Hey y'all,
I've been ruminating on this topic since the Improvised Play Festival was announced.
Right now it seems to me that when people are talking about improvised plays they are referring to genre and/or narrative improv This is interesting on the genre side because the majority of influences come from television and movies--in fact, when I think of genres shows in Austin rooted in theatre I can think of Improvised Shakespeare, French Farce, Louder Than Words, and The Plagiarists.
Theatre seems like less of an inspiration to the current improv scene than comedy, film, and television. That speaks as much to the current state of theatre as it does to the current state of improv. We as a society are listening far less to the Sarah Vowells and Tracey Lettses of the world than we are the David Milches and David Simons and Stephanie Meyers and Wes Andersons etc.
Ultimately, I think, what this speaks to is improv's transformation into a stand-alone art form, whether people outside of the community recognize it at all. Do you ever see anyone in a scripted play end a scene by cutting off their speech with a raised arm? No, but it's accepted practice in capital I Improv, and that's fine.
I know with the last few shows I've been in we've put a lot of effort into Viewpoints, stage picture, and tablework. With Showdown I had every scene ended by the lighting tech, though I'm not sure if that's more theatrical, cinematic, both or neither.
Personally, I don't conceive of improv that tells a story as inherently a play, though I may be in the minority. Narrative improv does not necessarily a play make and oftentimes the performers awareness of what they look like/theatrical background will dictate how theatrical the show seems.
But I'm interested in what y'all think. Does an improvised play even need to be theatrical?