Keith Johnstone entered the Royal Court Theatre as a new playwright in 1956: a decade later he emerged as a groundbreaking director and teacher of improvisation. His decisive book Impro (1979), described Johnstone’s unique system of training: weaving together theories and techniques to encourage spontaneous, collaborative creation using the intuition and imagination of the actors. Johnstone has since become world-renowned, inspiring theatre greats and beginners alike; and his work continues to influence practice within and beyond the traditional theatre. Theresa Robbins Dudeck is the first author to rigorously examine Johnstone’s life and career using a combination of archival documents – many from Johnstone’s personal collection – participant observation, and interviews with Johnstone, his colleagues and former students. Keith Johnstone: A Critical Biography is a fascinating journey through the physical spaces that have served as Johnstone’s transformative classrooms, and into the conceptual spaces which inform his radical pedagogy and approach to artistic work.

Once in a generation a woman comes along who changes everything. Tina Fey is not that woman, but she met that woman once and acted weird around her. Before 30 Rock, Mean Girls and ‘Sarah Palin’, Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both these dreams come true. At last, Tina Fey’s story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon – from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence. Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we’ve all suspected: you’re no one until someone calls you bossy.

Impro Argentina. Notes and History of Theatrical Improvisation. Impro Argentina is the result of an in-depth research work that included more than 40 interviews with personalities from the world of Impro and a thorough review of works on the genre. The first part of the book, NOTES, is a theoretical contribution to the genre of theatrical improvisation: an introduction to Impro for novices and reflection material for those initiated.In THE HISTORY, the second part, Impro’s 21 years in the Argentine theater scene are told for the first time, from its beginnings to the present. Gustavo Caletti does not ignore his preferential dual position: improviser on stage and interested observer of cultural processes. With this work he contributes to disseminate a passion for the stage that attracts more followers every day and, at the same time, debate the place of improvisation in the Argentine theater environment. Official website

T.J. and David are internationally known, award-winning, master improvisers from Chicago’s legendary scene. This in-depth look at the techniques, principles, theory and ideas behind what they do is both authoritative and entertaining. Since their early years playing the iO (formerly Improv Olympic) and the Second City mainstage theater (where David won a Joseph Jefferson award for best actor in a revue), TJ and Dave have been performing for over fifty years combined – fifteen as a team. David worked with improvisation guru Del Close, in development of theThe Harold, the preeminent longform theatrical structure, and both are multi-award winning actors.

Ediciones Status presents “Impro: Dynamics of the Unexpected”, the first book by Feña Ortalli. A book that presents a series of ideas and concepts of improvisation explained through football analogies. In “Impro: Dynamics of the Unexpected”, Feña Ortalli takes us out onto the playing field without losing sight of the board. In a masterful way he immerses us in the history of the greats and allows us to get the ball rolling with our proposals.” Javier Pastor (Director of El Club de la Impro) Web

It all began in a converted Chinese laundry on Chicago’s north side on a cold December night in 1959. No one could have known that by the next century, The Second City would have established itself as the premier comedy institution in the world. Taking its act north, The Second City would build a second permanent home in Toronto where it would create the Emmy-Award winning television series “SCTV.” Pioneering the use of improvisation in developing talent and creating satiric revue comedy, The Second City has become – in the words of the New York Times – “A Comedy Empire.” The Second City Almanac of Improvisation – like the theatre itself – is a collection of diverse ideas, viewpoints, and memories, written by a vast array of teachers, actors, and directors who all got their start at the legendary comedy theatre. Fred Willard recalls his introduction to The Second City style in the mid-Sixties; Tim Kazurinsky gives a hilarious visual demonstration on the art of object work; “Saturday Night Live” star Tina Fey talks about re-improvising material as a mode of writing revue comedy; noted director Mick Napier takes on the thorny debate between long-form improvisation and short-form improvisation. Anne…

By the early ‘90s, comedy was no longer cool. The stand-up bubble had burst, sitcoms had become more formulaic than ever, and Hollywood studios were pumping out soulless, star-driven schmaltz. There were signs of hope in shows like Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and The Larry Sanders Show, all of which favored cranky hard-truths and giddy pop-culture references over glib punchlines. But for the most part, anyone looking for a laugh had no choice but to wade through hours of predictable, risk-averse corporate comedy. Things just weren’t that funny anymore. Enter the Upright Citizen’s Brigade: a sketch-and-improv collective born in early-‘90s Chicago. When the group relocated to New York City in 1996, its core members—Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh (a.k.a. “the UCB Four”), brought with them a punk-meets-Python comedic sensibility unlike anything found on TV or in stand-up clubs. Shortly after their arrival, they’d turn an abandoned Manhattan strip-club into a hot downtown theater, attract big-name fans like Conan O’Brien, and amass a legion of eager students; many of whom would go on to create (and populate) a kinetic new wave of TV shows, movies, and stand-up comedy. For more than twenty years, the UCB has been at…

Do you want to get to know the woman we first came to love on Comedy Central’sUpright Citizens Brigade? Do you want to spend some time with the lady who made you howl with laughter onSaturday Night Live, and in movies like Baby Mama, Blades of Glory, andThey Came Together? Do you find yourself daydreaming about hanging out with the actor behind the brilliant Leslie Knope onParks and Recreation? Did you wish you were in the audience at the last twoGolden Globes ceremonies, so you could bask in the hilarity of Amy’s one-liners? If your answer to these questions is “Yes Please!” then you are in luck. In her first book, one of our most beloved funny folk delivers a smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read. Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy,Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice. With chapters like “Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend,” “Plain Girl Versus the Demon” and “The Robots Will Kill Us All” Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous,Yes Please…