What do you think?
Rate this book
How to Improvise a Full-Length Play: The Art of Spontaneous Theater
Forget the script and get on the stage! In How to Improvise a Full-Length Play, actors, playwrights, directors, theater-group leaders, and teachers will find everything they need to know to create comedy, tragedy, melodrama, and farce, with no scripts, no scenarios, and no preconceived characters. Author Kenn Adams presents a step-by-step method for long-form improvisation, covering plot structure, storytelling, character development, symbolism, and advanced scene work. Games and exercises throughout the book help actors and directors focus on and succeed with cause-and-effect storytelling, raising the dramatic stakes, creating dramatic conflict, building the dramatic arc, defining characters, creating environments, establishing relationships, and more. How to Improvise a Full-Length Play is the essential tool for anyone who wants to create exceptional theater.Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.
- GenresTheatreNonfiction
178 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 16, 2007
32 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 12, 2018
This book is pretty incredible. The title, How to Improvise a Full-Length Play, says it all, but a lot of the major points of the book generalize to writing short fiction or novels, or even to screen- and stage-writing. Author Kenn Adams lays it out like a formula, which I'll render here, if you're interested. This looks like a storybook formula but it applies to virtually every story. Here goes:
Foundation:
Once upon a time,
Every day,
First Significant Event:
But one day,
Foundation Focus:
Because of that, (3+ times)
First Significant Repercussion:
And that's when
Question of the Story:
Which raised the question,
Foundation Funnel:
Because of that, (3+ times)
Climax:
Until finally,
The End:
Because of that, (3+ times)
And ever since then,
All right, so the structure looks easier than it is, or maybe it doesn't look like anything to you now. This will be hard for me to do, but I'll try to write a story on the fly right now, and show you how the structure works:
Once upon a time, there was a guy in a cold house. Every day, he was reluctant to do anything around his house, because the house was so cold, and he had a lot of things he wanted to do. He was living in a house that a nice lady rented to him, but it cost a lot to heat the place, so he never ran the heat because he didn't have the money. He was working a job for his buddy, which paid a little, and in his personal time, he was trying to write a novel. It was difficult balancing both things, and especially doing any of this in a cold house.
But one night, he finally turned on an electrical heater his buddy let him borrow and he stayed up all night with his heater running and a big heavy coat on, and he wrote. He had this amazing burst of inspiration, wrote something like 45 pages. It was terrific.
But because of that writing burst, he woke up late the next morning. Because he woke up late, he missed work had a bunch of calls from his friend. He got his friend on the phone and his friend said, What are you doing to me? Are you trying to mess up my work? I hired you because I thought you'd be reliable. Today I was swamped at work, you know, and I needed you around.
So (still in the becauses, Foundation Focus) the guy who lived in the cold house had to walk on egg shells with his boss. His boss who was his friend got angry with him, told him to shape up, he said he would, but then he did it again.
And that's when his boss said, Fine, twice you let me down, once more and I fire you. Which raised the question, Would the man in the cold house get fired?
Because of that, the man in the cold house changed his act, started doing right at work. At home, he decided to run his electrical heater more, and did his writing in the evenings after work, got a schedule even, until finally, he went to his landlady's to get the bills.
The man got back home, opened his bills, saw that the heat was 300 bucks, too expensive considering what he was making. He had an argument with the landlady, explains that he ran the electric heater, instead of the central unit. She said that's what the bill was, regardless. He complained to her it wasn't energy-efficient. Big mess.
He got a little down, didn't care if he did the novel, or about work if work was going to pay so little he could barely afford his rent. So the night before a big day of work, he called his boss, his friend, said, I quit. He slept in till noon. Since then, he does this kind of thing. He also runs his head, despite the fact that he's got no income now, and won't be able to pay for it in two or three months.
All right, sorry about all that, trying to write that thing on the fly. Not very good, besides. I more or less followed Adams' advice when I wrote that. He says when you craft a story, just have some vague idea for who Character 1 and Character 2 are during the first half, and make Character 1 act on or affect Character 2. In the above story, it emerged that the man in the cold house is Character 1 and the friend, who's the man's boss, is Character 2. Well, what's supposed to happen at the First Significant Event is that Character 1 affects Character 2, and that's what happened. The man overslept, messed with his boss at work. We live with the consequences of that up until the First Significant Repercussion.
At the First Significant Repercussion, the midpoint of the story, Character 2 has to strike back at Character 1. We get that in the above story, when Character 1 fouls up again and misses work. Character 2 gives an ultimatum and says he'll be fired if that happens. Then from here on out Character 1 starts doing better, blah blah, until the Climax.
Quick Note: For the second half of the story, Addams says that you need to get a third character involved that will facilitate the Climax. I didn't know who my Character 3 was when I started but I had mentioned a landlady so that's who becomes my Character 3.
At the Climax, Character 1 has to do something to or with a Character 3. In the above, I made Character 1 pick up bills from 3 and then get angry at 3 later over the phone. This sends Character 1 into a spiral, making him feel hopeless, and he eventually quits and gives up on all his work.
I'll confess that I don't yet how effective this model is, much as I like how it can serve as a guidepost for me. The reason I don't know if I should trust the model is that I wrote two stories recently using this as a guide, and one of the stories is just awful. I'll see if I improve as a result of this format.
Foundation:
Once upon a time,
Every day,
First Significant Event:
But one day,
Foundation Focus:
Because of that, (3+ times)
First Significant Repercussion:
And that's when
Question of the Story:
Which raised the question,
Foundation Funnel:
Because of that, (3+ times)
Climax:
Until finally,
The End:
Because of that, (3+ times)
And ever since then,
All right, so the structure looks easier than it is, or maybe it doesn't look like anything to you now. This will be hard for me to do, but I'll try to write a story on the fly right now, and show you how the structure works:
Once upon a time, there was a guy in a cold house. Every day, he was reluctant to do anything around his house, because the house was so cold, and he had a lot of things he wanted to do. He was living in a house that a nice lady rented to him, but it cost a lot to heat the place, so he never ran the heat because he didn't have the money. He was working a job for his buddy, which paid a little, and in his personal time, he was trying to write a novel. It was difficult balancing both things, and especially doing any of this in a cold house.
But one night, he finally turned on an electrical heater his buddy let him borrow and he stayed up all night with his heater running and a big heavy coat on, and he wrote. He had this amazing burst of inspiration, wrote something like 45 pages. It was terrific.
But because of that writing burst, he woke up late the next morning. Because he woke up late, he missed work had a bunch of calls from his friend. He got his friend on the phone and his friend said, What are you doing to me? Are you trying to mess up my work? I hired you because I thought you'd be reliable. Today I was swamped at work, you know, and I needed you around.
So (still in the becauses, Foundation Focus) the guy who lived in the cold house had to walk on egg shells with his boss. His boss who was his friend got angry with him, told him to shape up, he said he would, but then he did it again.
And that's when his boss said, Fine, twice you let me down, once more and I fire you. Which raised the question, Would the man in the cold house get fired?
Because of that, the man in the cold house changed his act, started doing right at work. At home, he decided to run his electrical heater more, and did his writing in the evenings after work, got a schedule even, until finally, he went to his landlady's to get the bills.
The man got back home, opened his bills, saw that the heat was 300 bucks, too expensive considering what he was making. He had an argument with the landlady, explains that he ran the electric heater, instead of the central unit. She said that's what the bill was, regardless. He complained to her it wasn't energy-efficient. Big mess.
He got a little down, didn't care if he did the novel, or about work if work was going to pay so little he could barely afford his rent. So the night before a big day of work, he called his boss, his friend, said, I quit. He slept in till noon. Since then, he does this kind of thing. He also runs his head, despite the fact that he's got no income now, and won't be able to pay for it in two or three months.
All right, sorry about all that, trying to write that thing on the fly. Not very good, besides. I more or less followed Adams' advice when I wrote that. He says when you craft a story, just have some vague idea for who Character 1 and Character 2 are during the first half, and make Character 1 act on or affect Character 2. In the above story, it emerged that the man in the cold house is Character 1 and the friend, who's the man's boss, is Character 2. Well, what's supposed to happen at the First Significant Event is that Character 1 affects Character 2, and that's what happened. The man overslept, messed with his boss at work. We live with the consequences of that up until the First Significant Repercussion.
At the First Significant Repercussion, the midpoint of the story, Character 2 has to strike back at Character 1. We get that in the above story, when Character 1 fouls up again and misses work. Character 2 gives an ultimatum and says he'll be fired if that happens. Then from here on out Character 1 starts doing better, blah blah, until the Climax.
Quick Note: For the second half of the story, Addams says that you need to get a third character involved that will facilitate the Climax. I didn't know who my Character 3 was when I started but I had mentioned a landlady so that's who becomes my Character 3.
At the Climax, Character 1 has to do something to or with a Character 3. In the above, I made Character 1 pick up bills from 3 and then get angry at 3 later over the phone. This sends Character 1 into a spiral, making him feel hopeless, and he eventually quits and gives up on all his work.
I'll confess that I don't yet how effective this model is, much as I like how it can serve as a guidepost for me. The reason I don't know if I should trust the model is that I wrote two stories recently using this as a guide, and one of the stories is just awful. I'll see if I improve as a result of this format.
January 1, 2020
If you want to improvise a full-length play and you have never done it before, read this. If you have never studied story structure before, read this. If you have done long-form improv or studied story structure before, read this because it might explain even more clearly how things are broken down.
Well written. Well organized.
I encourage you to read it start to finish the first time without skipping around. Each chapter builds on the previous one, connecting the dots. It’s worth it.
Well written. Well organized.
I encourage you to read it start to finish the first time without skipping around. Each chapter builds on the previous one, connecting the dots. It’s worth it.
June 8, 2018
An excellent, pragmatic guide to structuring your first improvised play. Many of the exercises presented were new to me, and others were new takes on ones I already knew. While this book focuses on creating one specific kind of improvised play, the exercises and approach taken by Adams can easily be morphed to fit your needs. Highly recommended to any practitioners of long-form improv, whether you plan on doing a full play or not.
April 16, 2022
Extensive explanation of storystructure applied to improve theatre. Source of Storyspine. Compact/dense readingmaterial, and although probably a bit to complex and detailed for most intuitive actors (who tend to get 'in their head' with this kind of cognitive structures) a must read for longform improv actors.
August 22, 2024
Extensive explanation of storystructure applied to improve theatre. Source of Storyspine. Compact/dense readingmaterial, and although probably a bit to complex and detailed for most intuitive actors (who tend to get 'in their head' with this kind of cognitive structures) a must read for longform improv actors.
September 11, 2022
Very thorough. Actually, too detailed. Will have to go back and piece through it again to put the improvised play techniques into practice. Other than being a bit much (abundance as a criticism here), great ideas in here. Adams knows of which he speaks. Would recommend to experienced improvisers.
March 23, 2018
This is a very helpful read for those interested in stage play or crafting a story for any platform. Highly recommended.
January 28, 2025
A good chunk of the book is devoted to basic story structure, which will be familiar and not terribly interesting to anyone versed in screenwriting or playwriting.
The rest of the volume is dedicated to describing a methodology - a series of exercises designed to build skills to successfully implement a loose formula for improvising a play.
It's not earth-shattering - the basic message is "study play structure and practice implementing those structures into long form improv" but it is helpful in creating stepping stones to get there.
The rest of the volume is dedicated to describing a methodology - a series of exercises designed to build skills to successfully implement a loose formula for improvising a play.
It's not earth-shattering - the basic message is "study play structure and practice implementing those structures into long form improv" but it is helpful in creating stepping stones to get there.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews