The Second City Almanac of Improvisation (review)

The Second City Almanac of Improvisation is not so much a narrative or how-to book as a collection of essays and advice from Second City's more prestigious alumni. Throughout its seven chapters, author Anne Libera addresses the guidelines and goals of courses taught through Second City's Training Center, of which she is the artistic director. While this resource may sound invaluable to practitioners of improvisation, Libera has created a book that provides copious information in a less-than-logical sequence. The result is confusing in its progression, but valuable in its content.

Not surprisingly, the book starts with a chapter in which readers are reminded of the invaluable contributions of Viola Spolin, mother of Second City co-founder Paul Sills, and her lasting effect on improvisation around the country today. The chapter then splinters into tangents, first covering the "Big Three" rules for things to avoid (don't tell stories, don't ask questions, and don't deny anyone's reality); then touching upon Object Work, Environment, and Give and Take. While these elements form the basics of effective improvisation, Libera provides seemingly little to connect the topics; thus, the reader is left beleaguered rather than enlightened.

The next chapter, "Playing the Scene," is much stronger and offers specific methodologies of creating and transforming relationships, both as characters in scenes and as performance partners. Libera's discussion of status in this chapter is particularly informative, and echoes the theories of improv pioneers such as Keith Johnstone.

"The Performer Inside the Scene" delves into the creation of character and humor. It is by far the most insightful of the chapters, and explores some real-life challenges, including how to find humor rather than the easy laugh, and how to play characters who are true to their own intelligence. A discussion of race and gender is wisely included, as one of the major problems improv companies face is being staffed with an inordinate percentage of Caucasian males.

The chapter on "Improvisation and Acting" appears most enticing to teachers of Stanislavski-based acting. Unfortunately, this is almost exclusively a discussion by Sheldon Patinkin, artistic consultant to the Company, and grapples mostly with how to build characters through improvisational games and exercises. I had hoped that, based on its title, this section would address means of connecting improvisation to Stanislavsky-based acting. Ultimately, however, the chapter offers few insights that have not been covered more deeply in other books.

A chapter on the ten most popular Second City games comes next, along with a too-short discussion of problems categorizing improvisation into long form and short form. The chapter also addresses the influence of Del Close, whose work in long-form improvisation deserves more space than it is allotted.

The penultimate chapter explores creating material through "reimprovising" a scene and "pre-planning": elements that characterize Second City's approach. Reimprovising is simply recreating a popular scene from an earlier performance, in hopes of deepening and enriching its content. Pre-planning simply takes prearranged scenarios and improvises them. At a certain point, the scene is written down, rehearsed, and performed. These theories are the most contentious part of Second City's curriculum for improv purists, and Libera's book would have benefitted greatly from more time on the reasoning behind Second City's tactics.

The final chapter, "Directing," offers instruction in effective coordination of an evening's entertainment. A confusing and unnecessary Appendix on "Status Behaviors" follows, along with both a too-short "Recommended Reading" list and a too-long (eight pages!) "Contributors" section.

Another shortcoming is the editorial choice to separate contributions by printing them in either plain black text, brown text, or italics. This device might assist a reader if it were consistent throughout the book, but it is not. Also, a little more about the history of Second City—especially its development of interpreting improv from suggestion-based games to re-improvising...