TAPS 107 — The Art of Spontaneity: An Introduction to Improvising
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Daniel Klein, Benoit Monin
Date(s): Nov 23—Nov 24
Class Recording Available: No
Class Meeting Day: Saturday and Sunday
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 9:00 am—3:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $380
Refund Deadline: Nov 16
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 50
Status: Open
Quarter: Fall
Day: Saturday and Sunday
Duration: 2 days
Time: 9:00 am—3:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Nov 23—Nov 24
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $380
Refund Deadline: Nov 16
Instructor(s): Daniel Klein, Benoit Monin
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Enrollment Limit: 50
Recording Available: No
Status: Open
Welcome to the world of improvisational theater! Improvising skills are essential for delivering a compelling performance onstage, but they also empower people to navigate life's broader challenges, work effectively in teams, express themselves authentically, and much more. From empowering medical professionals to make critical decisions under pressure to fostering innovative thinking in corporate settings like Google and integrating relevant principles into education for more engaging classrooms, numerous applications across disciplines underscore the wide-reaching benefits of improvisational techniques.
Drawing inspiration from Keith Johnstone, Viola Spolin, Del Close, and Stanford’s own Patricia Ryan Madson, this fun and energetic course is designed to introduce students to the basic principles of improvisational theater and performance studies. The course is suitable for beginning and intermediate improvisers alike and will begin by focusing on core improvising principles: reimagining failure, building ideas, and prioritizing connection. With this foundation, we will develop the skills necessary to collaboratively craft and perform spontaneous stories and scenes. Students will leave the course with an understanding of improvising fundamentals that will unlock creative potential, enhance communication prowess, increase comfort with the unknown, and sharpen problem-solving abilities.
Drawing inspiration from Keith Johnstone, Viola Spolin, Del Close, and Stanford’s own Patricia Ryan Madson, this fun and energetic course is designed to introduce students to the basic principles of improvisational theater and performance studies. The course is suitable for beginning and intermediate improvisers alike and will begin by focusing on core improvising principles: reimagining failure, building ideas, and prioritizing connection. With this foundation, we will develop the skills necessary to collaboratively craft and perform spontaneous stories and scenes. Students will leave the course with an understanding of improvising fundamentals that will unlock creative potential, enhance communication prowess, increase comfort with the unknown, and sharpen problem-solving abilities.
No experience in theater and performance studies is required.
DANIEL KLEIN
Advanced Lecturer, Stanford Department of Theater & Performance Studies, Graduate School of Business, and Stanford d.school
Daniel Klein travels the world as a corporate trainer and creative consultant, with clients including Sun, Cisco, Oracle, Kaiser, Visa, Clorox, and Charles Schwab. He was a founding member of the Stanford Improvisors (SImps) and is the former dean of the BATS (Bay Area Theater Sports) Improv School. He teaches improvisation in the Stanford Department of Theater & Performance Studies, “Acting with Power” for the GSB, and "Improv and Design" for the d.school. In 2009, Klein was named Stanford Teacher of the Year by the Students Association. He is the co-author of Obama’s BlackBerry, Weddings of the Times, and SkyMaul: Happy Crap You Can Buy from a Plane. BENOIT MONIN
Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Professor of Ethics, Psychology, and Leadership, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Benoît Monin is an experimental social pyschologist by training. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology at Stanford. Monin is also a trained improviser and award-nominated theater actor who regularly performs on Bay Area stages. Since 2015, he has been co-teaching “Acting with Power” to MBAs and executives, a course that combines the insight of psychology with the practice of theater to enable students to examine their relationship with power and expand their authentic self by discovering new ways of showing up.
Textbooks for this course:
(Recommended) Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up (ISBN 978-1400081882)
(Recommended) Keith Johnstone, Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre (ISBN 978-0878301171)
(Recommended) Keith Johnstone, Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre (ISBN 978-0878301171)