I've been studying improv
for several months now. Tonight in my class I found out that another school has
a strict policy against playing characters of the opposite gender (the school I
attend does not). I don't know if I'm allowed to curse in this blog, so let's
just say that I think that policy is no good. Here are the Top 10 Reasons
Gender Shouldn't Matter in Improv:
10) Sexist much?
9) What a weird policy.
Until I heard that, the idea that that policy would exist somewhere never even
crossed my mind.
8) I think of improv as
similar to writing, it's just collaborative writing in front of an audience.
Writers write characters of both genders... so why not play them?
7) Playing characters only
of your own gender is limiting. What next? Playing characters of only your age?
Your occupation? (A Harold where all the characters are 20-something actors
would be pretty boring.)
6) Improv is all about
making choices and going with what inspires you. If I'm watching a scene and
it's a perfect time for the dad to show up, it wouldn't help the piece for me
to just stand on the sidelines and let that opportunity go by because I am not a
man.
5) Improv teams are not
necessarily made up of the exact right number of male and female players to
have everyone play a character of his/her own gender in a scene.
4) Improv is acting. You
don't have to be a drug addict to play one, so why do you need to be a man to
play one?
3) Improv is all about
imagination. There are no sets, no props and no costumes. If a girl in jeans
and a t-shirt can play a believable ballerina, why would she not be believable
as a frat boy?
2) Some may argue that women
shouldn't play male characters and vice versa because it would confuse the
audience, but the audience never seems to have a problem with people playing
robots, aliens, trees, or any other non-humans.
1) As far back as
Shakespeare's time (maybe farther back, I don't know), men were playing female
characters, so this policy feels very misogynistic... sort of a "polite"
way to say women aren't capable of playing male characters because women aren't
funny.
I don’t know what school prohibits playing the opposite gender but I doubt it’s a “policy” or even sexist in nature. I study at UCB and they have their methods, structures and improv rules for their reasons. The same must be true at this other place. I think they are just trying to keep their scenes contained somehow. The important question to ask is: “Is that rule conducive to more successful and funnier scenes?” Like you, I say probably not.
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