playful

Spolin developed new games that focused upon creativity, adapting and focusing the concept of play to unlock the individual`s capacity for creative self-expression. These games (several of which have become classics) are described in Improvization for the Theatre .

Read more about Viola Spolin on , or check out the Hall of Fame at the Improv Page , where you can find a couple of articles about her and her work.

In the interview Viola speaks about the difference between the competitive nature of “Comedy Sports” and seeking the eternal expression of the individual epitomized in her work.

When the competitive improvisation forms came along in the mid 1990′s people flocked the referee enforced, sports-like atmosphere of Comedy Sports and Theatre Sports leaving those of us who were teaching and presenting the work of Viola talks about in the the interview in the dust. I remember seeing lines to get into the Pizza Hut in Madison, Wisconsin while we at the Ark Improvisational Theatre, a few blocks away were lucky to fill the front row.

Like all fads and follies the whole competitive improv scene slowly faded and left the whole of improvisation tainted with its slick and silly none such from which it has never recovered.