Alan Alda has been on a decades-long journey to discover new ways to help people communicate and relate to one another more effectively. If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? is the warm, witty, and informative chronicle of how Alda found inspiration in everything from cutting-edge science to classic acting methods. His search began when he was host of PBS’s Scientific American Frontiers, where he interviewed thousands of scientists and developed a knack for helping them communicate complex ideas in ways a wide audience could understand—and Alda wondered if those techniques held a clue to better communication for the rest of us. In his wry and wise voice, Alda reflects on moments of miscommunication in his own life, when an absence of understanding resulted in problems both big and small. He guides us through his discoveries, showing how communication can be improved through learning to relate to the other person: listening with our eyes, looking for clues in another’s face, using the power of a compelling story, avoiding jargon, and reading another person so well that you become “in sync” with them, and know what they are thinking and feeling—especially when you’re talking about the…

Long-form Improvisation & the Art of Zen: A Manual for Advanced Performers If you’re already an improviser, even if you’re just starting out, this is the book for you. This book merges basic improvisation techniques with Zen philosophy in order to create a new way of performing scenes and shows. Based on decades of work with the art form, Jason R. Chin strips away pretense and creates a simple, yet elegant method of improvising longer, more rich scenes and characters. A powerful tool for the advanced improviser and a wonderful book for the beginner, Zen and the Art of Long-form Improvisation is a welcome addition to your improv library.

Jeux et enjeux : La boîte à outils de l’improvisation théâtrale Whether you’re a passionate beginner or a seasoned professional, Games and Challenges: The Improv Theater Toolkit is an invaluable source of information for anyone interested in the art of improvisational theater. Packed with 130 exercises, covering the basics as well as short and longer forms of improvisation, this book is designed as a practical support allowing the theory to come to life. Thanks to a unique blend of European and North American traditions, it offers you a great diversity of approach, and explores areas ranging from spontaneity to narration, from masks to the adaptation for the stage of theories of Travel of Heroes of Joseph Campbell.

An inspiring, hands-on guide to narrative improvisation, by the co-creator and director of the Olivier Award-winning improv show Showstopper! The Improvised Musical. Improvisation is a craft that anyone can learn. When freed from endless rules and rigid approaches and allowed to relax, react instinctively and work seamlessly as a group, improvisers can spontaneously create performances that thrill audiences with their liveness. Drawing on the author’s extensive experience teaching and performing around the world, Improv Beyond Rules is a fresh and exciting re-examination of the whole field of improvisation. Starting with the fundamental principles that work for all forms of improvised performance and the common traps improvisers fall into it goes on to explore the elements of narrative improvisation, where performers create a story without any predetermined structure: * The Moment: How to be authentically in the moment by listening and responding to your fellow performers, accepting their suggestions (not necessarily by always saying yes ) and committing to whatever happens next. * The Scene: How to connect moments together to build a compelling scene and keep it moving forward; why there’s no such thing as a mistake; understanding and working with audiences. * The Story: How to link scenes to…

The Improvisation Book: How to Conduct Successful Improvisation Sessions The “Improvisation Book” takes the teacher step-by-step through a series of graded improvisation exercises. It also contains a unique set of 96 Improvisation Cards. Drawn at random these cards determine Character and Scenario. The endless combinations ensure that the teacher never need run dry!

Explores in the words of those who participated in the growth of this theater hybrid how theatresports sprang to life and has grown into an international league spanning four continents.

Discover how to improvise more effective comedic scenes! Through the “game of the scene” technique, you’ll be able to create memorable comedic moments in an easier, more efficient and more consistent way. Long Form Short Book is a book that goes through the basics of comedy improv from a different approach, to then delve deeper in the technique that has propelled the career of personalities like Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live), Donald Glover (Community, Star Wars), Aziz Ansari (Master of None), Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live), Ilana Glazer and Abby Jacobson (Broad City), Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place) among many others. In this book, you’ll learn how to: – Create scenic realities. – Better develop characters. – Perform comedy from truth. – What is and how to play game of the scene. – How to build an improv set and an improv form. Make your improvised scenes so effective the audience will think they’re previously written with Long Form Short Book!

Absolutely Everything** You Need to Know about Teaching and Performing Improv is your personal guide to learning how to perform short-form improvisation consistently and successfully. Every challenge, every activity, and every rule presented in the book is rooted in 20 years of teaching performers from all skill levels. Material has been hand-picked to include only the activities that have consistently proven successful at overcoming the common pitfalls that can plague the improviser-in-training. Utilizing methods that are simple, easy to understand, and very, very fun, you will learn how to develop a program that allows one to maintain high expectations and create a professional looking product while still maintaining the informal revelry of game playing and humor. Simply put, by using this book, one should be able to success- fully mount any kind of short-form improv – be it corporate or student, single-team or festival, pre-professional or veteran – to the sound of riotous laughter and thunderous applause.

The visual guide to improv is an illustrated guide to the art of improvisation theater. It explains tricky concepts, ideas, techniques and formats through illustrations and concrete, easy-to-use tips. Whether you are a student or performer wanting to develop your improv skills or a teacher looking for inspiration and new tools to explain improv – this book is a must-have. THE BOOK INCLUDES: • 16o pages with more than 500 illustrations and infographics. • 50 tips that will help you develop brilliant scene work. • A crash course in classic storytelling – how to build heroes, villains and captivating stories. • 24 tips on how to edit scenes. • 18 improv formats. • Inspiration for genre work – ranging from action and rom-com to Jane Austen and Alfred Hitchcock. Web oficial: Visual Improv Guide

Improvising Better is an easy to read self-help book created with the new generation of improviser in mind. It’s written for today’s performers, looking for a quick fix to their performance problems. This book is a fast read with long-lasting results. Jimmy Carrane and Liz Allen have improvised, taught, and directed in Chicago for over thirty years combined, and have either seen or experienced the most common problems facing improvisers today. Improvising Better will give you simple tools for repairing your improvisation through original and enhanced exercises. This book addresses the improviser as a whole, including how offstage issues affect onstage performance. Speaking candidly about this very personal art form, Carrane and Allen offer common-sense solutions, some tough love, and a little inspiration along the way. Whether you are a beginner or a veteran, Improvising Better will catapult you to the next level in your career as a working improviser. Web oficial Jimmy Carrane