Group Mind in Improv Theater
(or the Inspired Cannibal)

(Katie, Jeff and Rachel Pan - 2011)

Group mind is often spoken of in improv theater with an almost whispered awe. The members grok each other and the group.

Group mind is what makes long form improv theater possible. It all relates to and emerges from the basic improv ideas and games: the mirror, and speaking in one voice, following the follower, and give and take. 

All of the basic improv theater skills merge in the performers and in the team to form a troupe.

Group mind is the ability of an improv team to intuitively react to each other. Troupe members can lead and follow at the same time instinctively.

It allows a group to instantly support a new idea, and heighten a theme or moment without conversation or preplanning. 

At the heart of group mind is listening to each other as a group, and reacting as one.

Of the various improv theater groups I’ve watched, been part of, or coached – the 

After troupe developed this ability much faster than most. Their improv theater shows exhibited the constant strengthening of group mind.

The group consciousness of an improv troupe grows and strengthens with show. In the Inspired Cannibal episode of Tonight’s Town the performers from the  Afters were a pleasure to watch, and direct.

The character the main character of the episode Ethan the Inspired Cannibal, as his name would suggest, eats a lot. He eventually eats himself into a coma. 

The show’s final moment and the group’s final eulogy to Ethan was a cannibalistic feast of Ethan as his body reached its final moments and he saw the light. 

The entire scene worked because of the group mind. The performers all worked off of each other and were in the same space.

The scene, and the idea of group mind reminds me of Stranger in a Strange land. I think it is a very good book for anyone interested in improv theater and anyone interested in group mind. 

You grok?