An analysis of narrative moves in improvisational theatre

Abstract

Our continued investigation into the experience of improvisers as they construct narrative in improvisational theatre provides a meaningful decomposition of its atomic unit, the offer. Our study was conducted with improvisers performing improv "games" in their theatre with each performance video recorded. Individual participants were selectively shown individual performances before being interviewed. This process is meant to elicit deeper information into how the performer chooses specific narrative interactions to develop in an improvisation performance. This paper presents our ongoing findings related to narrative development in improvisational theatre and how they were used to create an improvisational micro-agent. These findings have demonstrated that the use of offers to construct a scene involves the offers' acceptance and augmentation in a scene more than just the strength of an offer. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.