Improv: Art or Craft?

I saw The Reckoning last night.  They're so good.  They just are.  It's the way they identify a theme without it seeming forced and they just play the shit out of every aspect of that theme they can think of.  They don't plan out the scenes in their head, it's obvious, they just play the character in each situation.  These are hard things for me to do.  Sometimes, NOTHING happens in their scenes, but the characters are engaging enough that it's fantastic!  Example; 2 women talking very snobbishly about "the people down there" refferring to the peasants below.  One woman obviously does not know a whole lot about them and is asking questions.  The other woman, who seems to know more about them just talks about them as though they were highly developed ants.  The whole scene was just this game of 'What is that woman going to say NEXT?!  She's so mean...'  There were a couple of moments that could have been construed as disconnect, but because these players have on their game hats, everything is accepted, they never "call out" the other people, it's all within the piece.  It's obvious that the IO is artsy.  Everything is a Piece meant to show the audience something, meant to make them think in a new way, which is in no way a bad thing, and yes, the groups that have been stellar have made me think about some theme in a new way or about a situation differently, but I haven't decided yet for myself if I think improv is an ART.  

            The way Gellman is teaching us at Second City is that it's a CRAFT.  It's a way for actors to experiment with character that has turned into a way to play together.  It can be honed and taught.  Art is created with a vision in mind.  Improv is a skill.  Don't read into it so much, folks.  He says that's why there are unions for it.  Being that acting and improv are essentially the same thing.  Improvisers are actors, if they're not, then they're no good and it's obvious.

            I haven't decided for myself yet.  I realize as I'm writing it, this would be a far more interesting blog if I could definitively state for myself "I BELIEVE XYZ..." but I can't just yet.  Maybe it's the difference between the skill portion and the, ahem, magic (?) that steps improv up to the level of greatness.  Some brain function that skips and frolics from one lobe to the next, allowing humans to suspend reality if only for 15 minutes and pretend within the realm of fact and then beyond into a world of unimaginables.  Either way, I like it.  I'm still enjoying it.  

Thanks for reading

Lis