Comedy Improvisation: Exercises & Techniques for Young Actors [Paperback]

Delton T. Horn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1992

Learn the structure behind the spontaneity of comedy improvisation. Includes over 35 performance-tested structures and performance tips.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-- While the numerous and varied acting workshop techniques that Horn has compiled are certainly suited to young actors, his text is not. He begins with an examination of the history and structure of improvisational comedy, then works his way through five chapters of exercises that demand increasing levels of expertise. A series of posed, black-and-white performance photographs detract from the authenticity of the work. Additionally, much of the same ground--Mirror, Mirror; Gibberish; character and location improvisations--has been covered more thoroughly, if less conventionally, in Viola Spolin's Theater Games for the Classroom, A Teacher's Handbook (Northwestern University Pr., 1986). Similarly, this volume would be more effective for teachers than for students as the exercises call for an impartial, guiding hand. The last three chapters are devoted to the formation and management of the comedy/improv troupe, a topic on which the author gives sound advice, gleaned from personal experience. Still, only the rare high school student will be able to pick up this book and know where to go with it.

Dianne Greene Mahony, The Harvey School, Katonah, NY

Copyright 1991 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

..".useful for anyone who wants to take comedy seriously without losing sight of the fun."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Meriwether Publishing; 1st edition (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0916260690
• ISBN-13: 978-0916260699
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,816,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for serious improvisers, June 22, 2001

By 

Trish C. Berrong "tberrongkc" (Kansas City, MO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Comedy Improvisation: Exercises & Techniques for Young Actors (Paperback)

As "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" becomes more popular, and more improv groups begin performing in high schools and colleges and bars, it's discouraging to think that many new performers will turn to books like this for guidance. Horn's guidelines promote gimmicky, self-serving, impatient, one-dimensional scenework. Audiences are better served by troupes who look to Spolin's "Improvisation for the Theatre," Johnstone's "Impro," Close & Halpern's "Truth In Comedy," and Napier's "Improvise!" for inspiration. The actors on "Whose Line?" only make it look easy-they've worked hard to get there. "Comedy Improvisation" is for troupes who's highest goal is to play for friends in a bar--not those who take making people laugh seriously.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Imperfect Primer for Beginning Players, May 5, 2002

By 

Kevin L. Nenstiel "omnivore" (Kearney, Nebraska) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Comedy Improvisation: Exercises & Techniques for Young Actors (Paperback)

As the title of this book suggests, it is intended to provide "Exercises and Technique for Young Actors." Everyone begins somewhere. Heaven knows I certainly did. However, if this book is all a young improv team uses to glean knowledge of the art, they will be sorely disappointed.

The book begins with a lengthy explication of what improv comedy is and why it's important, but fails to stress important points like why it's bad to force a joke, or how to constitute a themed show. The author also warns young performers away from doing full shows of improv on the grounds that it would be too overwhelming for audiences. I've never heard such a thing.

Most of the space in this book dedicated to exercises focuses on work for beginners, such as the mirror exercise. Granted, improv doyenne Viola Spolin, in the third edition of her classic "Improvisation for the Theatre," lists eleven different kinds of mirror exercise. However, each of Spolin's exercises is concise and straightforward, while Horn rambles on about why the exercise is important and how it's done correctly. Besides, compare Spolin's 416-page textbook to Horn's 144-page primer, and see which is allocating space most effectively.

Horn also gives time and space to how to form a group, find work, secure good contracts, and protect copyright. These are all important issues for young performers, especially young performers who want to get paid for their work; but this takes away copy space from the specific how-to of performance. This is really meat for a separate book. Besides, young performers don't need to be told how to form groups, they'll partner up as skills develop and similar tastes and abilities become evident. The copyright information, moreover, is a decade out of date, and vague even when it was written.

This book is not worthless. That must be stressed. Young performers who want to play at parties or for family and friends will be served well by this information, spare though it is. Too much more detail might overwhelm young performers with light goals and no outside mentor.

However, as performers begin to seek outside their limited experience to deepen their performances, or as they seek professional work or recognition, this book will fail to suit their needs, and they will have to go to other resources if they don't want to have to go it alone. Good books like "Truth in Comedy" or "Improvisation for the Theatre" are more highly recommended for those who want to stick with this art over the long haul.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Quite possibly the worst book on improv ever, October 28, 2006

By 

Gregory Childers (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Comedy Improvisation: Exercises & Techniques for Young Actors (Paperback)

While I'm sure Delton T. Horn has spent a lot of time in bars performing in front of drunks, he really doesn't seem to have a true grasp of the theatrical convention of improvisation. This book was a total waste of time and money.

If you really are interested in the art of improvisation, buy "Truth in Comedy", "Impro for Storytellers", or "Improvise: Scene from the Inside Out".