UW drama professor talks about how acting/improv skills can improve entrepreneurs’ pitches
UW drama professor Cathy Madden (fourth from right) poses with the CoMotion Labs tech+ members who participated in an improv workshop in May.
On May 15, Cathy Madden—a member of UW’s drama faculty since 1987—led a workshop at Startup Hall with the goal of imparting acting techniques that can help researchers and entrepreneurs improve their communication and presentation skills.
She led a group of CoMotion Labs members, who bravely got up in front of their peers, through a series of exercises designed to build mindfulness, awareness of the body and physical space, and connection between speaker and audience.
Madden spoke with CoMotion about a class she teaches on acting techniques for non-actors and tips for better presentations.
How do you define improv?
True improv is based on understanding the circumstances you’re in and making choices to advance a story. What you don’t have are defined words or a plot, and you’re making that up as you go along. Sometimes improv is aimed toward comedy and sometimes not.
What I teach are basic acting skills, which are great skills for anybody who’s in communication because you learn how to handle the curveballs that come up in any profession. Circumstances change; how do you respond to that constructively and create rapport with your audience?
A classic definition of acting is behaving truthfully in imaginary circumstances. Presentation is about behaving truthfully in everyday life, so there’s a commonality.
Cathy Madden, UW drama faculty since 1987.
How did you get into teaching non-actors?
It started in my private studio, when somebody would realize that something is interfering with their coordination or they’re not understanding the circumstances. I’ve also taught professional communicators who knew what they wanted to say but didn’t know how to define the circumstances.
My daughter is a scientist and her PhD program had given a talk on how to do scientific presentations. She was walking with her friends afterward and they were saying, ‘Well, that’s all well and good for other people but I couldn’t do that.’ But my daughter can, because I’ve been coaching her on acting and presentations throughout her career. So we started developing a course together on acting skills for professional presentations.
What do you emphasize when teaching to this audience?
I would say the word ‘invitation’ is central to communication. It does a number of things: It makes a community of the group and it offers free choice. Nobody has to accept an invitation, so you’re not forcing something on somebody, but rather inviting them into your world to share what you care about. That’s the function of the pitch.
Something I try to get non-actors to understand is that you don’t have to not be yourself in a presentation setting. You get to be you and find your own way to do it, not the way that somebody else would do it. When you’re not trying to fit into somebody else’s idea of a good presentation, suddenly there’s much more freedom and flexibility.
I also teach them that physical and vocal warmups are a good idea, for every presentation, every time. Hum and dance it out a little bit. Simple. To understand your instrument is important, and you are important.
What is it like teaching non-actors compared with drama students?
The center of my work with drama students is integrative Alexander Technique performance practice, which focuses on aligning the actor’s whole self—physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual—toward your goal, giving greater physical and vocal freedom and flexibility. I usually teach upperclassmen and grad students who’ve done this kind of coursework before.
For some of my non-actor students, that hasn’t been part of their academic experience. They’ve never been in a class where they sat in a circle, as part of a community, or where they were asked to get up in front of others and do stuff. We’re almost constantly moving through the space. When I taught on Zoom, I was getting everybody up and moving in their houses, and I go ‘no, I really mean stand up and move.’ If you know where you are and what you’re doing and who you’re inviting, everything comes together.
Madden typically teaches DRAMA 261, Acting Tools for Professional Presentation, once per year. Stay tuned for future collaborations with the drama department for Startup Hall members.