Narrative Improv

'Game will make an audience laugh; character and relationships will make an audience care'

Telling stories has been part of the human experience for thousands of years; tales of heroes and villains, perilous journeys, characters coming together to overcome adversity. These stories are as enjoyable to tell as they are to watch and listen to. Yet improvisers are often told to avoid doing narrative shows with a beginning, middle and end following characters on a journey. So how do so many improv groups do these shows?

In this class we will explore some of the steps to take and pitfalls to watch out for when improvising a narrative story, including:

Basic narrative story structure

Protagonist, Antagonist and other characters

Balancing game, character/relationship and story focused scenes

Telling stories that engage an audience, with characters they will care about

Extra storytelling tricks to keep in our improv utility belt that we can use