Goodreads asked Mandy Khoshnevisan:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Mandy Khoshnevisan I got the idea for "Managed Mischief" because I noticed a gap between the worlds of teaching and performing. Lots of adults take improv classes because they want to be performers—but there are also lots of people who take them for other reasons: to have fun, to meet people, to gain self-confidence, to improve their public speaking, etc. Similarly, as a teacher, I've observed that many drama teachers use improv as part of their curriculum in teaching kids to be performers. I've also seen lots of teachers, camp counselors, and other group leaders using improv games and exercises as icebreakers and group entertainment, in totally NON-performance settings.

SO! I realized that improv teaches a lot of very important social and life skills (it certainly helped me overcome 100% of my stage fright) which could certainly apply to life — AND, that people who were playing these improv games in more casual settings could use these games with more effectiveness if they better understood what skills those same games were teaching players.

Because improv games are like little behavior labs, players (especially kids) learn things from them that a casual game leader might not expect. Therefore they have more power and more potential than someone who may just be trying to kill some time may expect. The first section of "Managed Mischief" gives some basic background information on teaching improv, so that a leader or instructor can choose a game that fits their current group, get the most benefits out of playing it, and ensure that everyone is engaged and having fun.

Have you played some of these games, or other ones? Have questions or comments? Let me know what you think!

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