Theatrical Improvisation, Consciousness, and Cognition DOI: 10.1057/9781137335296 Other Palgrave Pivot titles Peter Taylor-Gooby: The Double Crisis of the Welfare State and What We Can Do About It Robert T. 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First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978-1-137-33529-6 PDF ISBN: 978-1-349-46302-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. First edition: 2013 www.palgrave.com/pivot doi: 10.1057/9781137335296 This book is dedicated to Elizabeth, John, and J. Deaver Drinko, without whom I would never have believed this possible. You live on in my consciousness. DOI: 10.1057/9781137335296 Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1 Viola Spolin: Games as a Means toward Flow, Empathy, and Finding One’s Truer Self 14 2 Del Close and the Harold: Improvisational Time and the Multiple Draft Modeled Mind 35 3 Keith Johnstone: Spontaneity, Storytelling, Status, and Masks, Trance, Altered States 64 4 The Improvising Mind: On Stage and in the Lab 92 Conclusion 111 Bibliography 118 Index 129 vi DOI: 10.1057/9781137335296 Acknowledgments First, I must of course thank Robyn Curtis and Desiree Browne at Palgrave Macmillan. Robyn helped expedite the process of publishing this book and get it into the world quickly and painlessly. I thank everyone at Palgrave Macmillan for believing in this book and making it a reality. This project began at Tufts University, and I could not have shaped it into a book without the great advising of Downing Cless. Barbara Grossman, Natalya Baldyga, and John Lutterbie took time out of their hectic schedules to serve on my dissertation committee. They also gave me suggestions, sources, and ideas to mull over. I thank them for making this book better but take full responsibility if it is not. I also wish to thank Laurence Senelick for con- necting me with publishers and offering me guidance and support while at Tufts. Thank you for the generous funding provided by the Trustees of Tufts. Without them I would not have been able to complete this so promptly or travel as extensively. I could not have completed my original research without the help of Benn Joseph, Scott Krafft, and the rest of the amazing staff at the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library. Thank you to Carol Sills and the Sills/Spolin Theater Works for allowing me to include that archival research here. I was lucky enough to take improvisation workshops at iO and with Keith Johnstone, where I met fantastic, funny, kind people who helped me with this project, taught me, and granted me interviews. Thank you to Joe Bill, Dina DOI: 10.1057/9781137335296 vii viii Acknowledgments Facklis, Steve Waltien, Marla Caceres, Jessica Rogers, Christy Bonstell, Katie Hammond, Christine Dunford, and a huge thank you to Charna Halpern and Keith Johnstone. I also want to thank my iO summer inten- sive classmates and my classmates at the Keith Johnstone workshop in Berlin. I made lasting friendships with people who helped me keep this research grounded in the real world. The people I met at conferences along this journey helped give me even more to think about and also encouraged me that this was a worthwhile pursuit. Thanks to the people I met at the Consciousness, Theatre, Literature, and the Arts conference, Blackfriars, ASTR, and ATHE including Rhonda Blair and Daniel Meyer Dinkgräfe. Thank you also to David Gallo, Sian Beilock, and Andrew Matarella-Micke for leading me to excellent scientific articles. Shirley Huston-Findley inspired me to write about acting instead of just doing it, so I am eternally grateful to her for mentoring me at the very start of my academic career. She has become a great friend, and this book would not have been possible without her excellent teaching and advising. Kim Tritt also inspired me to think critically while remaining an artist, and I thank her for that. Mary Reynolds, Fiona Coffey, Paul Masters, and Katie Hammond, thank you for giving me feedback and sources used in this book. Thank you also to friends and family who kept me sane, grounded, and happy. You know who you are, Trevor family, Tufts family, Wooster family, and Drinko family. DOI: 10.1057/9781137335296 Introduction Abstract: Cognitive studies, including philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, is often alluded to when describing theatrical improvisation. This book aims to explicitly connect them by looking at Viola Spolin, Del Close, and Keith Johnstone’s theories and teaching, interviewing professional improvisers, and using recent findings in cognitive studies in order to explore the effects improv has on consciousness and cognition. Drinko, Clayton D. Theatrical Improvisation, Consciousness, and Cognition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. doi: 10.1057/9781137335296. DOI: 10.1057/9781137335296 1