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Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to theatre:
The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques were taught by Del Close and other members of the Second City, located in Chicago and later St. Louis. They used these techniques to produce sketches and improvised scenes. Its name is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, Scene II: "...to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise." In 1975 the troupe purchased and moved into its current location on Melrose Avenue.
Eric Anthony Douglas was an American actor and stand-up comedian. Douglas was the youngest son of actor Kirk Douglas and his second wife Anne Buydens. His half brother was actor and producer Michael Douglas. Douglas pursued a career in show business but did not attain the same level of success as his father and siblings. His career was overshadowed by his numerous run-ins with the law and problems with alcohol and drugs.
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959, and has since become one of the most influential and prolific comedy theatres in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City.
Severn Teakle Darden Jr. was an American comedian and actor, and a founding member of The Second City Chicago-based comedy troupe as well as its predecessor, the Compass Players. He is known from his film appearances for playing the human leader Kolp in the fourth and fifth Planet of the Apes films. His live comedy improv skit under the character of "Walther von der Vogelweide" was influential with two generations of comic performers.
Marc Kudisch is an American stage actor, who is best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway.
Debra Wilson, also known as Debra Wilson Skelton or Debra Skelton, is an American actress and comedian. She is known for being the longest-serving original cast member on the sketch comedy series Mad TV, having appeared on the show's first eight seasons from 1995 to 2003. As a voice actress, she has voiced various characters on television, including Ramaraffe on Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (2019-2020), Grandma Shark on Baby Shark's Big Show! (2020–present), and Kira on Dogs in Space (2021–present). She has voiced multiple characters on series such as Black Dynamite (2012–2015), All Hail King Julien (2014–2016), and Spitting Image (2020–2022). She also starred in the films The Summerland Project (2016) and Bodied (2017).
Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding is an "environmental/immersive theatre" event based on a traditional Italian-American wedding and reception, with warm and intrusive stereotypes exaggerated for comic effect. Audience members are treated as guests at the wedding by the interactive, improvisational comedy cast.
The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structure by architect Ernest Flagg was known at the time as Mills House No. 1 and served as a flophouse for transient men. In its heyday, the Village Gate also included an upper-story performance space, known as the Top of the Gate.
ImprovBoston is a nonprofit improvisational theater, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers shows and classes its theater in Central Square. Classes are offered in improvisation, stand-up comedy, musical improv, and sketch writing.
SAK Comedy Lab (SAK) is a 250-seat Improvisational Comedy (Improv) theater in downtown Orlando, Florida. SAK's most notable alumnus is actor Wayne Brady, who has played as a guest player in several SAK shows since finding fame as a performer on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Let's Make A Deal, Chappelle's Show, and other projects. SAK's regular performers are referred to as the SAK Ensemble.
Paul Sills was an American director and improvisation teacher, and the original director of Chicago's The Second City.
Theatre Strike Force is the University of Florida's premier improv and sketch comedy troupe. The group also goes by TSF. The style of improv performed by Theatre Strike Force is a combination long form and short form. They both teach and perform improvisational comedy. They have six house teams which include both forms of improv as well as a sketch team. There are four long form house teams which are cast every semester and usually have six to eight members. The TSF Short Form Team is cast every semester as well and usually has fifteen to nineteen members. TSF Sketch is the final house team and usually has twelve to sixteen members, cast each semester.
Sarah Saltzberg is an American actress and singer.
The Fracas! Improv Festival is a three-day annual improvisational theatre festival held at The University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. The festival is hosted by Second Nature Improv, one of USC's improv troupes. In addition to performances, the festival hosts discussion panels with professional improvisers currently working in television, film, and/or theatre, as well as improv workshops. While the performances and panels are open to the public, workshops are available only to registered festival participants.
Richmond Shepard was an American writer, director, producer and mime with a 50-year history in entertainment. He was one of the oldest living working mimes in show business. He built, owned and operated his own theaters in Los Angeles on Theatre Row where he produced over 30 shows. He moved to New York and worked as a theatre and film critic for WNEW, conceived and directed the off-Broadway show Noo Yawk Tawk at The Village Gate for three years. He traveled across the world performing with mime troupes and performs improvisational comedy in various clubs around NYC. Richmond Shepard's last role was when he played the "Sandman" in Fuzz on the Lens Productions fantasy comedy Abnormal Attraction starring Malcolm McDowell, Bruce Davison, Leslie Easterbrook, and Gilbert Gottfried which was released on 26 February 2019.
The Committee was a San Francisco-based improvisational comedy group founded by Alan Myerson and Jessica Myerson. The Myersons were both alums of The Second City in Chicago. The Committee opened April 10, 1963 at 622 Broadway in a 300-seat Cabaret theater that used to be an indoor bocce ball court in San Francisco's North Beach.
Indira Stefanianna, also credited as Indira Danks and Stefanianna Christopherson, is an American actress and singer of Icelandic heritage, perhaps best known for her role as the original voice of Daphne Blake on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! during its first (1969) season.
Jamillah Ross is a Canadian comedian, actress, and singer-songwriter. She trained through Toronto's The Second City and has performed in improvisation troupes and on stage, television and film. She was in the cast of Show Stopping Number which won a Canadian Comedy Award (CCA) for best improvisational troupe.
References
- ↑ Stephen Holden (1988-12-02). "Where Audiences Participate In Improvisational Comedy". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-07-26.