Impro or Improv? And what’s the difference?

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Both Impro and Improv are short for Improvisation. Keith Johnstone’s seminal book where he laid out many of the theories, practices and games that are still used today, is called IMPRO. Keith began his work at the Royal Court Theatre in London, eventually taking it to the streets around Europe, and this was the shortened term they used. Meanwhile, as groups started appearing in the US, they adopted “improv”. To this day, Impro is more commonly used in Europe, while Improv has spread throughout the US and Canada.

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We have chosen Impro for our work at the Tightrope Studio & Theatre, because our work is deeply rooted in the work of our friend and mentor Keith. It connects us to not only the long tradition of theatrical improvisation, but also of using improvisation as a technique for creating and training in theatre. 

 

By calling our work Impro Theatre, we hope to make Tightrope a home for other theatre techniques like mask, clown, movement, puppetry, dance, video, and performance art. We envision Tightrope as a place  where audiences can experience not just deep belly-laughs and squeals, but the full range of human emotions, stories and experiences.