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improvisational theatre

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Also known as improv, improvisational theater, improv theatre, impro, improv comedy, impromptu theater

theatrical genre

~31 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Canadian actors performing longform improv in Winnipeg. Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation, improv, or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.

Improvisational theatre exists in performance as a range of styles of improvisational comedy as well as some non-comedic theatrical performances. It is sometimes used in film and television, both to develop characters and scripts and occasionally as part of the final product.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “improvisational theatre” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.