December 2011
2 posts
“[Improv gives you] the ability to really listen, to stop yourself from this...”
– Mark Chalfant, Artistic Director of Washington Improv Theater (where the co-founders of THINK IMPROV learned to make it all up), interviewed on Scoutmob.com.
MIT says Improvisation May Be the Key to... →
June 2011
14 posts
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“If you wait around for an opportunity to come up, it’s not coming. It isn’t,...”
– Thomas Lennon (as quoted in this article)
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This is Your Brain on Improv →
Fascinating, SHORT article on what’s happening in our brains when we improvise.
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Al Gore, Improviser?
At the Games for Change (G4C) festival earlier today, the one and only Al Gore noted that research has shown that “play is important in all mammals.” New mission: Get Al Gore to take an improv workshop. (Think Improv’s very own Amanda Hirsch will be hosting the G4C awards ceremony Wednesday. Woot!)
“We listen very consciously at times with our ears but we also hear and listen...”
– Stephen Vitiello (via poptech)
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Your Decisions Write the Script
“I don’t have a master plan or goal to leave a specific mark. I doubt I’m smart enough, or have enough foresight, for that sort of thing. But I do think that every time someone makes a better decision, everyone gains, at least a tiny bit.” - Chris Chablis via PopTech
» YES. Every decision you make writes the world’s script.
Have An Opinion At All Times →
Will wrote the post below about improv, but it’s important to take a position in life, too. I took a class in college where the teacher made us sit around the room according to our position on the previous night’s reading assignment. Did we think the character was a bigot? Sit by the window. If we changed our minds, we could move. Back and forth we went. This is the key to intellectual...
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“But the point is this: It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that...”
– Conan O’Brien reveals Tonight Show heartbreak in Dartmouth University speech | Mail Online (via sarah-anne)
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And a good morning to you.
Exciting news this morning: Vox Pop, a 2-person musical improv team featuring our very own Jordan Hirsch, was accepted into the Del Close Improv Marathon. Woot!
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“The human race has one really effective weapon, & that is laughter.”
– Mark Twain
Be generous.
Onstage, the generous players are the ones we all want to do scenes with again and again.
They’re the ones who are the most fun.
The Harvard Business Review opines on why we should be generous at work, too.
“Integrity is living up to what you declare, in an improv scene and in a life.”
– Mick Napier
May 2011
8 posts
“This is why the goof reel at the end of some of these films — the crack-ups, the...”
– ‘The Hangover’ and the Age of the Jokeless Comedy
Amy Poehler's Speech to Harvard Grads →
Great speech from Amy Poehler, wherein she draws on many lessons from good improv that turn out to be lessons for a good life.
The whole speech is great, but the improv stuff specifically starts around 8:00 in.
“All the characters we play are merely subsets of ourselves. It’s us in...”
– Del Close
Say, “Yes And” and Stop Wasting Energy on... →
Great post, apparently inspired by an interview w/ our very own Amanda Hirsch.
Improv Killed the Radio Star?
We hope not!
Tune in to NY Brand Lab Radio on May 18, 10am ET to hear brand smartypants Mary van de Wiel tell us how we should be branding ourselves here at THINK IMPROV.
Woo!
“No matter how much we know, life still remains mysterious and unpredictable....”
– Judith Hanson Lasater, yoga teacher
“You can only see the future dimly, and, as you watch it come over the horizon,...”
– Your Crucial - and Unwritten - Plan - Linda Hill & Kent Lineback - Harvard Business Review
“We can see the destination, but the route there will be figured out as we move...”
– Plan vs. Path — Which Is Better for Innovation? « The Scholarly Kitchen
April 2011
8 posts
Tina Fey Schools Google's Eric Schmidt on Improv... →
Tina Fey taught Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt the rules of comedy improv last week during her appearance at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View…
In On The Joke: Collaboration Through Humor | Fast... →
The value of humor in the workplace….
“If we pretend we can become … better learners, better leaders and better...”
– Why improv? - Marian Rich
Tina Fey's Bossypants Offers Improv Tips for... →
Fast Company article emphasizes how Tina Fey’s improv rules apply directly to the workplace.
NY Times: WET Design & the Improv Approach to... →
Q. Why improv?
A. Improv, if properly taught, is really about listening to the other person, because there’s no script. It’s about responding…
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“The best thing about improv is that no matter how bad your show is, it’s...”
– Mick Napier
We're all just winging it. →
“There’s this very real thing that runs rampant in educated people. It’s called imposter syndrome. The clinical definition is a “psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments.” It means that you feel like a phony, like you’re just winging it, that you really don’t have any idea what you’re doing.
Guess what?
None of us do.”
-Austin...
Study: Jazz Improv Cranks Up Brain's Creativity →
This is from back in ‘08, but it’s still cool…
terrillific:
YEAH for IMPROV!!! salsabrain:
When jazz pianists are improvising riffs, their brains act much more like the dreaming brain, with inhibition turned down and creativity cranked way up, a new study finds.