Improvisation

=**Improvisation**=


 * Improvisational theatre** takes many forms. It is best known as **improv** or **impro,** which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational [|actors] /improvisers use [|improvisational] acting techniques to perform spontaneously. Improvisers typically use [|audience] suggestions to contribute to the content and direction of the performance as they create [|dialogue], setting, and plot extemporaneously. Other forms of improvisational theatre training and performance techniques are [|experimental] and Avant-garde [|[1]] in nature and not necessarily intended to be [|comedic] . These include [|Playback Theatre] and [|Theatre of the Oppressed] , the [|Poor Theatre] , [|the Open Theatre] , to name only a few.

Many actors, who work with scripts in stage, film or television, use improvisation in their rehearsal process. "Improv" techniques are often taught in standard acting classes. Some of the basic skills improvisation teaches actors are to listen and be aware of the other players, to have clarity in communication, and confidence to find choices instinctively and spontaneously. Knowing how to improvise off the script helps actors find life-like choices in rehearsal and to then keep the quality of discovery in the present moment in their performance, as well.

Origins
Improvised performance is as old as performance itself. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, [|Commedia dell'arte] performers improvised based on a broad outline in the streets of Italy and in the 1890s theatrical theorists and directors such as [|Konstantin Stanislavski] and [|Jacques Copeau], founders of two major streams of acting theory, both heavily utilised improvisation in acting training and rehearsal. [|[3]]

While some people credit [|Dudley Riggs] as the first [|vaudevillian] to use audience suggestions to create improvised sketches, modern theatrical improvisation is generally accepted to have taken form in the classroom with the [|theatre games] of Viola Spolin in the 1940s and [|Keith Johnstone] in the 1970s. These rehearsal-room activities evolved quickly into an independent artform that many consider worthy of presentation before a paying audience.

Spolin can probably be considered the American Grandmother of Improv. She influenced the first generation of Improv at [|The Compass Players] in Chicago, which led to [|The Second City]. Her son, [|Paul Sills], along with [|David Shepherd] , started The Compass Players. Following the demise of the Compass Players, Paul Sills began The Second City. They were among the first organized troupes in Chicago, Illinois and from their success, the modern Chicago improvisational comedy movement was spawned. [|[4]] [|[5]]

Much of the current "rules" of comedic improv were first formalized in Chicago in the late 1950s and early 1960s, initially among The Compass Players troupe. From most accounts David Shepherd provided the philosophical vision of the Compass Players, while [|Elaine May] was central to the development of the premises for its improvisations. [|Mike Nichols], Ted Flicker, and [|Del Close] were her most frequent collaborators in this regard. When The Second City opened its doors on December 16, 1959, Viola Spolin began training new improvisers through a series of classes and exercises which became the cornerstone of modern improv training. By the mid 1960s, Viola Spolin's classes were handed over to her protégé, [|Jo Forsberg], who further developed Spolin's methods into a one-year course, which eventually became [|The Players Workshop] , the first official school of improvisation in the USA. During this time Jo Forsberg trained many of the performers who went on to star on The Second City stage. [|[4]] [|[5]]

Many of the original cast of // [|Saturday Night Live] // came from The Second City and the franchise has produced such comedy stars as [|Mike Myers], [|Tina Fey] , [|Bob Odenkirk] , [|Amy Sedaris] , [|Stephen Colbert] , [|Eugene Levy] , [|Steve Carell] , [|Chris Farley] , [|Dan Aykroyd] and [|John Belushi].

Simultaneously, Keith Johnstone's group //The Theatre Machine//, which originated in [|London], was touring Europe. This work gave birth to [|Theatresports], at first secretly in Johnstone's workshops, and eventually in public when he moved to Canada. [|Toronto] has been home to a rich improv tradition.

In 1984 [|Dick Chudnow] (//Kentucky Fried Theater//) founded [|ComedySportz] in [|Milwaukee], WI. Expansion began with the addition of ComedySportz-Madison (WI), in 1985. The first Comedy League of America National Tournament was held in 1988, with 10 teams participating. The league is now known as World Comedy League and boasts a roster of 21 international cities. In San Francisco, [|The Committee] theater was active during the 1960s.

When [|The Committee] disbanded in 1972, Three major companies were formed: The Pitchell Players, The Wing, and Improvisation Inc, Improv, Inc. being the only company continuing to perform Del’s “Original” Harold. In 1976, two former Improv-Inc members, Michael Bossier and John Elk, formed Spaghetti Jam, performing Short-Form improv and Harolds in San Francisco’s famous Old Spaghetti Factory through 1983. Stand-Up comedians performing down the street at the [|Intersection for the Arts] would drop by and sit in. “ [|Improv Comedy] ” was born. In 1979 John Elk brought Short-Form to England, teaching workshops at [|Jacksons Lane] Theatre and was the first American to perform at [|The Comedy Store, London], above a Soho strip club.

Modern political improvisation's roots include [|Jerzy Grotowski] 's work in Poland during the late 1950s and early 1960s, [|Peter Brook] 's "happenings" in England during the late 1960s, [|Augusto Boal] 's "Forum Theatre" in South America in the early 1970s, and San Francisco's [|The Diggers] ' work in the 1960s. Some of this work led to pure improvisational performance styles, while others simply added to the theatrical vocabulary and were, on the whole, avant garde experiments.

[|Joan Littlewood], the English actress and director who was active from the 1930s to 1970s, made extensive use of improv in developing plays for performance. However she was successfully prosecuted twice for allowing her actors to improvise in performance. Until 1968, British law required scripts to be approved by the [|Lord Chamberlain's Office]. The department also sent inspectors to some performances to check that the approved script was complied with exactly.

Improvisation in film and television
Many directors have made use of improvisation in the creation of both main-stream and experimental films. Many [|silent filmmakers] such as [|Charlie Chaplin] and [|Buster Keaton] used improvisation in the making of their films, developing their gags while filming and altering the [|plot] to fit. The [|Marx Brothers] were notorious for deviating from the script they were given, their [|ad libs] often becoming part of the standard routine and making their way into their films. Many people, however, make a distinction between ad libbing and improvising.

The British director [|Mike Leigh] makes extensive use of improvisation in the creation of his films, including improvising important moments in the characters lives that will not even appear in the film. // [|This Is Spinal Tap] // and other [|mockumentary] films of director [|Christopher Guest] are created with a mix of scripted and unscripted material and // [|Blue in the Face] // is a 1995 comedy directed by Wayne Wang and Paul Auster created in part by the improvisations filmed during the production of their movie Smoke.

Improv comedy techniques have also been used in television and [|stand-up comedy], in hit shows such as the recent [|HBO] television show // [|Curb Your Enthusiasm] // created by [|Larry David] , the UK Channel 4 and ABC television series // [|Whose Line Is It Anyway] (and its spinoffs [|Drew Carey's Green Screen Show] and [|Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza] ),// Nick Cannon's improv comedy show // [|Wild 'N Out] //, and // [|Thank God You're Here] //. In Canada, the long-running series // [|Train 48] // was improvised from scripts which contained a minimal outline of each scene. The American show Reno 911! also contained improvised dialogue based on a plot outline.

Psychology of improvisational theatre
In the field of the Psychology of [|Consciousness], [|Eberhard Scheiffele] explored the altered state of consciousness experienced by actors and improvisers in his scholarly paper: [|Acting: an altered state of consciousness]. According to G. WIlliam Farthing in "The Psychology of Consciousness"(see [|comparative study] ), actors (in performance, drama classes, or in psychodrama) routinely enter into an altered state of consciousness (ASC). Acting is seen as altering most of the 14 dimensions of changed subjective experience which characterize ASCs according to Farthing, namely: attention, perception, imagery and fantasy, inner speech, memory, higher-level thought processes, meaning or significance of experiences, time experience, emotional feeling and expression, level of arousal, self-control, suggestibility, body image, and sense of personal identity.

Improv process
Improvisational theatre allows an interactive relationship with the audience. Improv groups frequently solicit suggestions from the audience as a source of inspiration, a way of getting the audience involved, and as a means of proving that the performance is not scripted. That charge is sometimes aimed at the masters of the art, whose performances can seem so detailed that viewers may suspect the scenes were planned.

In order for an improvised [|scene] to be successful, the improvisers involved must work together responsively to define the parameters and action of the scene, in a process of [|co-creation]. With each spoken word or action in the scene, an improviser makes an //offer//, meaning that he or she defines some element of the reality of the scene. This might include giving another character a name, identifying a relationship, location, or using [|mime] to define the physical environment. These activities are also known as //endowment//. It is the responsibility of the other improvisers to accept the offers that their fellow performers make; to not do so is known as [|blocking], negation, or denial, which usually prevents the scene from developing. Some performers may deliberately block (or otherwise break out of character) for comedic effect—this is known as //gagging//-- but this generally prevents the scene from advancing and is frowned upon by many improvisers. Accepting an offer is usually accompanied by adding a new offer, often building on the earlier one; this is a process improvisers refer to as //"Yes, And..."// and is considered the cornerstone of improvisational technique. Every new piece of information added helps the improvisers to refine their characters and progress the action of the scene.

The unscripted nature of improv also implies no predetermined knowledge about the [|props] that might be useful in a scene. Improv companies may have at their disposal some number of readily accessible props that can be called upon at a moment's notice, but many improvisers eschew props in favor of the infinite possibilities available through [|mime]. In improv, this is more commonly known as 'space object work' or 'space work', not 'mime', and the props and locations created by this technique, as 'space objects'. As with all improv //offers//, improvisers are encouraged to respect the validity and continuity of the imaginary environment defined by themselves and their fellow performers; this means, for example, taking care not to walk through the table or "miraculously" survive multiple bullet wounds from another improviser's gun.

In tune with the unscripted nature, several techniques have arisen with which help improvisers to avoid prescripted jokes to arise in their scenes. One such technique is known as "rolphing." This is the process which is sometimes referred to as "vomiting words," and consists of starting with a sound as opposed to a full word. Once the sound is projected, the improviser is forced to come up with a word related to the sound, often surprising even the speaker himself. This technique is not so often used in scene however, as it may break the reality of a scene. Instead, it is often used in preliminary work, setting up a scene, giving the improviser an unexpected and unpredictable scene.

Because improvisers may be required to play a variety of roles without preparation, they need to be able to construct characters quickly with physicality, [|gestures], [|accents] , [|voice] changes, or other techniques as demanded by the situation. The improviser may be called upon to play a character of a different age or sex. Character motivations are an important part of successful improv scenes, and improvisers must therefore attempt to act according to the objectives that they believe their character seeks.

Keith Johnstone and Improvisational Theatre
Keith Johnstone’s work at the Royal Court Theatre in the late 1950s is seen as the foundational framework for contemporary improvisational theatre today. Heavily influenced by the teaching methods of Anthony Stirling, Johnstone set out to rediscover the imaginative world of childhood, the origins of creativity and spontaneity, and the ability to tell stories in an attempt to shift what he saw as the ‘pretentiousness’ of theatre to something much less dependent on intellect.[// [|citation needed] //]

Johnstone’s work highly criticized what he saw as the negative impact the education system has on the creative mind. He felt the classroom suppressed spontaneity, as the child who was spontaneous was often more difficult to control and to mould. Schools taught children to respond intellectually to poetry (for example) and not emotionally, we are taught to believe that great ideas come from those who are intelligent, and we forget that inspiration is not intellectual.[// [|citation needed] //] Thus his teaching methods often seem paradoxical – Johnstone is often famous for asking his students to ‘be boring’, ‘be obvious’. Johnstone therefore tried to develop and rediscover the creativity that had been suppressed at school.
 * Thoughts on Education:**

Status is central to Johnstone’s theories on what constitutes ‘ordinary conversation’. After seeing Stanislavsky’s production of “The Cherry Orchard”, his conclusion was that the actors were naturalistic in a theatrical way but not like in real life. He emphasized the character’s status relationship over character motives, when creating an ‘authentic’ conversation on stage. He concludes that every inflection and movement implies a status and the audience gains pleasure when they see the status of each character on stage constantly being switched or “ejected”. Spontaneity: Johnstone felt that the intellectual mind, or the process of thinking and rationalization, was one of the main reasons why an individual is unable to be spontaneous or creative on stage. He believes that many students block their imaginations through ‘editing’ and the fear of being ‘un-original’. The attempt to be original, through thinking, creates a less interesting idea. He thus encourages the obvious idea or the first thing that comes to mind as the key to effective improvisation.
 * Status:**

Johnstone’s exercises for developing spontaneity and the overall the improving of improvisation skills are used in almost every teaching institute for improvisational theatre. Here are two well known games:
 * Games:**

//-Blind Offers// This game is designed encourage students to justify their (or in this case, someone else’s) actions after they have done it, as opposed to thinking about something and then acting on the thought. Person A strikes a pose, then Person B photographs him. Person B lies on the ground, Person A mimes shoveling earth onto him. Person A jumps up and down, Person B says “I can’t believe your mother gave you those skittles”. And the cycle continues.

//-Word At A Time:// Students stand in a circle, and proceed to tell a story one word at a time. This game develops the ability to speak the first word that comes into your head. Johnstone states that this game makes it seem like some other force is telling the story. In order, the dialogue come out like this as an example - “There” – spoken by the first person, “was” – said by second person,“once” - third person,“a” - fourth person,“child” - fifth “named” – sixth, “biff” - seventh person … and in this way the story continues, being created by the whole group together.