding the right road empirically, following one's nose, taking shortcuts.

Sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.

But it was this tough little character part that I was playing, a very funny little guy that I invented over a weekend, because I realized I was not contributing to the humor of this thing. And I had to do something.

Fiction is what you get when you rub two things together," I said. Everybody laughed even though I didn't say anything funny.

That's your job. To make something out of nothing. To pull together all the disparate threads: recruiting (with no money), fundraising (with no reputation), and delivering joy (with no product). You must fabricate the chicken and the egg. Simultaneously.

Luz's manner of speaking made it clear that she had no idea what she might say next. It wasn't that she made things up, strictly speaking--only that facts were merely a point of departure for her.

Good improvisers seem telepathic; everything looks prearranged. This is because they accept all offers made."9

Instead of swirling downward into frustration, "Yes and" spirals upward toward possibility. When you stop you've got a set of options, not a sense of futility.

salespeople adept at improvising "can generate ideas, incorporate changes quickly and easily, and communicate effectively and convincingly during sales presentations."5

As an actor, you don't want to know the beginning and end to your character's arc. It makes it more fun. You're not playing the end. You're playing it realistically. You don't know where this character is going to go and what's going to happen to him, which just makes it more interesting for the viewers to watch.

From a technical viewpoint, I have certain things I'd like to present in my solos. To do this, I have to get the right material. It has to swing, and it has to be varied.

If you put music into your Vine, and it's really jumpy, just do it over again.

I force myself to outline, but not too closely, so I guess I plot by the seat of my pants? My natural instinct is to dive right in, but I know I'll get stuck. I like to stick with the architect vs. gardener metaphor. I guess I'm a gardener who plants tomatoes. I have the sticks in the ground and let the vines grow along those parameters.