Suggestions.

It's been awhile since the idea of using a suggestion bothered me. But coaching an inaugural college team has reminded me that there's a lot of little tips that you need to hear when you learn improv for the first time.

One of which is to not take the suggestion literally.

If someone suggests banana, please do not eat a banana. If someone suggestions bathroom, do not take a mimed dump onstage. I'd forgotten the impulses to jump from one word immediately to the first thing I think of: that's what the audience does. When they say cake, they think in their heads "Oh my gosh, I love cake. I wish I was eating cake." But they don't really want to see a scene with a character who has a train of thought like that. You've gotta be one step ahead of your audience.

Introductions: Alyssa

Hi! I'm Alyssa, and I've been improvising for five years. (This feels like AA).

I started out as a college improviser with Mock Turtle Soup of Clemson University, and I haven't stopped. When I graduated, I was invited to DSI Comedy Theatre in North Carolina to teach and perform. My teams included (one of my all time favs) Honkey Kong, Sister City, Average Ducks, the 708, DSI High, SLAM and ComedySportz. Then I moved to Philly where joined The N Crowd and performed every Friday night in Old City. Now, I'm living in Oklahoma trying to start up an improv scene. We've got three teams: a college team (yet to be named), a community team (also yet to be named) and my duo with Bryan (founder of MTS) called Red Letters.

I love pina coladas and people falling down stairs. My favorite warmup is electric factory, my favorite game is Ding and my favorite form is the Harold.