IMPRO: Improvisation and the theatre
by Keith Johnstone
Keith wrote this book in the 1960s in England when everything that was put on a stage had to be approved by the censors. [Hard to imagine, isn't it?] The answer? Put Impro [Keith's word for Improvisation] in public by calling it an open class, because there was no censorship on class content.
He told me once that he put it in the desk draw for 10 years because "as soon as I wrote something down, I started to disagree with it."
And that's Keith in a nutshell: The paradox of learning how to be spontaneously creative on stage with others. For example: He suggests that playing games badly help you learn because it takes away the fear...and you're using the same skills anyway. To most this is counter-intuitive, but for Keith it's obvious.
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