History of Improv
(As adopted from Wikipedia - Improvisation Theater. Click the blue terms to learn more!)
Improvised performance is as old as performance itself. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, performers improvised based on a broad outline in the streets of Italy and in the 1890s theatrical theorists and directors such as Konstantin Stanislavski and Jacques Copeau, founders of two major streams of acting theory, both heavily utilised improvisation in acting training and rehearsal.
While some people credit Dudley Riggs as the first vaudevillian to use audience suggestions to create improvised sketches, modern theatrical improvisation is generally accepted to have taken form in the classroom with the theatre games of Viola Spolin in the 1940s and Keith Johnstone in the 1970s. These rehearsal-room activities evolved quickly into an independent artform that many consider worthy of presentation before a paying audience.
Spolin can probably be considered the American Grandmother of Improv. She influenced the first generation of Improv at The Compass Players in Chicago, which led to The Second City. The Second City has been key in spawning the Chicago improvisational comedy movement.
Much of the current "rules" of comedic improv were first formalized in Chicago in the late 1950s and early 1960s, initially among The Compass Players troupe.
Types of Improv
Modern improvisational comedy generally falls into two categories: shortform and longform.
Shortform improv consists of short scenes usually constructed from a predetermined game, structure, or idea and driven by a random suggestion. Many shortform games were first created by Viola Spolin based on her training from Neva Boyd. The shortform improv comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? has familiarized American and British viewers with shortform.
Longform improv performers create shows in which short scenes are often interrelated by story, characters, or themes. Longform shows may take the form of an existing type of theatre, for example a full-length play or Broadway-style musical such as Spontaneous Broadway. Longform improvisation is especially performed in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles and has a growing following in Minneapolis. One of the more well-known longform structures is the Harold, developed by ImprovOlympic cofounder Del Close. Many such longform structures now exist.
Now as a reward for actually reading that all, or for having the foresight to skip to the bottom of the page, enjoy some fine shortform improv from "Whose Line is it Anyway?"
Shortform improv consists of short scenes usually constructed from a predetermined game, structure, or idea and driven by a random suggestion. Many shortform games were first created by Viola Spolin based on her training from Neva Boyd. The shortform improv comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? has familiarized American and British viewers with shortform.
Longform improv performers create shows in which short scenes are often interrelated by story, characters, or themes. Longform shows may take the form of an existing type of theatre, for example a full-length play or Broadway-style musical such as Spontaneous Broadway. Longform improvisation is especially performed in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles and has a growing following in Minneapolis. One of the more well-known longform structures is the Harold, developed by ImprovOlympic cofounder Del Close. Many such longform structures now exist.
Now as a reward for actually reading that all, or for having the foresight to skip to the bottom of the page, enjoy some fine shortform improv from "Whose Line is it Anyway?"
