IMPRO TALKS
Improvisation, Art and Theatre
Podium discussion with Rebecca Caines, Ralph Yarrow, Anthony Frost and Nicolas Zaunbrecher
Moderation: Gunter Lösel
20. October 2016, 18:00, Miller’s in Zurich, free entry
Improvisation in theatre is usually associated with comedy and entertainment; most people don’t see it as a form of art. And yet: Jazz is accepted as art. The commedia dell’ arte was art. Theater-makers are using improvisation in almost every step of the creative process, seeking access to unconscious contents, to emergent ideas and to spontaneous creativity. Some aspects of improvisation sound radically modern – while others just seem to be left over from oral cultures and traditional forms of art. What is it, then? A modern paradigm? Or an obsolete aesthetical principle? What status does improvisation have in modern art? Why is it appreciated in one form of art more than in the other?
IMPRO TALKS brings together researchers in the field of improvisation and theatre on an international level and throws light on this intersting field. In this podium three outstanding researchers will share their thoughts and results on improvisation, art and theatre. They will be hosted by Gunter Lösel, head of the Research Focus Performative Practice at the Zurich University of the Arts, and an improviser himself.
Bild: Microphone by Alex Indigo on flickr
On the podium
Rebecca Caines
Is Associate Professor (Creative Technologies) and Director of the Regina Improvisation Studies Centre at the University of Regina. Her research areas are critical studies in improvisation; socially-engaged art; emerging technologies and locational art. She is one of the editors of The Improvisation Studies Reader, New York: Routledge, 2014.
Anthony Frost
is currently Director of Drama at the University of East Anglia and Course Director of its Scriptwriting and Performance degree programme. His publications include Improvisation in Drama, Theatre and Performance (with Ralph Yarrow, Palgrave Macmillan, revised, enlarged 3rd ed. 2015), and Theatre Theories (ed. and contrib., Norwich, Pen & Inc., 2000).
Edgar Landgraf
works as Associate Professor at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He has published numerous articles on the history of improvisation and is author of the acclaimed book Improvisation as Art. Conceptual Challenges, Historical Perspectives. New York / London: Continuum, 2011.
Gunter Lösel
Is heading the research focus Performative Practice Zurich University of the Arts. He has published several books on improvisational theatre and a PhD thesis on the performativity of improvisation: Das Spiel mit dem Chaos – Performativität und Systemcharakter des Improvisationstheaters (2013), Bielefeld: transcript-Verlag.
Ralph Yarrow
Is a Professor em. in Drama and Comparative Literature at the University of East Angelia,GB. He has done intercultural research an improvisation in Indian and Asian theatre and has published the influential book Improvisation in drama: Anthony Frost and Ralph Yarrow, Improvisation in Drama, (New York: Palgrave, 2007).
Nicolas J. Zaunbrecher
works as Adjunct Professor at South Louisiana Community College, Department of Arts and Humanities. He is an improvising actor and has published several articles on improvisation. 2016 he has delivered a fascinating PhD thesis on spontaneity: Doing Spontaneity. Diss. Southern Illinois University—Carbondale, 2016.