Look Who it Was Random video

Rohit LIVE Part 2

89 views · Published 17 November 2012 · 10:12 · Indexed 19 October 2026

Channel: smartboyee2 · 2012 · Comedy

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Improvised performance is as old as performance itself. The original performers were storytellers. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, Commedia dell'arte performers improvised based on a broad outline in the streets of Italy and in the 1890s theatrical theorists and directors such as Russian, Konstantin Stanislavski and the French, Jacques Copeau, founders of two major streams of acting theory, both heavily utilised improvisation in acting training and rehearsal.

Some people credit American, Dudley Riggs as the first vaudevillian to use audience suggestions to create improvised sketches. Modern theatrical improvisation is generally accepted to have taken form in the improvisational acting exercises developed by Viola Spolin in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, now known as Theater Games. In the 1970s, Canadian Keith Johnstone invented Theatresports that has become a staple of modern improvisational comedy. These rehearsal-room or workshop activities evolved into an independent art form which can be presented or performed before an audience.

Spolin can probably be considered the American Grandmother of Improv. She influenced the first generation of Improv at The Compass Players in Chicago, which led to The Second City. Her son, Paul Sills, along with David Shepherd, started The Compass Players. Following the demise of the Compass Players, Paul Sills began The Second City. They were the first organized troupes in Chicago, Illinois and from their success, the modern Chicago improvisational comedy movement was spawned.

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