(Virginia and Anna from AF -  Pan Theater, 2011)

Improv is the art of making up stories, scenes and characters on the spot. Improv actors use improv technique typically taught through theater games to create shows that are either completely or partially improvised.

The shows typically begin with an audience prompt such as the name of a story that has never been told, the name of a mythical town, or a relationship between two characters.

Improv shows come in two main flavors: short form and long form.

Short form shows include theater games that are practiced and polished. The performers practice the games during rehearsal but the actual scenes created on show night are completely improvised. The players rehearse the rules of the given theater games.

Long form shows are often considered the jazz of improv theater. Long form shows typically get a single prompt such as a word or theme. 

The improvisors explore the prompt continuously throughout the piece include the associations and other ideas that are sparked off the original idea. 

Long form can often resemble an improvised play, or it can be a series of scenes that explore an idea or theme.

Improv at Pan Theater focuses on trying to create unscripted theater that rivals the quality of scripted work. 

We push ourselves and our technique trying to create improv that has the vitality, excitement and richness of scripted work but is 100% improvised.

If scripted work is showing the polished piece to the world than improv is showing the raw process of theater creation to the world.

One of the highest complements an improv performer can receive is the audiences disbelief that the work was improvised.