Improv Glossary
As in every special field, there are a lot of terms with special meaning in the Improtheater. We have tried to compile and explain some of these terms in our improv glossary.
Categories
Experience
Energy
Competences
Accept
The most important rule of improvisation is: accept offers of players. Rejecting automatically stops, disrupts, or impedes every improvis...
Action and Reaction
The principle of action and reaction means that an actor who is in dialogue and/or in another (pantomime) interaction with another actor ...
Ask For
Ask Fors are concepts, facts or things which the improv player or the moderator ascertains or receives from the audience, before beginnin...
Attitude
In improvisational theater attitude can have several meanings. An attitude, a personal opinion, or a feeling about something: a personal...
Audience
The audience has several tasks and functions in improvisation theatre. conventional theatre In conventional (staged) theatre, the audie...
Authenticity
Authenticity related to people means that the action of a person is not determined by external factors, but is due to the person himself/...
Blocking
Blocking is one of the most common Failures that can happen to improvisers. Blocking means that one player' s Game Offer is not accepted ...
Cancel
During an appearance, the presenter may cancel the current scene, if she has totally failed, and is completely out of control. The bar mu...
Clapping
The clapping of a player not involved on the current scene, or of the moderator, is the common way to signal the currently active players...
Fail
Fail happens at the improv theater, when one has made mistakes, which has led to, that the scene has been a failure or the scenes have be...
Focus
Focus refers to the attention of the audience (and the actors, too) on certain people on the stage. If there are two people, then the att...
Ignoring
Similar to blocking, though here other people's offers are not directly blocked, but simply not paid attention to. This can happen throug...
Interruption
The interruption of a scene means (as opposed to a cut) that the actor from the current scene only inserts a brief pause where their moti...
Offer
An offer is an activity or a comment of a player, which refers to a teammate or is directed at him, and requires a gestural/mimed or verb...
Questions
Questions can have multiple meanings in improvisational theatre. Ask for As a moderator I can ask the audience for guidelines. It may b...
Trust
A scene will not succeed, if an actor tries to assert his own ideas. It is important with an clear head to step on the stage and to trust...