Keith Johnstone Impro For Storytellers Pdf ((top))

Unlock the Power of Improvisation: Keith Johnstone's "Impro for Storytellers" PDF

  • Develop your creative voice and vision
  • Build confidence in your improvisation skills
  • Enhance your storytelling abilities
  • Improve your collaboration and ensemble work

For storytellers:

Stop writing “he said angrily.” Instead, show status shifts.

  • Action and Reaction: Events happen to characters. The story is about how the character is changed by the event.
  • Breaking the Routine: How to identify a routine (e.g., brushing teeth) and introduce a disturbance (e.g., the toothbrush turns into a snake).
  • Platform: Establishing the "who, what, where" clearly so the audience has a baseline to understand the disruption.

Part 3: The Narrative Wheel

In traditional storytelling advice, we talk about "conflict." But conflict is vague. Johnstone makes it tangible: conflict is almost always a shift in status. keith johnstone impro for storytellers pdf

  1. Tell a 2-minute story about the most mundane event of your day (brushing teeth, waiting for a bus).
  2. As you tell it, deliberately drop your voice, speak slowly, and avoid “exciting” words.
  3. Then retell the same story, but add one small lie—something impossible (e.g., “The toothbrush turned into a sparrow”).
  4. Notice how the lie forces your brain to invent consequences. That’s the seed of narrative.