Let the situation decide

When the actor decides, you are always too late. Or too early. A decision made in your head is either a response to something that happened a moment ago, or a plan for something that has not happened yet. Either way, it is not now.

It helps to think of an improviser on stage as having two heads. The actor's head keeps the helicopter view. It is reactive: it watches the scene, your partners and the audience, and it is the safeguard that keeps everything safe. The character's head is inside the scene. That is where the thinking happens: wanting, choosing, deciding. Trouble starts when the actor's head takes over the decisions. It steps into a scene it is not part of, and its timing is always off.

This is the core difference between creating and discovering improv. In creating improv, the actors are the authors: they come up with ideas, invent twists and steer the scene where they think it should go. In discovering improv, the scene already knows where it wants to go. The actors' job is to notice it: what is the relationship, what does this moment ask for, what has just changed? Discovery beats invention.

That does not mean nobody decides anything. Characters make decisions all the time, but those decisions come out of the situation, not out of the actor's head. And when you do make a conscious choice, leave room for your partner to discover it.