The Improv Handbook

The Improv Handbook
Author: Tom Salinsky
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 521
Release: 2017-10-19
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1350026174

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.

Improv Manifesto

Improv Manifesto
Author: Chad Elliot
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 110
Release: 2017-05-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9781546818823

If you want to improve your life, this may be the most important book you'll ever read! It's called Improv Manifesto: 7 Easy Steps to Confidence, Creativity, and Charisma - Even If You're Shy! Learn to think on your feet under pressure with tools from improvisational theater and improv comedy. Written by the founder of Seattle Improv Classes, Chad Elliot ("The Confidence Doctor.") You'll learn secrets and skills to unleash your ability to think-on-your-feet under pressure, become a more confident communicator, gain ease and confidence meeting new people, and regain the creativity and joy you had as a child. Even if you never thought you could! While many people think of improv as just comedy, most people don't learn improv to become comedians or actors - they do it to make their lives better. People study improv to gain people skills, overcome fears, learn to think on their feet, and become confident. It's a form of self-help that can take you from feelings of anxiety to a general sense of confidence and ease. There are many ways improv can make your life better, including: Ace job interviews... More confidence dating... Making more friends... Success in business... Confident public speaking... More fun and exciting relationships and conversations... Unleashing your creativity... You'll learn important skills for beginners: tips, strategies and ideas to make learning improvisation easier and faster than you can imagine. Even if you're scared stiff! You'll never have to worry about your mind going blank again as your struggle to think of what to say, because you'll have the loads of sure-fire techniques in this book. And, you'll be surprised how easy it is to master thinking on your feet because "Doctor Confidence" takes you step-by-step through the key skills of improv and how to use them for yourself. Step 1: How to be in the moment. Secrets to get out of your head, connect with others, and release your creativity! Step 2: The key to starting powerfully. Guarantee you start off strong and make a great first impression... for dating, work, and life! Step 3: Generating an unlimited wealth of ideas. How to gain friends, communicate effectively in business, and build confidence in your creativity. Step 4: Captivating storytelling. How to entrance your audience, keep them on the edge of their seats, and discover hidden secrets of human communication. Step 5: Creating the world from nothing. Unleash your imagination, even when your mind goes blank. Step 6: Developing stage presence. How you can let go of anxiety and develop a commanding stage presence. Step 7: The last key to success. Taking risks, overcoming obstacles, and letting go of your fears. Each chapter contains games and exercises you can do without a partner, so you can begin gaining the skills you need immediately. This is the first book to create a step-by-step blueprint to success with improvisation. You'll learn exactly how you can apply what you're learning to your life. Discover how to use what you learn to meet new friends, handle difficult people and situations, and master public speaking (including, how to give a speech spontaneously with zero preparation.) You'll be surprised how quickly you'll be using what you've learned to have more rewarding conversations and unleash a side of yourself you thought you'd lost. You'll learn to be more present, let go of former limitations, and replace old fears with new confidence. You'll discover you have more wit and humor than you know what to do with. If you've ever struggled with social anxiety, insecurity, or being able to express yourself, you'll find valuable tools and insights you can apply right away. Read every word of this book. You'll be glad you did and find yourself recommending it to your friends!

East-Meets-West Quilts

East-Meets-West Quilts
Author: Patricia Belyea
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 538
Release: 2017-10-17
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 1683351142

Fourteen simple projects: “Readers will be awestruck by the brilliant designs and . . . sidebars on famous stitcher Ayako Miyawaki, yukata cottons, and more.” —Booklist (starred review) Improv quilting—in which quilt designs emerge organi­cally as fabric is cut and stitched—is easy, popular, and fun. In this book, expert quilter Patricia Belyea offers improv instruction and shares her appealing Quilt Manifesto of five simple rules. While providing quilters with a starting point, the fifth rule of the Manifesto, “Break any rule you like,” opens the door to creative freedom. (However, the solid instructions allow even the rule-breakers to create beautiful quilts on the first try!) Fourteen projects combine authentic Japanese yukata cottons and contemporary fabrics; each is finished with bold hand-stitching. The quilt-making process is presented in detail, and each quilt shows the irresistible wabi-sabi influence of Japanese design. “With fresh designs and useful directions, Belyea's book is both practical and aspirational.” —Publishers Weekly

Improv for Democracy

Improv for Democracy
Author: Don Waisanen
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2020-10-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1438481179

While much has been written about what democracies should look like, much less has been said about how to actually train citizens in democratic perspectives and skills. Amid the social and political crises of our time, many programs seeking to bridge differences between citizens draw from the surprising field of improvisational theater. Improv trains people to engage with one another in ways that promote empathy and understanding. Don Waisanen demonstrates how improv-based teaching and training methods can forward the communication, leadership, and civic skills our world urgently needs. Waisanen includes specific exercises and thought experiments that can be used by educators; advocates for civic engagement and civil discourse; practitioners and scholars in communication, leadership, and conflict management; training and development specialists; administrators looking to build new curricula or programming; and professionals seeking to embed productive, sustainable, and socially responsible forms of interaction in and across organizations. Ultimately this book offers a new approach for helping people become more creative, heighten awareness, think faster, build confidence, operate flexibly, improve expression and governance skills, and above all, think and act more democratically.

Whose Improv is it Anyway?

Whose Improv is it Anyway?
Author: Amy E. Seham
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2001
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9781578063413

An inside view of improv comedy in Chicago

The Improv Mindset: Change Your Brain. Change Your Business.

The Improv Mindset: Change Your Brain. Change Your Business.
Author: Gail Montgomery
Publisher: Experienceyes
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2020-01-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780578635750

Some content previously published as Brain Disruption by Bruce & Gail Montgomery. Looking for new ideas? Need your teams to perform at a higher level? Want a healthy corporate culture? Follow along with these two dynamic authors as they take you through The Improv Mindset, one of the most engaging and powerful methods for getting individuals, teams, and organizations to step up, engage, and solve problems. Steeped in the world of improv comedy, this no-nonsense guide provides a window into the neuroscience behind creativity and new ways of thinking. Filled with exercises and activities, you'll be able immediately apply the lessons in this book.

Raw Extreme Manifesto

Raw Extreme Manifesto
Author: Fred Ho
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing Inc.
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2012-02-14
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1616084650

Cooking.

An Improvised Life

An Improvised Life
Author: Alan Arkin
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2011-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 030681966X

Alan Arkin knew he was going to be an actor from the age of five: "Every film I saw, every play, every piece of music fed an unquenchable need to turn myself into something other than what I was." An Improvised Life is the Oscar winner's wise and unpretentious recollection of the process--artistic and personal--of becoming an actor, and a revealing look into the creative mind of one of the best practitioners on stage or screen. In a manner that is direct, down-to-earth, accessible, and articulate, Arkin reveals insights not only about himself (and his audience and students), but also truths for the rest of us about work, relationships, and sense of self.