The Encyclopedia of Interactive Performance

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any performance that involves spontaneous creation

Whether playing a blue-sky story or working from a scenario, interactive performance is built on the things that spects say and do. Since there’s no way to predict every offer that a spect might make, inter-actors always need the ability to improvise.

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Viola Spolin

A vast reference work that focuses on freeing the natural ability to play and perform through the use of improvisational theatre games. Also includes sections on coaching improvisation and working with children.

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making an offer without external support or prompting

When you initiate, you give the spect something to respond to. This helps at the beginning of a story, when spects are more comfortable responding than initiating.

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If making stuff up is scary or hard, consider this: You make up stories every night when you dream. You can already make stuff up. You just need to tap into that ability when you’re awake. There are two ways to do that: inspiration and invention.

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coming up with an idea by thinking about it

Invention is the generation of ideas through a process of conscious thought. It’s counterpoint is inspiration. Both are useful tools when improvising.

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to go along with a player’s intention behind an offer when it’s contrary to the character’s intention

There are two intentions behind every offer: The intention of the character, and the intention of the inter-actor playing the character. These two intentions are not always the same.

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If you’re stuck for what to say, declare something. Say how you feel. Make an observation about a character, the location, or what’s going on. Let it be simple. State the obvious. When you make a declaration, you establish a detail while avoiding a question.

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an offer that implies a story detail

Oblique offers imply information rather than explicitly stating it. They allow spects to be smart and infer elements of the story without spoon-feeding them every single detail.

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Encyclopedia of Interactive Performance