The Improv Big Bang Theory. Storia dell’improvvisazione teatrale The most random and impalpable of the performing arts meets historical research, to discover which of the thousand questions about theatrical improvisation have been answered: when exactly was improvisation born in the theatre? How was art improvised and how do we improvise today? What is the contribution of the great pioneers of the twentieth century? What is the relationship between improvisation formats and text theatre? From the apotropaic rites of the first civilizations to the Theatrical Improvisation Match®, from Aristotle to Viola Spolin, from the Commedia dell’Arte to Keith Johnstone, from Stanislavskij to Robert Gravel, from Greek theater to the most important production companies in the world of theatrical improvisation. A two thousand five hundred year long journey into the most absurd of human needs: spontaneous artistic expression.

Relax, We’re All Just Making This Stuff Up!: Using the tools of improvisation to cultivate more courage and joy in your life What if I told you that you would be happier and more confident if you planned less and made stuff up more? The tools improvisers use to create wonderful—and often hilarious—scenes on stage are easily transferred off the stage and into real life. These tools have changed my life completely, and I want to share that with you. In this book, you’ll find some of our favorite improv exercises as well as real-life examples of how our students’ mind-sets and lives have grown and become ultimately fulfilling through practicing improvisation. This book was not written for natural-born performers, comedians, or people with “talent.” It’s for everyone, including introverts like you and me. (Yes, I’m an introvert at heart.) If we aren’t happy with our lives, not much else matters. I want to see you living the life you are meant to live, now. I want you to experience true happiness; and practicing improvisation is the most enjoyable, and fun, way to get there.

OUR DIRECTION AT STAKE: Directing is part of Improvising This is a workbook with exercises to do by yourself at home and also as a group in your theater. If improvisers are actors, writers and directors at the same time when they improvise, so directing is part of improvising. The book have 19 exercises to work the directing side of the improviser, the direction that our improvisitation takes (as whe also choose) while we are improvising.

Life Unscripted: Using Improv Principles to Get Unstuck, Boost Confidence, and Transform Your Life Learn to collaborate with others, think on your feet, and celebrate mistakes using the skills of improv theater So many of us go through life following scripts we didn’t write for ourselves—scripts designed by our family, shaped by our friends, and influenced by the expectations of the people we meet. Using practical self-help skills rooted in improv principles and depth psychology, we can live more authentic, fulfilled, and empowered lives.

Omar Argentino Galván (improviser, teacher and show creator) is one of the main references of the improv scene in Spanish and author of the improv manual Del Salto al Vuelo (2013). His work is characterized by a particular poetics on stage, a combination of magical realism and theatrical narrative not widely used in the impro. With his tireless Improtour, he has worked on 5 continents and 35 countries. In this brief essay, “Yes, but. La impro en su encrucijada”, Galván gives his opinion about the means of production and consumption of theatrical improvisation, focusing on the North American community. It has been translated into English, French, Italian and Portuguese

Impro Learning: How to Make Your Training Creative, Flexible, and Spontaneous This training book treats creativity as the door to success, and aims to provide the keys to unlock it. Drawing on sources as diverse as theatre, accelerated learning, sports, co-operative games and psychology, the author reveals practical methods for enhancing all aspects of training, from joining instructions and bonding to detailed course design and evaluation. The emphasis throughout is on participation and results, and the text is packed with warm-ups, energizers, team exercises and innovative processes. The techniques in the book aim to help design and deliver training programmes that achieve demonstrable results and to improve skills as both a platform presenter and a group facilitator. It also helps to apply the principles of learning to broaden the range of training the reader can offer and enhance confidence and the ways to project it.

Improvising Real Life: Personal Story in Playback Theatre by Playback Theatre cofounder Jo Salas is the basic text used by new and seasoned Playback practitioners, trainers, and in university courses. The book has been translated into German, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Portuguese, Russian, Hebrew, and Korean (forthcoming). The 20th Anniversary edition includes a foreword by Roberto Gutiérrez Varea of Theatre Without Borders and co-founder of the Performing Arts and Social Justice Program at the University of San Francisco. Entertaining and thoughtful, Improvising Real Life is illustrated with photos and real-life stories told in performances and workshops.

This Improv Book may be the best addition to your improv library and to your improv career! It brings forth concepts in improv that are new, or new ways of looking at things, that will inspire your improv scenes. This book breaks the improv experience into three core elements: You, Them and Us. The chapter on You focuses on your tools as an improv performer and things within your control. The chapter on Them will help you react to the intentions of your scene partner. While the chapter on Us brings it to the collaborative efforts of the team.This book has new philosophies like “Forces of Nature” and “S.C.O.O.T.S.” These new tools will help the new improv performer and add to an already experienced improv performer’s tool box.

What prevents us from feeling that we are already creative? The society in which we live has taught us that being creative is synonymous with standing out from others, being ingenious, eager, etc. In reality, human beings are creative by nature. When we cook, when we remember something, when we kiss, walk, read… we are being creative. The interesting thing is to see the ways that people have of showing that creative singularity, that way of making coffee, of remembering, of caressing, of kneading bread; It is what makes us unique people. And then, how do we come to feel that we already are? This book is a one-way ticket to your interior, to your creativity, but not just any creativity. This will be a journey towards praise, towards creativity that is born only and only from contact with our essence. A journey in which you will break down the barriers that society, education, culture and family have imposed on us to prevent our essence, and therefore our creativity, from being expressed freely and generously. Welcome to the journey to the center of yourself. “They have taught us to applaud those who do something surprising, but at the same time…

A Doctor and a Plumber in a Rowboat: The Essential Guide to Improvisation (Carol Schindler) Mark Ruffalo, one of the stars of The Avengers: Age of Ultron, loves this book: “My cousin Carol was the person who inspired me to become an actor. I highly recommend her book, A Doctor and a Plumber in a Rowboat: An Essential Guide to Improvisation to anyone starting out or is still on the path to knowledge.” Seasoned improvisers CAROL SCHINDLER (founding member, CHICAGO CITY LIMITS) and TOM SOTER (producer/performer, SUNDAY NIGHT IMPROV) share the lessons of improv learned during their over 30 years of performing and teaching improvisation. Aimed at improvisers and those who teach improv, the advice in this book can also help actors, writers, teachers, corporate executives, producers, dentists, firemen, factory workers, goat herders, astronauts, social workers, magicians, accountants, manicurists, Ninja warriors, and, of course, doctors and plumbers. Improvisation can be helpful for everyone. Even if you don’t necessarily want help, it’s still just plain fun.