Teresa Steinfort (tsteinfort@yahoo.ca)
MA, CCC, Dramatherapist
http://www.tsteinfort.com

Improvisation theatre is a type of contemporary, interactive, nonscript theatre (Fox, 1994). It is mostly performance-oriented. Spontaneity and creativity are the nuclei found in all forms of improvisation theatre. During improvisation training, rehearsal, and performance, activities/theatre games help free individuals from their fear of not knowing. Exercises prepare and encourage the improvisers to wait for the moment, but not wait to react in the scene. It demands participants to put aside expectations of success/failure and concerns about others' approval/disapproval for their actions. Paradoxically, it is with self-abandonment and an intuitive awareness of the present that the improvisers gain feelings of certainty. The objective is "to free each person to feel his or her own true nature, out of which a felt, experienced, actual love of neighbour will appear" (Spolin, 1999).

Theatresports

Johnstone (1979) first coined the term 'Theatresports', a competition between teams of improvisers that use theatre games and/or improv scenes. The commercial success of various "Theatresports" and "Second City TV" companies in the entertainment world give most people the impression that improvisation theatre is comedy. Theatresports tends to appear in a comic form because people possess a natural love for spontaneity that they react as if it was a sporting event. Another reason is audience tends to be less receptive to an evening of competitive performance filled with serious scenes. Still, Theatresports allows audience to interact or improvise with the performers directly and the model can achieve the therapeutic benefits mentioned earlier (Johnston, 1999).

Psychodrama

Moreno created psychodrama and the later sociodrama through the synthesis of improvisatory theatre, group psychotherapy, and sociometry (Blather, 1973). Moreno's models draw their strength from the psyche from both the protagonist and the group (Salas, 2000). The popularity of psychodrama and sociodrama among psychologists, counsellors, educators, and mental health practitioners alike makes these models almost exclusive to the therapeutic arena instead of public theatre. Nevertheless, there are improvisation theatres such as Forum Theatre (Boal, 2002) and Playback Theatre (Salas, 1999) that contain both artistic and therapeutic components.

Forum Theatre

Forum Theatre (Boal, 2002) began to take its shape under the direction of Augusto Boal in the early 70s. The leader and actors collect material from improvisation during rehearsal. They then present a rehearsed play with an unresolved problem to the audience. The transition from a scripted to a non-scripted theatre begins at the crisis moment, particularly when the protagonist needs to make a decision. An audience member stops the action, comes on stage, replaces the actor (protagonist), and then carries out his or her desired action. The rest of the actors would improvise the scene accordingly until another audience member makes a different offer. Forum Theatre does not impose an resolution to the problem. It encourages the examination of different facets to deal with the problematic situation. The forum is the show. A collective learning occurs when audience intervene directly in the action..

Grounded on the structure of Forum Theatre, Boal (2002) gave rise to other forms of improvisation work: 'The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO)', 'The Cop in the Head", 'The Rainbow of Desire", and Legislative Theatre. The first three deal with a variety of oppressions. The latter serves as a forum for communities to suggest laws. The actors enact the suggestion on stage. A lawyer would draft the enactment into formal laws. The theatre company then presents these laws to the governing officials to consider for voting. TO looks at an oppressed situation and finds workable common grounds between the oppressed and the oppressor. Forum Theatre, TO, and Legislative Theatre tend to attract practitioners interested in social change or cultural reform.

Both The Cop in the Head and The Rainbow of Desire examine a person's internal struggles or competing conflicts/interests and place them in a larger context. The Cop in the Head investigates the overt or hidden fear that inhibits or taunts the individual from moving forward. The Rainbow of Desire uses the colours of the rainbow as a metaphor to explore the different images of desire and want within a person who is in face of conflict. Educators, therapist, and those who involve in social work are likely to employ these two approaches.

Unlike the tradition Forum Theatre, The Cop in the Head and The Rainbow of Desire do not rely on a team of trained improvisers or rehearsed material to kick-start the show. The forum resembles a workshop, in which a facilitator acts as the theatre director. He/she uses theatre games to warm up the audience, who are also the participant-actors/witnesses. The goal of the event is to actualize images that emerge from the improvisation based on an actual situation provided by the protagonist. Participant-actors/witnesses observe these images objectively and then provide their objective or subjective commentaries on the improvisation. The director points out theatrical dramatic readings that illuminate polarity to participants. At the end of the show, the protagonist takes charge of what he or she gleans from the multiple readings revealed during the theatrical process.

Playback Theatre

Jonathan Fox founded Playback Theatre (PT) 30 years ago. It started out as a performance model, with a trained company of improvisers and a defined audience (Salas, 2000). The basic format is simple. An audience member tells a story or a moment of their life and the actors improvise the essence of the story on the spot. A classic PT performance has a conductor who liaisons among the storyteller, the actors, and the audience. There is a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 6 actors and a musician on stage. Due to its organic therapeutic value, PT workshop model soon gained its popularity among therapist, educators, and helpers alike in the mental health field. Whether PT serves as the performance or workshop model, its core structure remains. In a workshop model, participants enact stories for each other without having to focus on artistic competence (Salas, 2000).

Although Fox is also a psychodrama practitioner and he values the work of Boal, PT stands as its own approach. Unlike psychodrama and TO, PT does not rely on sharing or discussion. The teller watches the drama but does not participate in the enactment. PT dramatic process integrates image, sound, rhythm, embodiment, and narrative to improvise the teller's story. PT does not search for solution in any given story. It serves as a vehicle for deep dialogue that does not demand an answer. PT simply embraces personal story one after another. Therefore, a successful playback performance provides an arena for community members to listen to each other's unique life story and witnessing its meaning being portrayed on stage (Fox, 2004)

Fox (1999) mapped out a three-way interaction among art, social interaction, and ritual to define the zone of good PT. Since PT is an art, a playback company is expected to honour the teller's story through skilful use of staging, dynamics, form, originality, metaphors, images, and improvisation. PT is also a social event that is highly interactive. Therefore, it is crucial for the company to provide the audience with a warm, welcoming, and respectful atmosphere. Ritual implies the authentic and sincere sense of stage presence projected by the actors, musician, and the conductor. They bring the teller and the audience into a transpersonal dimension that permeates with ecstatic emotional energy. Through which, the rhythmical poetic language transition the personal story to a transformed collective state. Hence, good PT demands the actor and leader to be a skilled artist, host, and shaman/priest (Fox, 1999).

The benefits of spontaneous expressions

Whether as a performance or workshop model, most forms of improvisation theatre contain artistic and therapeutic values. Depending on the population I serve and the settings, I have implemented most of the above modalities in my practice. Recently, I founded a playback company that encompasses mainly non-professional actors. Since its inception, the company has been practising weekly and performing regularly at community settings such as senior homes, transitional housing, and day shelters, etc. The audiences were receptive and they enjoyed our PT performances. Show after show, I witnessed community bonding through the telling and enacting of personal stories.

As a PT artistic director, it is amazing for me to witness the rapid growth of the company within the realm of good PT zone. According to Johnstone (1985), the most marvellous thing about improvisation is that the facilitator is suddenly in contact with people who are unbounded and their imagination seems to function without limit (Salas, 1999). In a dramatherapy session or psychoeducational workshop, I use improvisation to create distancing that disarms clients' cognitive or social constrains. I also employ theatre games to let clients explore their spontaneity and expressiveness in an accepting and supportive environment. Spolin (1999) described spontaneity being the moment of personal freedom. It is when a person faces a reality, sees it, explores it and acts accordingly. This moment encapsulates discovery, experience, and creative expression.

References

Blatner, H. A. (1973). Acting-in: practical applications of psychodramatic methods. NY, NY: Spring Publishing Co.

Boal, A. (2002). The rainbow of desire: The Boal method of theatre and therapy. London: Routledge

Fox, J., & Dauber, H. (Ed.) (1999) Gathering voices: essays on playback theatre. New Paltz, NY: Tusitala Publishing.

Fox., J. (1994). Acts of service: spontaneity, commitment, tradition in the nonscripted theatre. New Paltz, NY: Tusitala Publishing.

Fox, J. (2004). Article from the school of playback theatre. www.playbackschool.net

Johnstone, K. (1999). Impro for storytellers: theatresports and the art of making things happen. London: Faber and Faber Ltd.

Johnstone, K. (1985). Impro: improvisation and the theatre (4th ed.). NY: Theatre Arts Books.

Salas, J. (1999). Improvising real life. (3rd ed.). New Paltz, NY: Tusitala Publishing.

Salas, J. (1999). What is good playback theatre? In J. Fox .,& H. Dauber. (Ed.). Gathering voices: essays on playback theatre. New Paltz, NY: Tusitala Publishing.

Salas, J. (2000). Playback theatre: a frame for healing. In P. Lewis, & D. R. Johnson Current approaches in drama therapy. Illinois, USA: Charles C. Thomas.

Spolin, V. (1999). Improvisation for the theatre: a handbook of teaching and directing techniques. (3rd ed.). Illinois: Northwestern University Press.