Seven Things You Think About Improv That Are Wrong

by Jeff Catanese                                  

1. Improv is comedy.

Although any improvisor will tell you that their work is nothing to be laughed at, much of what calls itself improv in the world today is in fact being performed in comedy clubs for the sake of laughs.  However, that is representative of only a portion of what is happening in the improv world.  So many theater companies, mime and Commedia dell’Arte troupes and even comedic troupes are using the tenets of improv to explore the more dramatic, experimental and fantastic elements that theater comprises, and happily calling it legitimate theater.

2. Improv is a Twentieth Century art form.

When you try to imagine what Og and Gorp performed in the first theater piece ever, you have to include improvisation.  Born of storytelling, all theater began simply as a method to effectively convey ideas.  And even before the Greeks formalized what we now know of theater, people were using improvisation to tell simple stories, communicate abstract ideas and even teach each other.  The Greeks were wont to change the plays as they were being performed, Medieval Mystery plays had a greatly improvised content, and Commedia dell’Arte was almost wholly improvised around a simple scenario.  That was all before the 15^th century.  Improvisation has as rich and lengthy a history as any other art form.

3. Stanislavsky invented modern improv.

Stanislavsky used improv as a tool in his work.  He invented a method of acting (commonly call “the method” or method acting”) in the early part of the twentieth century that included improvisation to find emotion or the motivation of a character in a particular scene.  The followers of this method formulated these improvisations into a series of “games” for the actors to play in order create a standardized way of teaching the method.  The most famous of these is Viola Spolin’s book Improvisation for the Theater.  In classrooms and individual study, it didn’t take long for the students to realize that the “games” they were playing became wonderful scenes in and of themselves, and were often quite hilarious.  It would seem that a few of these students in the 1950’s and ‘60s thought it might be fun to perform them onstage and invite an audience.  The rest is history.

4. Improvisors are a bunch of hobbyists who are uninterested in the success within their profession.

The same can be said of most writers, painters, sculptors, singers, and latch-hook rug makers.  The truth is that improvisors come in all shapes and sizes.  Although improvisation is popular enough to be performed almost everywhere in the world, there are still very few venues to legitimize the passionate play of improvisors with a big, fat paycheck at the end of each week.  Outside of the major theatrical centers of the world (New York, Chicago, London, etc.) it’s very easy to believe that anyone getting on a postage-stamp sized stage to do a few scatological scenes and withstand the insults of drunken hecklers is just following a silly dream.  But some of these unknown groups in the small to medium-sized cities are performing brilliant and progressive work.  And they are doing the same thing every band and artist on VH1’s Behind the Music did when they were starting out.  Any artist’s idea of success may not be the same as yours, so give the slackers a break.

5. Improv is easy.

Many people have the idea that to improvise you have to get up on a stage and “make it up.”  While it’s true that that’s the bulk of it, it could also be said that the bulk of driving is pointing the car, so let’s allow five-year-olds to do it.  Bad idea.  To master the art of improv can take many years, and a great understanding, not just of improv’s tenets, but those of many different disciplines.  Because there are fewer parameters than any other performing art, one must be prepared for anything that comes your way.  That includes forays into the worlds of writing, directing, design, dance, music, singing, mime, stage combat, and especially acting.  Once you’ve got all of these down, then you can say that improv is easy.

6. Improv is hard.

Very often when even the most seasoned actors are told that they have to do some improv, either as preparation for a role or in a classroom, their teeth clench and a lump forms in their throats.  They are deathly afraid of improv.  The most common reason being, “I’m just not funny.”  Whereas that is believed to be the most important element to improv, it is not.  (See Myth #1)  Most of us are raised to be improvisors.  Every day one improvises conversations, decides which fork in the road to take, and even solves problems.  The idea is not to do something strange and difficult on stage, but to translate those natural improv abilities into a performance piece.  In learning the basic tenets of improv (“Yes, and…,” commitment, acceptance, etc.) one can make that leap and see that, in fact, all they have to do is get on stage and make it up.*

7. Improv will never make it commercially.

It already has.  As a means to an end improv has influenced every art form you can buy a ticket to.  As an end unto itself improv has shown up in the films of Mike Leigh and Robert Altman, on television as Whose Line Is It Anyway? and even The Ernie Kovacs Show in the fifties.  Much of today’s theater is designed to be interactive, and many other performance pieces contain improvisational segments.  As one looks to the future of entertainment, one can’t help but imagine that improvisation will soon be the way to blend the performer with the audience, and allow everyone to be part of the art.

*A contradiction?  Yes.  Isn’t art wonderful?

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Jeff Catanese is editor-in-chief of the magazine.  He is a veteran of dozens of plays and improv groups from the writing, producing, directing and performing ends, and is Artistic Director of Attic Salt Theatre Company, Inc.  Jeff is co-author of a theater education book to be published by Scholastic Press in 2001.