- "Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers."
A type of improv that focuses on creating serious or dramatic scenes or stories.
The Basics of Improvisation: This includes learning the fundamental principles, rules, and techniques of improvisational theater, such as the "yes, and" rule, staying in the moment, supporting your fellow actors, and avoiding blocking.
Improv Games & Exercises: These exercises are designed to improve your quick thinking, creativity, and strengthen your ability to collaborate with others. Some examples may include "zip, zap, zop," "the mirror game," and "yes, let's.".
Character Development: In improvisation, being able to create and play convincing characters on the spot is crucial. Developing character's backstory, personality, and physicality will be taught.
Storytelling: Improvisational theater is at its core about creating stories from scratch. Learning how to build a narrative arc, incorporate suspense, and create conflict will improve your improvisation and storytelling skills.
Scene Work: This is where the skills from the previous topics come together. You'll learn how to set up a scene, initiate with your scene partner, and improvise dialogue, emotions, and character relationships in real-time.
Improv Formats: There are many different styles and formats of improvisation such as short-form, long-form, and genre-based. Learning about each format will help you find what interests you as a performer.
Performance Skills: The final step is to learn how to perform in front of an audience. You will learn how to engage the audience, take risks, and be a confident performer on stage.
Embracing Failure & Building Resilience: Improvisation is not about being perfect, but learning to take risks and make mistakes. Being resilient is critical to an improviser's success, and learning how to embrace failure and learn from it is essential.
Ethics and Safety: Essential rules such as giving consent, supporting your fellow performers, and respecting boundaries are important to understand.
Team Building: Improvisational theatre is a collaborative art, and team-building exercises that teach trust, respect, and communication will be emphasized.
Short-form improv: Short form improvisation involves a series of games and exercises that require the improvisers to perform and create scenes or stories based on audience suggestions.
Long-form improv: Long-form improv involves creating an entire play or sketch comedy show on the spot. This requires a larger degree of collaboration and improvisation skills.
Musical improv: Musical improv involves improvising songs and lyrics on the spot. Performers have to be skilled in improvising lyrics and melody in a range of musical genres, from jazz to rock to hip-hop.
Improv poetry: This form requires poets to spontaneously create poems. The storytellers have to generate a whole poetic narrative on the spot based on prompts.
Improv comedy: This is a popular improvisational theatre form that involves comic improvisation. Performers have to create jokes, characters, and stories on the spot. It is usually characterized by humor and wit.
Improv drama: Improv drama is an improvisational theatre format that is focused more on serious, dramatic themes. Performers are tasked to create scenes and tell stories in a serious or emotive setting.
Improv storytelling: In this format of improvised drama, a storyteller typically tells a story, and then other players create spontaneous scenes based on the story's content. This format tends to lean towards a more dramatic performances.
- "In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script."
- "Improvisational theatre exists in performance as a range of styles of improvisational comedy as well as some non-comedic theatrical performances."
- "It is sometimes used in film and television, both to develop characters and scripts and occasionally as part of the final product."
- "Improvisational techniques are often used extensively in drama programs to train actors for stage, film, and television and can be an important part of the rehearsal process."
- "However, the skills and processes of improvisation are also used outside the context of performing arts."
- "This practice, known as applied improvisation, is used in classrooms as an educational tool and in businesses as a way to develop communication skills, creative problem solving, and supportive team-work abilities that are used by improvisational, ensemble players."
- "It is sometimes used in psychotherapy as a tool to gain insight into a person's thoughts, feelings, and relationships."
- "Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv..."
- "Most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers."
- "The dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time..."
- "Improvisational theatre exists in performance as a range of styles of improvisational comedy as well as some non-comedic theatrical performances."
- "In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script."
- "To develop characters and scripts and occasionally as part of the final product."
- "Improvisational techniques are often used extensively in drama programs to train actors for stage, film, and television and can be an important part of the rehearsal process."
- "Develop communication skills, creative problem solving, and supportive team-work abilities that are used by improvisational, ensemble players."
- "It is sometimes used in psychotherapy as a tool to gain insight into a person's thoughts, feelings, and relationships."
- "Develop communication skills, creative problem solving, and supportive team-work abilities that are used by improvisational, ensemble players."
- "Without use of an already prepared, written script."
- "Improvisational techniques are often used extensively in drama programs to train actors for stage, film, and television and can be an important part of the rehearsal process."