Ensemble! : using the power of improv and play to forge connections in a lonely world

Drawing on a combined expertise in improvisational theatre and psychiatry, author team Dan O'Connor and Dr. Jeff Katzman show readers how improv skills are the perfect antidote to loneliness and isolation. I know what you're thinking: Hold on...improv? Like getting on a stage in front of an audience? What if that's not my thing? Don't worry: this isn't a book about becoming an improv theater expert, and it's not really a book about performing. It's a book about loneliness—about our feelings of disconnection and isolation, ones that we may have been experiencing since long before the pandemic. More importantly, it's a book about becoming un lonely—by borrowing from the collaborative and creative tools of improv. Authors of Life Unscripted Jeff Katzman, a professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico, and Dan O'Connor, multifaceted actor, writer, and director, have created a process they call Ensembling that helps us build an ensemble of relationships in our lives and more deeply enjoy the groups we already belong to. This is a process of becoming a little vulnerable with each other, and of embracing the moment in which we find ourselves. Drawing on concepts from narrative improvisational theatre and depth psychology, the authors present us with the skills we need to connect with each other more actively and meaningfully. To ensemble or not to ensemble—that is not a question. With the rise of loneliness and isolation in an increasingly virtually connected society, we must find ways to come together. We must ensemble! Using the Power of Improv and Play to Forge Connections in a Lonely World Drawing on a combined expertise in psychiatry and improvisational theatre, the authors show readers how improv can be the perfect antidote to loneliness and isolation. In Life Unscripted , psychiatrist Jeff Katzman and actor Dan O'Connor taught us how improv skills can boost confidence, foster growth, and transform one's life. In their new book, Ensemble! , the authors take the next step in exploring the benefits of improv. We are living more disconnected and isolated lives than ever before, with loneliness reaching epidemic proportions. Ensemble! is about becoming un lonely. It's about becoming present to our relationships, deepening them, and creating new ones. Drawing on a combination of narrative improvisational theatre and reflective functioning, mindfulness, mentalizing, and emotional regulation, the authors have created a system they call Ensembling, which uses improv skills as a tool for forging new connections with others. The skills explored in this book can help readers to build a vital life ensemble and come to experience a new connection to our larger community. Ensembling shows us a way to develop self-awareness, empathy, compassion, and attention to the dynamics present in all human interaction. Core concepts such as work, creativity, taking an active stance, embracing adventure and risk, and developing active focus can show us the way to connect with others more actively and more meaningfully. The perfect antidote to loneliness, this book is a roadmap to living an authentic, fulfilled, and interconnected life.