Making connections between drama and drawing, Drawing as Performance introduces visual artists and designers to rehearsal techniques, theory, and games as ways of developing image-making and visual communication skills. Drawing from the fields of theatre and anthropology, this book is full of practical exercises that encourage experimentation and play as methods of making expressive, communicative, and meaningful images. Ideas are adapted from the rehearsal room to the drawing studio, offering artists a fresh approach to translating experiences into visual images. Games and exercises are accompanied by demonstrations and responses from professional practitioners and visual communication students. This one-of-a-kind book guides students and professionals alike to improvisation, self-expression, and reflective visual communication techniques in order to narrow the gap between the handmade image and inner experience from which artists draw their inspiration.

Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics This introductory textbook establishes theatrical improvisation as a model for Christian ethics, helping Christians embody their faith in the practices of discipleship. Clearly, accessibly, and creatively written, it has been well received as a text for courses in Christian ethics. The repackaged edition has updated language and recent relevant resources, and it includes a new afterword by Wesley Vander Lugt and Benjamin D. Wayman that explores the reception and ongoing significance of the text.

Theater Games for Rehearsal: A Director’s Handbook heater Games for Rehearsal is a practical application of the famous methods which have led Viola Spolin to be called “the high priestess of improvisational theater.” Spolin’s first book since the best-selling Improvisation for the Theater, this handbook guides directors and their companies step-by-step through all phases of the rehearsal period. Distilling her lifetime of experience in the theater, Spolin shows in easy-to-follow detail how her techniques can be used for a variety of theater situations, ranging from selecting plays to be performed, auditioning the cast, and building a harmonious company to warming up actors, creating stage space, and overcoming opening night jitters. The convenient, large format presents the Spolin method clearly, explains the uses of each game, and provides a wealth of useful hints and notes. Sidecoaching instructions and game evaluations appear in large, readable type for easy reference in the rehearsal hall. By making Spolin’s approach to scripted theater accessible for the first time to large audiences, Theater Games for Rehearsal will have a lasting effect on strategies of theatrical production.

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.