The Applied Improvisation Mindset: Tools for Transforming Organizations and Communities How can the practice of improvisation become the lens through which we view the world? The Applied Improvisation Mindset takes readers deep into the maturing field of Applied Improvisation (AI), with stories of 18 practitioners from five countries who embrace an improvisation mindset to create a more collaborative, equitable, sustainable, and joyous world. Myriad organizations have discovered how the mindset and skills applied by great improvisers onstage can reveal emergent, generative ways of interacting with others offstage. With case studies on developing presentation skills, reducing anxiety in teens, or preparing climate risk managers across the globe for the challenges ahead, this second volume serves as a valuable resource for both experienced and new AI facilitators. It is a primer for higher education and K-12 faculty combatting traditional teaching limitations and a practical “how to” for theatre practitioners, artists, educators, or anyone seeking to transform their organizations and communities.

Therapeutic Improvisation: How to Stop Winging It and Own It as a Therapist Putting together what you learned in grad school and beyond into a coherent voice that is both personalized and professional. As a new or seasoned therapist, it’s so hard to make transformational moments out of all that’s being thrown at you in sessions. You’re just winging it, but deep down you know there’s a way to make your sessions more dynamic and intentionally responsive. This book shows how to develop a keen ear and sharp eye for the many changes coming your way.        Examples from music, movies, and literature will illustrate how the scientific principles of interpersonal neurobiology can help you claim your artistry as a therapist. This inspiring and informative book will help you find your voice and navigate the complexities and joys of the mysterious relationship that is therapy itself. Supervisors and new clinicians alike will be refreshed by the innovative vision of mental health practice as having a flexible and creative capacity.

Medical Improv: A New Way to Improve Communication Applied improvisors have critical knowledge and skills that are needed in healthcare. Many want to help make our hospitals, doctor’s offices, and clinics safer and more compassionate. AND, the medical/nursing world desperately needs the ‘soft’ skills that applied improv can help us with. In order to most effectively apply improv in healthcare settings, it is important to understand common cultures and human dynamics that persist in the USA and other countries. This special edition will help improvisors be more effective in healthcare as they learn: – How ‘soft’ skills impact critical outcomes such as; patient safety, patient experience, workforce health, and cost-effectiveness.- Barriers to developing ‘soft’ skills such as; blaming or bullying cultures, relentless high-stakes, high-stress work, toxic hierarchies, and emotional risk.- The language we use in describing these problems.- Facilitation, debriefing tips, and dialogue examples that depict improv activities unfolding in a medical and nursing context.The original book was written and continues to sell as a train the trainer resource for healthcare professionals so that they can bring fundamental activities into their organizations. The author hopes this cost-effective edition will answer questions improvisors have and empower them to move this important…

Children with strong social-emotional skills are better able to cope with everyday challenges and benefit academically, professionally, and socially. But the benefits that can be derived from these skills can only be seen if children are given the opportunity to develop them.This accessible guide helps teach children to participate in social-emotional learning. Offering fun group activities including social skill-based improv games, participant written plays, and basic plays that can be transformed using the creative minds of children themselves. To increase participant comfort levels with these activities, the book allows for a graduated exposure of techniques, starting with improv trust building and joint focus games, and progressing to improvisation and writing sketches.Featuring additional downloadable content, including worksheets and lesson plans for classroom use, this is the perfect companion for educators and therapists.

Improv to Improve Your Leadership Team: Tear Down Walls and Build Bridges You’re a leader with a problem. There’s a fungus-like growth in your organizational culture you can no longer ignore. It starts slowly with a few people feeling maligned and/or excluded, spreads resentment, leads to disengagement, and finally…resignations. What a nightmare! But WAIT! You have stumbled onto the exact solution you need! With this book, you can QUICKLY discover how to use the principles of applied improvisational exercises from the arts to help teams effectively connect and communicate, creatively problem-solve, increase workplace safety and employee retention, and guarantee client and stakeholder satisfaction. It’s all contained here.

Improv to Improve Healthcare: A System for Creative Problem-Solving Healthcare organizations cry out for a tool to decrease untoward events and bridge the communication gap between professional clinician teams and clients. Discover how to guide your team to creatively problem-solve, build emotional and social intelligence, increase workplace safety and employee retention, and guarantee client satisfaction with the results-don’t-lie Improv to Improve Healthcare system.

You Can’t Learn Improv From a Book is a guidebook of creativity and exploration. In this insightful manual, you will embark on the exciting adventure of teaching improvisation to high school students. Improv isn’t just about laughter and quick thinking; it’s a powerful tool for fostering teamwork, boosting confidence, and unlocking the untapped potential within each student. Get ready to watch your students not only embrace the spontaneity of the moment but also develop crucial life skills such as communication, adaptability, and creative problem-solving. The chapters ahead serve as a compass, guiding you through the dynamics of teaching improv and offering a toolbox of ideas to make each lesson engaging and memorable.

An A to Z of Improvisational Terms, Techniques, and Tools The Improv Dictionary: An A to Z of Improvisational Terms, Techniques, and Tools explores improvisational approaches and concepts drawn from a multitude of movements and schools of thought to enhance spontaneous and collaborative creativity. This accessible resource reveals and interrogates the inherited wisdoms contained in the very words we use to describe modern improv. Each detailed definition goes beyond the obvious clichés and seeks a nuanced and inclusive understanding of how art of the moment can be much more than easy laughs and cheap gags (even when it is being delightfully irreverent and wildly funny). This encyclopedic work pulls from a wide array of practitioners and practices, finding tensions and commonalities from styles as diverse as Theatresports, Comedysportz, the Harold, narrative long-form, Playback Theatre, and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. Entries include nuanced definitions, helpful examples, detailed explorations of the concepts in practice, and framing quotes from a leading practitioner or inspirational artistic voice. The Improv Dictionary offers valuable insights to novice improvisers taking their first steps in the craft, seasoned performers seeking to unlock the next level of abandon, instructors craving a new comprehensive resource, and scholars working in one of…

A solid theoretical basis, tested in the daily practice of its authors and the groups to which they belong. A clear, structured and defined system for use by both experienced and novice people.

The Improv IllusionistUsing Object Work, Environment, and Physicality in Performance Object work, environment and physicality are essential for improvisational theatre. Skilled improvisers can draw audiences into the performance by helping them see things that aren’t there. The Improv Illusionist is the first book dedicated to physical improv. It reveals why these skills are so important, how to fix bad habits that develop over time and practical techniques for being more physical on stage. The book features over 50 exercises to help improvisers develop their skills through solo and group work. Instructors will also find notes and tips for teaching physical improv.Improvisers of all ages and experience levels will learn how to: * become more playful through exploring physical activity;* eliminate miscommunication with other players by adding precision to object work;* get new ideas for scenes by exploring the environment and activities;* develop an eye for real-world detail and how to reproduce it in improv;* add more visual flair to scenes;* stay safe, both physically and emotionally, in shows, rehearsals and classesEven the most seasoned improv performers often struggle to be more physical, so this book fills an important niche in improv actor training.