by Gary Schwartz | Feb 3, 2015 | Blog
How to Improve your Improv The Problem: In working to create scenes from Who, What and Where, no matter what the game is, once the players establish their who, what and where, novices and players who come from the ‘story’ approach to improv, invariably...
by Gary Schwartz | Nov 21, 2014 | Blog
Spolin’s pathway to the Unknown The [Spolin’s Theater Games] exercises are artifices against artificiality, structures designed to almost fool spontaneity into being–or perhaps a frame carefully built to keep out interferences in which the player waits. Important in...
by Gary Schwartz | Nov 21, 2014 | Blog
The game of Building a Story is a staple with improv groups around the world. It is the essence of collaboration by building a story one word at a time and by sharing ideas using give and take and intense listening. Invariably, the challenge wakes you up and your...
by Gary Schwartz | Nov 21, 2014 | Creativity, Games, Spontaneity, Theory
Playing games teaches a basic morality. This morality comes from the fact that in order to have fun playing the game, one must follow the rules. It is the rules of the game that allows us to get the fun out of playing. Games present challenges and meeting those...
by Gary Schwartz | Oct 29, 2014 | Blog
Spolin and Sills Laid Down The Rules. The Generations Who Came After Played by Them. That’s How Chicago Invented Itself by Todd London Originally published as “Chicago Impromptu” in American Theatre, July/August 1990 In the beginning, Viola Spolin wrote the word...
