There's a scene in the stellar 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse where one of the Spider characters is looking to steal data from the head scientist. He's told that the it's the woman who's the head scientist, not the man at the computer.

Peter B. Parker then moves forward with his plan, saying, "Cool, step three, I re-examine my personal biases."

Bias in scenes

It's deceptively easy how unconscious biases creep into our everyday (or superhero) life, including improv. They just happen, without our meaning them to.

Sometimes, it can be the result of coming onto the stage with an idea already in our head, and being unable to let go of it. For example, coming into the scene with the idea that you are two bros fishing. Even if (when) the scene turns out to be something else, you may still be holding onto the idea that your scene partner is the bro you originally intended.

Oftentimes, however, even in patient, character-driven scene where we are paying attention to the gifts on the stage, we can succumb to pigeonholing characters. In its simplest form, unconscious bias is automatically assuming stereotypical expectations on characters based on their gender, race, sexual orientation, etc.

Consider:

• How many times do we have a couple at home, and automatically assume it's a man and a woman?
• How frequently then do we end up with the woman making food in the kitchen?
• In boss/employee scenes, how often is the boss automatically assumed to be a man?
• How often do we end up in prison / criminal scenes when there a POC improvisor on stage?
• Is the older improviser often named as "grandma" or "grandpa"?

In any one scene, these kinds of choices aren't inherently wrong. But in the aggregate, across all our scenes and shows, we can be propping up negative or hurtful stereotypes of people. Even worse, we could be confining our scene partners into on-stage roles they don't want to be in.

Why it matters

I don't want to delve into the current political discussion around DEI. There's a straightforward, practical reason to examine our unconscious biases: it makes for better improv.

These biases are limiting, they can frustrate your scene partners, and (perhaps most essentially) they keep us from being open in the moment to the gifts on stage. Which is, of course, a fundamental aspect of our art form.

This post grew out of a post I saw on Reddit in r/improv:

I'm about to start my third class, and while people have been accepting and I've enjoyed the experience, the times when someone casts me in a male role can sting a bit. Not because I necessarily think they're being malicious but because of the whole "is their gut reaction just to put me in that role because of how they perceive me?" fear.

I know this feeling. It's one I still get sometimes, and it doesn't feel good. I've heard from others — women, POC, LGBTQIA+ — that they also feel this frustration. That the part of ourselves which is outside of the white cis hetero male experience can be difficult to express on stage as we would like.

Getting out of the rut

Assuming that you're still with me and want to work towards removing biases from your improv, let's take a look at how we might do that.

Have the Conversations

I get it. This is the most straightforward approach, but can also be the most difficult. Conversations about race, gender, sexual orientation (and more) can be awkward. But it needs to happen. If you feel you can't have these discussions with your team, then I suggest something is wrong with the group's dynamic and needs to be addressed.

Assuming your team isn't all straight, white, cisgendered guys, you all will have a lot of different experiences and points-of-view on what feels like bias to each of you. So share!

One of the most incredible, eye-opening conversations was when a Black improviser on my first team sat down and shared what it was like for her being on the stage with only white performers all the time. I'm so grateful to her, even 10 years later because it started me down the path to becoming a more dynamic improviser, open to new ways of exploring characters & scenes.

Let people choose their own identities

This may seem like an obvious one, but how often do we let our scene partners do this? And by identity here, I mean the demographic of the character: gender, orientation, etc.

Yes, we want to give gifts to each other, but consider that the best gifts are ones of:

• Emotion
• Point-of-view
• Need / Desire / Motivation
• Sub-text

Instead of rushing to call someone "Mom" or "Mr. So-and-so" focus instead of your feelings toward the other character, what you want from them, and how their actions affect you. Let you scene partner adopt their own identity and let the scene progress from there. You may have a great idea, but it won't go far if your scene partner is in their head because you've labeled them something they don't like being.

Be intentional

Just spending time thinking about how you do improv, reviewing your show videos (yes, that's absolutely essential to growing as an improviser, no matter how much you don't like it), and coming onto the stage with some clear intentions before every practice or show will take a long ways.

At CATCh, we advocate for slower dialogue on stage, so why not take a breath and ask yourself:

• Do I want to label my female scene partner as a secretary, wife, or other "traditional" role?
• Why am I assuming the gender of my scene partner's spouse?
• Which teammates am I more likely to call a criminal, drug dealer, or say is in prison?

I get it, we come to improv to get away from the stresses of the world we live in: political, cultural, etc. But I would encourage you to not think of this work as being part of an "agenda", other than a plot to help your team become stronger, more dynamic, and less stagnant & predictable in scenes. Plus, the more we all feel comfortable being on stage, the more fun and satisfaction we get from playing with each other.