The Curriculum, Training Methods and History of a Comptetitive Improvisational Comedy Company

The Curriculum, Training Methods and History of a Comptetitive Improvisational Comedy Company
Author: Kevin Bradshaw
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2004
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN:

You can hit, you can field, but can you make them laugh? Working from interviews and questionnaires, Bradsaw (theater, Gonzaga U.) also uses his personal experience with a ComedySportz team in describing the intensive preparation necessary to get players ready for competitive improv comedy. He describes the history of the art form, the workshops conducted to help players develop the timing of trapeze artists and the hides of rhinos, and the fine points of a sport that favors explosive mind games over protective headgear, however handy the latter may be. He includes a list of teams in the Comedy League of America, the games played in ComedySportz, and a sample questionnaire. We were amused. The text is double-spaced. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

An Anthology of Israeli Drama for the New Millennium

An Anthology of Israeli Drama for the New Millennium
Author: Michael Taub
Publisher:
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2004
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

This book is a collection of Israeli plays translated into English and published for the first time. These new works covers the period of the 1990s, which is where the plays in the author's previous collections left off. These plays have now become classics. They have not only been chosen for their popularity, but for how they touch on burning issues of the day including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, religious fanaticism and the post-Zionist ideology of current Israeli society.

Trance and Transformation of the Actor in Japanese Noh and Balinese Masked Dance-drama

Trance and Transformation of the Actor in Japanese Noh and Balinese Masked Dance-drama
Author: Margaret Coldiron
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2004
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

This study examines the effect of the mask upon the masked performer int he Balinese Topeng and Calonarang dance dramas and Japanese Noh Theatre. It represents the first systematic study of the relationship between the actor and the mask from the performer's perspective. The approach is largely empirically based and draws upon the author's extensive field research in Bali and Japan which included interviews with performers and mask makers, study of mask carving and dance and observation of private lessons and public performances. This study will be of interest to scholars and students in many fields including Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Performance Studies, Theatre, Dance and Visual Arts. It will be also of interest to theatre and dance practitioners, especially those working with masks or intercultural performance.

Ola Rotimi's African Theatre

Ola Rotimi's African Theatre
Author: Niyi Coker
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2005
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

This work is an exploration into the writing, cultural and theatrical aesthetics of African writer and director, Ola Rotimi. It is a quest and search for an authentic African esthetic that has been transformed by at least two centuries of the European colonization. This work focuses on the aesthetic dimensions of the Ori Olokun theatre under the artistic direction of Ola Rotimi. It reviews Ola Rotimi's vision and impact with the Ori Olokun Company, and his quest to formulate a truly authentic African theatre, void of the imported European sensibility and colonially inherited aesthetic. The unique creative achievement of Rotimi's work at the Ori Olokun theatre, is that it evolved out of the ivory towers of the University, an 'unfriendly' territory as far as the indigenous theatre is concerned. Ola Rotimi dedicated his art to exploring the traditional/indigenous artistic expressions of the Nigeria people at a point when the African aesthetic had completely lost ground to the European value system. Three of Rotimi's historical plays are analyzed to understand and locate his historical perspective. African theatre, an issue that has dominated African theatre for the past half century. His solution is that writers must 'tamper with the English language to temper it's Englishness'. Clearly, what makes Rotimi unique, is that he brings to his plays, the linguistic characteristics and nuances that are authentic to African people.

Book Review Index

Book Review Index
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1426
Release: 2006
Genre: Books
ISBN:

Every 3rd issue is a quarterly cumulation.

Improvisation in Drama, Theatre and Performance

Improvisation in Drama, Theatre and Performance
Author: Anthony Frost
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2015-10-26
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1137348127

Improvisation is a tool for many things: performance training, rehearsal practice, playwriting, therapeutic interaction and somatic discovery. This book opens up the significance of improvisation across cultures, histories and ways of performing our life, offering key insights into the what, the how and the why of performance. It traces the origins of improvisation and its influences, both as a social and political phenomenon and its position in performance training. Including history, theory and practice, this new edition encompasses Theatre and performance studies as well as drama, acknowledging the rapid reconfiguration of these fields in recent years. Its coverage also now extends to improvisation in the USA, cinema, LARPing, street events and the improvising audience, while also looking at improv's relationship to stand-up comedy, jazz, poetry and free movement practices. With an index of exercises and an extensive bibliography, this book is indispensable to students of improvisation.

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.

Truth in Comedy

Truth in Comedy
Author: Charna Halpern
Publisher: Meriwether Publishing
Total Pages: 164
Release: 1994
Genre: Improvisation (Acting)
ISBN: 9781566080033

The 'Harold', an innovative improvisational tool, helped many actors on the road to TV and film stardom, including George Wendt (Norm on Cheers). Now it is described fully in this new book for would-be actors and comics. The 'Harold' is a form of competitive improv involving 6 or 7 players. They take a theme suggestion from the audience and 'free associate' on the theme into a series of rapid-fire one-liners that build into totally unpredictable skits with hilarious results. The 'Harold' is a fun way to 'loosen up' and learn to think quickly, build continuity, develop characterisations and sharpen humour.