IMPROVISER’S GLOSSARY

Here are some helpful terms for improv comedy fans and people who are new to the art form so you can understand what we’re talking about on some of our News posts.



Absurd: Over-the-top characters with points-of-view that make them act/react in ways that would be inappropriate in real life. The opposite of Straight.


Alternate reality: Scenes in which the players treat something as reality that doesn’t exist in real life (e.g., vampires) or exists in a different context (e.g., sunflowers as lethal weapons).


Armando: A form of long-form improvised theatre in which a designated player (known as The Armando) delivers a monologue based on an audience suggestion, and the players perform scenes inspired by the monologue.


Bat: A form of long-form improvised theatre akin to a radio play in which the entire show is performed in the dark.


Black comedy (also known as Going Dark): Satirical treatment of taboo subjects ordinarily not mined for comedy, such as abuse, illness, rape, suicide, war or chauvinism.


Blocking: Akin to choreography, blocking is a theatre term also used in film and television to indicate an actor’s physical position, movement or activity in a scene.


Blue humor: Overtly sexual or scatological comedy. Blue humor is considered really funny to 12 year-old boys, or to older people who think like 12 year-old boys.


Clowning: Pantomiming common situations or actions in an exaggerated or ridiculous fashion. Frequently associated with modern circus clowns – but at least one member of Extra-Strength (the one writing this Glossary) has a pathological fear of clowns, so let’s not go there.


Coach: Akin to the director of a play or film, a coach is an experienced performer who works with a team to teach them how to play better individually and together.


Commedia dell’Arte: A form of theatre that developed in 16th century Italy that is one of, if not the, biggest influences on modern improvisational comedy. It involves actors improvising a story based on themes associated with stock characters or situations, such as “servant,” “master” and “inamorata,” usually while wearing iconic masks and costumes.


Crazy Town: Shorthand for a scene or show that devolves into sloppiness, insanity or incongruity. Crazy Town is most frequently visited during student shows.


Deconstruction: A form of improvisational theatre that deconstructs a (usually dramatic) scene to comment on the themes evoked in the scene and the wants, needs, fears and relationship of the characters. See How the Show Works.


Del Close: The godfather of long-form improvisational theatre. See Del Close.


Denial: Intentionally or unintentionally failing to acknowledge something that has already been established as fact in a scene. It is a commonly held belief among improvisers that denial is “The Worst Thing You Can Do.” It’s also worth noting that denial is a concept, not words. Sometimes saying “no” is actually saying “yes” to the Game.


Dominant energy: The character that draws the audience’s attention and drives a scene holds dominant energy. These are usually the characters whose storylines will be followed, though it’s worth noting that dominant energy can shift mid-scene between any number of characters.


Edit: An action or vocalization usually initiated by an off-stage player that cues the audience and other players that a particular scene has ended.


Environment: Everything that makes up the atmosphere of a scene, including setting, props, smells, temperature, sounds and music. Because improvisation is usually done on a bare stage, the environment is invisible but made “real” by the players to allow the audience to imagine the environment the characters inhabit.


Form: The basic structure of an improvised scene or show that gives the players a framework to build around. A well-trained improviser will be skilled in numerous forms, which may include Harold, Deconstruction, Slacker, Bat, Montage, Improvised Movie, Living Room, Armando, La Ronde and Mosaic. See How the Show Works.


Game: Whatever is interesting or funny about a scene is called the Game. It’s a pattern that, once discovered by the players, is repeated several times. It can encompass subtext (e.g., a husband and wife argue over peanut butter, with the peanut butter representing the husband’s unspoken infidelity), schadenfreude (e.g., a character is prevented from achieving his or her goal through their own or another character’s actions), or style (e.g., a soldier speaks and acts inappropriately to whatever’s happening on the battlefield).


Group mind: The creative catharsis that occurs when a team or troupe is able to create and sustain the ability to instinctively and reflexively know what the others are thinking.


Harold: The most commonly taught and performed long-form improvisational theatre form. See How the Show Works.


Head: Also known as the brain, it is both an improviser’s greatest asset and biggest threat. When a performer “gets in their head” it means something has caused them to obsess over a mistake or an idea (or lack thereof) that makes them crash and burn on stage or retreat into a creative coma. Getting in one’s head is very unpleasant.


Heighten: The act of increasing the emotional level of a character or raising the stakes of a scene to make the potential consequences more extreme or dire.


High status: Characters who hold positions of authority have high status, such as a king or queen, president, general, judge, boss or parent.


Improvised Movie: A form of long-form improvised theatre in which the players create a “movie” based on a title suggested by the audience, including action, dialogue, special effects, music, camera angles and credits.


La Ronde: A form of long-form improvised theatre in which the players each play one character throughout the show, with scenes between the characters rotating in a circle.


Lazzi: Physical action (derived from Commedia dell’Arte) that conveys wit or innuendo, usually in silence.


Living Room: A form of long-form improvised theatre in which the players alternate between conversational monologues based on an audience suggestion and scenes inspired by the conversations.


Long-form improv: A form of improvised theatre akin to a play or sit-com that involves numerous interconnected characters and story-lines that typically takes place over the course of 30 minutes.


Low status: Characters that are subservient to another character have low status, such as a subordinate, servant or child.


Mask work: A theatrical form in which an actor’s mask conveys a character’s point of view. The actor may change masks mid-scene to indicate emotional or psychological transformation.


Meisner (also known as Meisner Technique): An acting style developed by Sanford Meisner in the mid-20th century that emphasizes living truthfully under imaginary circumstances through listening and spontaneous reaction.


Monologue: A story-telling technique employed by a solo performer to directly address the audience that provides information, including themes, emotions, words and settings. Monologues can be done “in character” (playing someone else) or “straight” (playing yourself). Usually they are inspired by an audience suggestion.


Montage: A loosely structured form of long-form improvised theatre involving a series of unrelated scenes inspired by one suggestion.


Mosaic: A particularly challenging form of long-form improvised theatre in which a usually large cast performs a show composed of short versions of several other forms.


Opening: The Opening is a short scene (usually 2 minutes) at the beginning of certain long-form improv forms during which the players generate information that will be used in the rest of the show, including themes, emotions, words and settings. Usually it is inspired by an audience suggestion.


Organic Opening: Organic openings involve a team moving around and creating sounds inspired by the audience suggestion, following each other's lead and creating ideas for scenes, settings, themes and characters.


Pimp: Putting another performer on the spot in front of the audience by forcing them to do something potentially awkward, such as sing, recite a poem or speech, or kiss or grope another player. Usually pimping someone is done in good-natured gest, or in retaliation for them pimping you.


Point of view (POV): How a character sees the world and his or her place in it.


Reversal: Turning expectations on their ear so that what an ordinary person would consider “normal” becomes “absurd” and “absurd” becomes “normal.” Examples include an apparently stereotypical character behaving or acting in an non-stereotypical manner, or the “Marilyn Munster effect” in which the pretty one is perceived as a freakish aberration. Extra-Strength does this sort of thing a LOT.


Rule: Any one of the hundreds of “do’s and don’ts” that improvisers learn over the course of several years that make them effective performers. Considering how many of these damn things are in our heads when we get on stage it’s amazing we’re even able to string a sentence together.


The Run: Shorthand for an increasingly fast-paced series of scenes that wrap-up certain forms of long-form shows.


Scene-paint: Details about a scene’s environment or setting usually provided by offstage players.


Schadenfreude: Taking pleasure in the misfortune of others. A German term. Go figure.


Short-form improv: A form of improvised theatre similar to sketch comedy that typically involves one or two characters in a 3-5 minute one-off scene. See Who’s Line Is It Anyway?


Slacker: A form of long-form improv that typically involves a group of characters who start off or end up in the same location. See How the Show Works.


Space work: Interacting with an invisible environment through the use of mime techniques. Used by improvisers to indicate the existence of props, settings and atmosphere.


Straight (or Straight Man): A character that generally acts/reacts the way a normal person would in real life. Provides a counterpoint to heighten an Absurd character.


Tag-out: The act of physically removing one character in a scene (typically by tapping the player on the shoulder) and replacing them with another character. Usually this is done to heighten or propel the story-line of the character with dominant energy. Tag outs may or may not involve changing the setting or timeframe in which the previous scene took place.


Team (also known as Troupe): Akin to a band (musicians), an improv team or troupe is a group who performs together. Teams may remain together for one show or for several decades.


Viewpoints: An acting technique originally developed by choreographer Mary Overlie in the 1970’s in which a character’s thoughts and actions are inspired and informed by movement and gesture.


Warm-up: The period of time before a show during which the players run through a series of drills to try to form group mind and increase energy levels, idea generation speed, reaction time and ability to focus on and remember multiple things occurring simultaneously.


Zip Zap Zop: A warm-up technique typically taught during the first minutes of one’s first improv class. It can also be seen at almost any six year old’s birthday party.