Improv books

Here you will find the most complete list of theatrical improv books, whether they are improv games, long-form improv or essays on the state of improv.

Impro (Alfredo Mantovani, Borja Cortés, Encarni Corrales, José Ramón Muñoz Leza, Pablo Pundik)
/ 17 de March de 2018

IMPRO is a book that brings together, in clear and concise sheets, 90 creative proposals and games with easy-to-apply variants. It also includes a set of very useful guidelines and practical advice for people interested in impro and its pedagogy: teachers and theater groups, coaches, actors, educators of different levels, animators, students of theater and educational sciences who want to improve their training, as well as future improvisers who wish to develop spontaneity in the classroom and on stage. Its authors, Alfredo Mantovani, Borja Cortés, Encarni Corrales, Jose Ramón Muñoz and Pablo Pundik, are actors, improvisers and teachers with long theatrical careers, specialized in improv, who have come together in this publication to share their experiential background. Inventing and representing stories as a team and enjoying “improturgy”, the original concept of the authors of this work, becomes the core of a fun and pleasant job for actors or fans who want to explore the theatrical event from a playful perspective. It includes “Testimonies”, where Dani Rovira and a good handful of actors and actresses with a recognized background in theatrical improvisation offer us their experiences and reflections on this art.

Del salto al vuelo, Manual de impro (Omar Galván)
/ 17 de March de 2018

Improvising is a noble game that transcends the occurrence and involves the person in their entire being; their training, their history, their fantasies, fears and freedoms. A perfect manual for those taking their first steps in theatrical improvisation (Impro), very appropriate for advanced improvisers seeking new horizons and essential for teachers and directors. Through practical exercises, personal experiences and technical analysis, the author offers in this work his special sensitivity about Impro. This book can be obtained in digital format for less than €10

Theater Games for the Lone Actor (Viola Spolin)
/ 17 de March de 2018

Spolin’s Theater Games for the Lone Actor offers theater games a side coaching for the solo player. Available for the first time, this handbook presents more than forty exercises that allow actors to side coach themselves at home, in rehearsal, or in performance. Building on her seminal Improvisation for the Theater, Spolin challenges the actor to develop an ability to enter present time, “a moment of full consciousness, awareness, continuous time, a timeless moment … with all of your responses awake and alert, ready to guide you…allowing you, the real you, or your natural self, to emerge.”

Improvisation For The Theater (Viola Spolin)
/ 17 de March de 2018

Improvisation For The Theater: A Handbook Of Teaching And Directing Techniques Spolin changed the face of modern American theater with this book. He having trained three generations of theater, television and film actors, directors, teachers and writers. His techniques have a profound influence on the fields of education, mental health, social work and psychology. He is essential. “Spolin’s book is a visionary effort…it is hardly an overstatement to call it revolutionary…her practical and keen psychological insight will have a deep and wide impact on all directing and acting for the theater.” – Variety. “Her book is the bible” – Rob Reiner This book can be obtained in digital format for less than €5

La verdad en la comedia / Truth in Comedy (Charna Halpern, Del Close)
/ 17 de March de 2018

The ‘Harold’, an innovative improvisational tool, helped many actors on the road to TV and film stardom, including George Wendt (Norm on Cheers). Now it is described fully in this new book for would-be actors and comics. The ‘Harold’ is a form of competitive improv involving 6 or 7 players. They take a theme suggestion from the audience and ‘free associate’ on the theme into a series of rapid-fire one-liners that build into totally unpredictable skits with hilarious results. The ‘Harold’ is a fun way to ‘loosen up’ and learn to think quickly, build continuity, develop characterisations and sharpen humour.

Impro for Storytellers (Keith Johnstone)
/ 17 de March de 2018

Since the sixties, Keith Johnstone has led the work on improvisation in theatre, schools and universities. His unique ideas, set out in the classic text, Impro, have now been taken up by practitioners the world over. Impro for Storytellers builds on and extends the seminal earlier work. Keith’s techniques specialize in releasing an individual’s potential within the context of group work. He became notorious as the acting coach who would shout ‘Be more boring!’ and ‘Don’t concentrate!’. Keith Johnstone is an inspirational teacher and writer, and Impro for Storytellers will encourage a life-long study of human interaction.

Impro (Keith Johnstone)
/ 17 de March de 2018

In this landmark work Keith Johnstone provides a revelatory guide to rediscovering and unlocking the imagination. Admired for its clarity and zest, Impro lays bare the techniques and exercises used to foster spontaneity and narrative skill for actors. These techniques and exercises were evolved in the actors’ studio, when he was Associate Director of the Royal Court and then in demonstrations to schools and colleges and ultimately in the founding of a company of performers called The Theatre Machine. Divided into four sections, ‘Status’, ‘Spontaneity’, ‘Narrative Skills’ and ‘Masks and Trance’, arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them, the book sets out the specific approaches which Johnstone has himself found most useful and most stimulating. The result is a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity. ‘If teachers were honoured in the British theatre along-side directors, designers and playwrights, Keith Johnstone would be as familiar a name as are those of . . . Jocelyn Herbert, Edward Bond and other young talents who were drawn to the great lodestone of the Royal Court Theatre in the late 1950s. As head of the script department, Johnstone played a crucial part in the development of the…