Improvisation Chapter 19

We wrote the dialogue for the play with improvisation and a tape recorder. The best way to do this is to know your objective in the scene. We set up the structure of the scene, what we wanted in the scene to accomplish and what each individual character wants in the scene even if the character was not conscious of it.

By doing it over and over and editing as we went along we were able to write some really dynamic dialogue. As we both had opposite objectives it created the conflict that made it a pretty good piece of theater to the few that came for the run of the show.

Because we had no money for publicity and we were only able to charge $2.50, which were equity rules and I was a member now, I didn't get back the money I laid out. But it was a very creative experience and would benefit me some day.

By the way, the director took full credit for the writing which at the time I didn't oppose because he was a tremendous help in getting the show up. But he was able to sell the script a few years later and he eventually received 6 figures for the script and my girl friend and I received nothing for it.