The Purple Crayon of Yale, or the Purple Crayon, is an improvisational theater group at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The group specializes in longform improv, such as the Harold. The Purple Crayon is Yale's second-oldest improv group, after the Ex!t Players, and the oldest collegiate longform group in the country.[1][2] The Purple Crayon currently consists of twelve members, and is directed by Noam Scully '25 and Amara Neal '26.
The Purple Crayon was founded in 1985 by Eric Berg, class of 1987, and a bunch of theater friends, among them Ian Jacobs '87, and Adam Gross ‘88. Berg had taken a semester off during his sophomore year to act in a play at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, Illinois, where he also studied improv. There, he learned the Harold, a long-form improv format developed by Del Close and Charna Halpern. The group named itself after the popular children's book Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, whose protagonist, Harold, uses a purple crayon to draw his imagination into reality. The original Purple Crayon had 13 founding members: Eric Berg, ‘87 Frances Barney, ‘89 David Baron, ‘87 Frank DeSantis, ‘88 Tom Dowe, ‘87 Leslie Goldman, ‘88 Adam Gross, ‘88 Liz Hutchinson, ‘88 Ian Jacobs, ‘87 Phil LaMarr, ‘88 Carla Power, ‘88 John Sylvain, 87 Bliss Tobin, ‘86. [3]
Performances
The group performs several shows each year on campus, appears at various comedy festivals, performs at (usually local) events and locations, and tours each spring and fall. Performances mostly consist of one or two 25-minute Harold sets, though the group often experiments with various styles and forms.
In 2010 and 2011, the Crayon advanced to the finals of the East Coast Regionals of the College Improv Tournament, a national competition hosted by the Chicago Improv Festival, losing to Seriously Bent, Suffolk University's improv troupe, and the Otter Nonsense Players, Middlebury College's improv troupe.[4]
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.
Del Close was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was one of the influences on modern improvisational theater. Close was co-founder of the ImprovOlympic (iO).
Second Nature is a long-form improvisational theatre troupe based in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California.
Matthew Gregory Besser is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, writer, and one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy Central from 1998 to 2000. He hosts the improvisation-based podcast Improv4humans, previously on the Earwolf network, but now solely operated by himself and Brett Morris.
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre is an American improvisational and sketch comedy training center and theatre originally founded by Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.
Harold is a structure used in longform improvisational theatre that is performed by improv troupes and teams across the world. In the Harold structure, characters and themes are introduced and then recur in a series of connected scenes. It was first performed in California by The Committee in 1967.
Charna Halpern is an American comedian who is co-founder of the ImprovOlympic, now known as iO. Upon iO's founding, in 1983, with partner Del Close, she began teaching Harold to many students in the Chicago theater community. Many prominent comedians performed at iO, from Neil Flynn to Jack McBrayer. Also appearing were up and coming comedic minds such as Craig Cackowski.
iO, or iO Chicago, is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles, called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater taught and hosted performances of improvisational comedy. It was founded in 1981 by Del Close and Charna Halpern. The theater has many notable alumni, including Amy Poehler and Stephen Colbert.
Respecto Montalban was an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe associated with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City from 1999 until September 2005.
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.
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.
The N Crowd is a short-form improv comedy troupe performing weekly since April 2005. The troupe's membership has fluctuated between 14 and 6 over the last 2 years. Currently, 10 members are performing weekly in Philadelphia. The troupe has received positive reviews in the Philadelphia Weekly, the Philly Style Magazine, and The City Paper. Interviews of N Crowd members have appeared in The Philly Metro and Phillyst.com.
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.
On Thin Ice, (OTI) is Harvard College's oldest Improvisational comedy group. OTI specializes in short-form improvisational theater taking the form of various comedy games in the style of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
Starla and Sons is a longform improv comedy group at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The group was formed with five members in the fall of 2006. It is the second longform group in the university's history, and has performed about twice a month since its inception. The group currently has eight members, and performs fast-paced traditional longform forms like the Harold, Deconstruction, and Monoscene, as well as its own invention, the Starla.
The Immediate Gratification Players (IGP) are a collegiate improvisational comedy troupe based out of Harvard College. They specialize in long form, free-form improvisation and are recognized as one of the top college troupes in the nation.
The Yale Ex!t Players, or the Exit Players, is an improvisational comedy group at Yale University in New Haven, CT, United States. The Exit Players was founded in 1984, making it the oldest improv group on Yale's campus.
Game of the scene is a concept in the longform format of improvisational theater.
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