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The Novelty of Improvisation

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The Novelty of Improvisation Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2003 The novelty of improvisation: towards a genre of embodied spontaneity David Alfred Charles Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Charles, David Alfred, "The novelty of improvisation: towards a genre of embodied spontaneity" (2003). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 76. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/76 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. THE NOVELTY OF IMPROVISATION: TOWARDS A GENRE OF EMBODIED SPONTANEITY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Theatre by David Alfred Charles B.A., Roosevelt University, 1995 M.F.A., Western Illinois University, 1998 August 2003 © Copyright 2003 David Alfred Charles All rights reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to those who started me on my journey as an improvisational artist and theatre practitioner: my New Zealand family, particularly my mother, Sheila, with her theatrical sensibility and limitless support and sensitivity; Logan Park High School’s Park Players under the expert guidance of Denise Walsh, the first and most tireless amongst my many theatre teachers; David Best for his countless gifts and acts of faith; and those from Dunedin Theatresports, Stayci, Martin, Patrick, “Stripy Socks,” “Yuppies Anonymous” and by association Keith Johnstone, who infected me with my life’s passion and set me on my spontaneous path to America with a strong sense of north. Thank you to the numerous dear friends who gave me a second home in America throughout my various degrees and jobs. To Yolanda, JoAnn, Irene, Shannon, Naomi and Melanie, the women who made Chicago warm even during winter. To the Western Illinois men, Gene, Ray and Sonny, the ever-supportive Nancy and Sherry, and my MFA compatriots for their guidance and good humor, especially Doug, Margaret (Max), Stacie, Adam, Jason, Kimmarie and Harry. To my recently acquired Boekhoff branch of the family for their constant encouragement, and to my current Southern friends, fellow doctoral students and close approximations thereof (Tim) for asking how the writing was going and staying around long enough to hear my answer! Thank you to the countless fellow improvisers, actors and students that I have been lucky to encounter and with whom I have shared the stage and classroom – in particular the casts and classes that have let me experiment and tinker, most recently The iii Improvisors, Rhonda and the various casts and crews of Making It Up As We Go Along, the Playhouse wonders, and my Theatre 3900 students and friends. Thank you to my doctoral instructors, mentors and role models, the Ph.D. faculty and support staff at LSU, who have ceaselessly helped me to discover and articulate my passions and dreams, and to Jenny and Les in particular for unfailingly embodying intellectual excellence, artistic rigor and unparalleled humanity both inside and outside the classroom. I cannot possibly express my deep gratitude to you both for your immense impact on my life as an artist, scholar, teacher and person. Additional thanks to Jenny for so skillfully and patiently steering me through the process of writing and revisions and curing me – almost – of my love of the double-dash – it’s much appreciated! Finally, thank you to my wife, Heather, who fell for an actor but was none-the- less willing to marry a doctoral candidate. Without your love, laughter and constant uplifting, life would ultimately have little meaning. Thank you for being the consummate spontaneous partner. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1 READING INTO BAKHTIN’S NOVEL: EXPLORING A NEW WAY OF SEEING ................................................................................................................. 1 2 SURVEYING THE FIELD OF IMPROVISATION: SPOLIN, SPACE AND SPONTANEOUS PLAY ..................................................................................... 20 Boyd and Spolin: Returning the “Play” to Theatre ........................................ 23 Of Streets, Tents, Laundromats and Bars ...................................................... 29 Creating Something Out of Nothing: Space Transformation and Semiotics .................................................................................................. 52 Negotiating the Great Divide: The Spatial Boundaries of Performance ........ 67 Conclusion: The Ideal Space ......................................................................... 77 3 MORENO’S THEATRE OF OPENING NIGHTS: IMPROV IN THE HERE AND NOW ............................................................................................... 79 An Improvised and Unpredictable View of Time .......................................... 84 Reflecting Our Time: Specificity, Adaptability and Newspapers ................. 89 An Act With Presence/Presentness: Masks, Clowns and Players of the Moment ........................................................................................ 105 The Blessings and Curses of Disposability: Improv’s Historical Challenges .............................................................................................. 120 Conclusion: A Timely Utterance ................................................................. 130 4 A PROSAICS OF THE PEOPLE: AMATEURS, OUTCASTS AND BOAL’S SPECT-ACTOR ................................................................................. 134 Putting the Populace in their Proper Place ................................................... 137 Giving Voice Through Embodiment: Boal and the Spect-actor .................. 155 Embracing the Amateur ............................................................................... 168 Membership from the Margins: Improvisation and Inclusivity ................... 180 Conclusion: The Prosaic Partnership ........................................................... 189 5 DIALOGIC FORM AND FREEDOM: STRUCTURING THE CONVERSATION ............................................................................................ 192 Leading the Way: Sidecoaches, Jokers, Directors and Conductors ............. 199 Following the Rules of the Game: Texts, Taxonomies and the Birth of Long-Form ................................................................................ 213 Structures with Character: Physical-Based Frames ..................................... 231 Considering the Bigger Picture .................................................................... 243 v Conclusion: A Disordered Order ................................................................ 251 6 CARNIVAL, CHANGE AND BOUNDARY BLURRING: THE POLITICS OF IMPROVISATION ...................................................................................... 254 The Power of the Carnival Satirist: Taking Laughter Seriously .................. 258 Improvising Between the Lines of Art, Politics and Life ............................ 274 The Political Ends of the Means .................................................................. 296 Challenging the Conserve and Censorship .................................................. 307 Conclusion: The Changing Tide .................................................................. 318 7 CONCLUSION: COLLABORATIVE CREATIVITY AND THE NOVELTY OF IMPROVISATION ...................................................................................... 321 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 330 APPENDIX: TIMELINE OF IMPROVISATIONAL THEATRE ................................ 354 VITA .............................................................................................................................. 371 vi ABSTRACT Improvisation has often been viewed and valued in terms of its service and resemblance to scripted traditions of theatre. Such a stance seriously undermines the significance and impact of this global performance modality, and has resulted in improvisatory modes being largely ignored or downplayed in modern historical accounts of theatre. This dissertation examines improvisation on its own terms, seeking to understand its unique features, functions and potentials, while freeing it from the heavy shadow of its scripted counterpart. To this end, the theories of literary critic, Mikhail Bakhtin, provide important methodological guideposts and allow the silhouette of the improvisational impetus to take form. Through the application of Bakhtin’s concepts of the chronotope, prosaics, polyphony and the carnivalesque, and his overarching schema of the genre as a way of seeing and experiencing the world, the communicative event of improvisation is revealed to be strikingly similar to Bakhtin’s preferred model,
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