The Improv Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Improvising in Comedy, Theatre, and Beyond (Performance Books)

The Improv Handbook is the most comprehensive, smart, helpful and inspiring guide to improv available today. Applicable to comedians, actors, public speakers and anyone who needs to think on their toes, it features a range of games, interviews, descriptions and exercises that illuminate and illustrate the exciting world of improvised performance. First published in 2008, this second edition features a new foreword by comedian Mike McShane, as well as new exercises on endings, managing blind offers and master–servant games, plus new and expanded interviews with Keith Johnstone, Neil Mullarkey, Jeffrey Sweet and Paul Rogan. The Improv Handbook is a one-stop guide to the exciting world of improvisation. Whether you’re a beginner, an expert, or would just love to try it if you weren’t too scared, The Improv Handbook will guide you every step of the way. Cover Contents Foreword Introduction to the Second Edition Introduction Section One What Is Improvisation? 1.1 What Was Improvisation? 1.2 Improvisation in Performance Intermission “What Should Improvisation Be?” #1 “From Innovation to Art Form” #2 “Two Stories” Section TWO How to Improvise 2.1 How to Use This Section 2.2 Teaching and Learning 2.3 Spontaneity 2.4 Saying Yes 2.5 What Comes Next 2.6 Status 2.7 Go Through an Unusual Door 2.8 Working Together 2.9 Being Changed 2.10 More on Masters and Servants 2.11 Twitching, Topping and Paperflicking 2.12 Playing Characters 2.13 You Can’t Learn Mime from a Book 2.14 Control Freak 2.15 Finding the Game in the Scene 2.16 Continue or Thank You 2.17 Agree, Agree, Agree 2.18 Playing Games 2.19 Final Thoughts Intermission The Rules and Why There Aren’t Any... Section THREE How to Improvise in Public 3.1 Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway 3.2 Starting a Company 3.3 Nuts and Bolts Intermission The Paradox of Improvisation Section FOUR Making Improvisation Pay 4.1 Performing? 4.2 Teaching Workshops 4.3 Corporate Entertainment 4.4 Corporate Training 4.5 Corporate Events 4.6 How to Get Corporate Work Intermission Women in Improv Section FIVE Talking to Improvisers 5.1 Keith Johnstone—The Innovator 5.2 Neil Mullarkey—The Comedy Store Player 5.3 Randy Dixon—The Synthesizer 5.4 Jonathan Pitts—The Impresario 5.5 Charna Halpern—The Keeper of the Harold 5.6 Mick Napier—Power Improviser 5.7 Dan O’Connor—West Coast Legend 5.8 Patti Stiles—Our Teacher 5.9 David Fenton—Theatresports MC Down Under 5.10 Tobias Menzies—The Actor 5.11 Jeffrey Sweet—Illegitimate Grandfather of American Improv 5.12 Dylan Emery—Starter of Showstopper 5.13 Paul Rogan—An English Actor and Improviser in LA 5.14 Mike McShane—Transatlantic Improviser and Actor 5.15 Tom Salinsky Discusses the Improv Show Voices in Your Head and Its Spin-Offs with Deborah Frances-White Afterword Appendix One: Games Appendix Two: Syllabus Glossary of Terms Thanks Bibliography Index Exploring the history of the genre, alongside modern theories and practice, The Improv Handbook explores Theatresports, Micetro and Gorilla Theatre, as well as the innovations of Keith Johnstone, Del Close and Whose Line Is It Anyway? Spontaneity, storytelling, collaboration and character are examined in detail, before concluding with practical advice on improvising for audiences, asking the crucial question: How do you attract an audience in the first place? First published in 2008, this new edition features a foreword by comedian Mike McShane, as well as fresh exercises on endings, managing blind offers and master/servant games, along with new and expanded interviews with Keith Johnstone, Neil Mullarkey, Jeffrey Sweet and Paul Rogan--back cover