Impro Theatre --- Pen-and-Paper Role-Playing --- Authoring
Workshop: Impro Theatre
Saturday, 29.11.2008
09:00 - 11:00
(Exact times are adaptable to circumstances)
Dagmar DÖRGER and Martin GEISLER / ImproVision
FH Erfurt, University of Applied Sciences
www.improvision.de
Description
Interactive
storytelling is also possible without a computer. Even a theatre play
doesn’t need to be based on a predefined text in order to be performed. A
storyline in an improvisational play evolves dynamically from the input
of the audience, from actions of the facilitator and from spontaneous
ideas of the actors and actresses. The audience becomes an interactive
element and – potentially – the actual author of the story. However,
this doesn’t mean that an Impro theatre play would not need a predefined
concept. Also, the players and performers need at least basic training
in the skills for impromptu acting. Even the development of a story that
unfolds right in the moment of the performance needs basic assumptions.
This workshop introduces basic rules, strategies and concepts that are useful for improvisers. The covered topics include
-
rules and strategies of traditional Impro theatre, such as
preparations, concepts of how to solve problems on stage, and
consequences for modern interactive storytelling, as well as
-
insights into the development of a storyline through a concrete Impro
theatre play performed by the Erfurt group ‘ImproVision’.
The short workshop consists of the following four parts:
- Introduction:
Background information on Impro theatre is provided in general, and
particularly on the technique of a play co-authored by the audience.
- Performance:
During a short theatre play session, the audience becomes author of the
play/story, and workshop participants experience how their ideas are
transformed into this unique play.
- Basics and techniques: Based
on the outcome of the performance, the resulting story is analysed, in
terms of its development and underlying structures, the techniques and
possibilities of interaction, as well as limitations and problems on
stage.
- Meta discussion: The overlapping aspects of digital and non-digital interactive storytelling are discussed.
