How To Play Game: Micro or Macro?

what's the best strategy?

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

This is about teaching improv. I’m comparing what I call “micro” teaching versus “macro” teaching, as it applies to “playing the game of the scene.”

When I say macro, I mean general principles. When I say micro, I mean specific actionable advice.

So macro advice is “To be happy, one must learn to only worry about what you have control over.”

And micro advice is “To be happy, always make your bed in the morning.”

Micro Isn’t Macro

A common problem is when someone takes micro advice and treats it like macro. Like if someone were going through a deeply traumatic divorce, and they asked a therapist to help their depression, and the therapist said “the problem is you’re not making your bed,” the therapist would be missing the point.

Now let’s talk about teaching “game of the scene” in improv.

“Game” is a concept championed by the UCB Theatre. It means that you find an unusual thing in your scenes, and then explore it. You “play” it.

I am often asked: HOW does one “play the game?”

In an effort to answer that question, myself and other improv teachers come up with micro strategies. They are not principles. They are suggestions that can work.

Let’s say you’ve got a scene in which a high school teacher is scolding her class for talking. But it quickly becomes clear the teacher is more worried about the class liking her than keeping them quiet.

Something like “Class, be quiet!! Sorry, that was too harsh. I don’t mean to be a jerk. I’m actually not that much older than you guys. I get it — you gotta talk to your friends. You guys go ahead and chat. In fact, let’s have some personal phone time. See? I’m cool.”

The game is the teacher wants to be cool more than she wants to teach.

So how do you play it?

Micro Strategies

Here’s a list of some (micro) strategies. I name them according to how I describe them, but these are all common pieces of advice:

• Up the emotion: the teacher gets more and more anxious that she is not a jerk

• Rest it: the teacher goes back to actually teaching for a moment, but then goes back to insisting she is cool.

• Philosophize: the teacher says “all we have is our reputation, so I need you guys to know I am cool.”

• History: A student raises their hand and says “Can you show us how to play ‘Hey Ya’ on bass guitar again?”

• Ground it: The teacher explains “I was pretty cool when I was in high school. And I guess I think I’m still pretty cool now..”

• Go to the environment: Teacher grabs a vape pen from her desk

• Join team fool: the princpal enters the room and asks if anyone wants to drive his Tesla. You can also call this being “peas in a pod.”

• Join team voice of reason: A student points out they have not talked at all about history, and they have learned nothing. You can also call this “calling it out.”

• Make things worse: A student points out they skipped taking the SATs because the teacher wanted them to not be stressed, and now no one can apply for college

• Weird World: The kids are all hyper worried about looking cool also, and the agree the teacher is the coolest

Maybe some of these are good ideas, but none of them are essential. They are micro rules. They’re not things that everyone teaches, and they’re not terms everyone uses.

Macro Strategy

There is only one general principle — one macro strategy — when it comes to playing the game of the scene.

If this is true, then what else is true.

That’s it! That’s the only one you NEED. It’s not specific. It doesn’t have a plan. But it’s the underlying rule behind every one of the micro strategies on my list.

In fact, some of the micro suggestions I gave above don’t satisfy this general principle. If a teacher is obsessed with being cool, it doesn’t really follow that the principal would be the same way. Skipping the SAT feels way too big — it doesn’t follow.

The micro rules are more actionable. But they’re not always right.

Students will depend on micro advice. A scene won’t work and they’ll say “But I joined team fool! I made things worse! I went to the environment!”

A better test is the macro principle: did you follow if this is true, what else is true? Did your moves feel true?

As a teacher, I depend too much on micro strategies. They give the illusion that improv is a formula and I have the answer. Micro strategies fool you into thinking if you memorize them, you can do improv.

I wonder what would happen if I taught a whole class with just the macro principles. What if I only gave these notes:

• Yes and

• Play to the top of your intelligence

• If this is true, what else is true?

And let the students decide how to execute them.

Would that set up students for more success?

Plugs, Ongoing

• High Functioning - Ian Roberts and I do an hour of improv EVERY SATURDAY 7pm at the UCB Annex. See this video for Ian and I showing you where the UCB Annex is.

• The World’s Greatest Improv School: The improv school I run with Jim Woods and Sarah Claspell. We’ve got classes online, in LA and even a few in NYC!

• How to Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth - My improv book, available at Amazon. Kindle or print. It’s a hodge-podge of advice I wrote in 2016 about doing improv. If you’re broke and want a free PDF version just email me and I’ll send it over.

• Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About Comics - Comic book podcast, hosted by my brother Kevin and I. We are covering a little-known 1985 comic Watchmen (yes, THAT Watchmen). Subscribe for bonus episodes!

• Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About The Beatles - monthly deep dive on a little known indie band from Liverpool called The Beatles. Subscribe for access to back episodes!