The Opening

In Harolds, you have a part called "The Opening." For years I've been referring to that as "Ideation." I call it that because that's the function of the opening as I see it: It is to generate ideas.

Before I started calling it that, I noticed a tendency amongst improvisers in shows I saw. They would take a suggestion and then do an opening, but from what I could tell, the opening had little to no bearing on their improvised scenework. As a result, ignoring their opening made their opening a futile inclusion in their Harold. Their opening was rendered pointless.

A dramatic approach to Harolds necessitates that each part included in the Harold has a function. So, your opening had better have some function in the Harold, else it is worth considering chucking. But chucking something from an honored form is not something you want to do recklessly. I see the situation akin to staging a play: You don't willynilly cut parts of plays just because you don't understand them; instead, you seek understanding why they're included, and if you really can't find an answer, then you consider cutting.

Since the opening is seen as necessary, what is its function in the Harold? The function of the opening is to generate ideas. These ideas are generated from the suggestion, for the Harold. The improvisers thus gain "a pool of ideas" from which to pull when they improvise. They don't have to continually invent as they're onstage. Instead, they merely need to pluck ideas from the pool to use in their scenes. This makes the opening very, very important to the Harold, not something to be ignored.

It is the pool of ideas generated during ideation that generally dictates the Harold. Ideally, every idea generated during ideation is used in the Harold, and furthermore, every idea connects with every other idea. "Every idea connects." No idea is wasted, forgotten, or disregarded. Every idea is revered. Improvisers are obligated to find ways to connect ideas over the course of the Harold.

So lest you forget the importance of an opening, refer to it as Ideation and you won't forget. The opening is there for you to generate ideas for use in your improvised scenework.