Is "The Harold" for Improv Cheaters?

Group Mind Defined

In a broader sense group mind is a collective intelligence to which all have access. The concept is rooted in psychologist, Carl Jung's idea of a collective unconscious that all share. By the way, Carl Jung also introduced the idea of synchronicity and other models of thinking that turn chance into meaning.
More specific to improv, the term, in its most simplistic sense, is usually applied to mean everyone coming together from very different places, at the same time, with the same thought(s) - completing one another's sentences or anticipating a scene partner's next move.


Short Cuts (Or Cheating)?

Pre-show warm-ups are designed to encourage the emergence of group mind by eliciting open, receptive listening in the performers, while structures like The Harold, prime performers with a common set of rules and expectations, so each improviser knows what the show's basic structure will be ahead of time.
Furthermore, after practicing for a while, performers of a certain improv school of thought, aim to develop a menu of games that might be played out in a scene. Knowing the game enables the performer to quickly hone in on what is happening in a scene. But, does it lead to stereotypes and cliched scene work or, at the very least, scene work that is not as fresh and original as it would be without these contrivances?
Purists might say that pre-planned show structures and scene strategies, and the experiences they yield for the audience and performers, is no more a testament to the existence of a group mind than a "paint by numbers set" is an indication of artistic talent.
It's true that human animals like to categorize and make assumptions. Perhaps we can't help ourselves most of the time. We see a blond girl in a college sorority and our minds immediately label/categorize/stereotype. Once those initial judgments are in place, its much harder, and we often lack the inclination to, dig deeper than our our shallow, often false, initial appraisals.
Which begs the question: Do improv scenes suffer the same fate, when artificial structures and strategies cause performers to make snap judgments?


by Israel Savage.
original article:
http://improvisationnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=545:is-qthe-haroldq-for-improv-cheaters&catid=23:mind&Itemid=42