This guide provides educators, professionals, and parents with an easy-to-follow and comprehensive approach to utilizing improvised theatre as a tool to teach social and communication skills to individuals on the autism spectrum. Opening with the philosophy of the curriculum and the considerations of mental health, play, and environmental factors on individuals with autism, the book then breaks down specific activities, suggests course sequencing, and explains how each activity works and applies to desired outcomes. Packed with dozens of activities and explanations, the book includes all the information necessary to design a full curriculum or create an at-home learning program for parents. By combining the fun and engaging atmosphere of improvisational theatre with the systematic teaching of social skills, professionals and parents can cultivate learning in a way that keeps students engaged while providing long-lasting improvements in social interaction, self-confidence, and communication.

This is a "must have" book for anyone who works with actors, autism or not. Remarkable insights and motivation are on every page, with valuable help for actors, directors and writers. Congratulations on a much-needed addition to every theatrical library. -Emmy Awarding Winning Producer, Al Burton Alisa Wolf has written a terrific guidebook on how to use acting as an effective and fun therapy for kids on the autistic spectrum. Helpful, clear and thorough, this is an excellent map to aid in anyone's education. -Award Winning Producer, John Landis. In the book, Acting: for Kids on the Autistic Spectrum, the author has come up with yet another wonderful tool in the ongoing struggle to break the bonds this insidious condition has wrapped around our children. -Tony Award Winning Actor, Joe Mantegna What a powerful learning tool for improving the lives of autistic children. It's uplifting for parents to know there's a program out there that will make a difference in their child's life. Award Winning Actor-John Schneider

Like many others on the autism spectrum, 20-something stand-up comic Michael McCreary has been told by more than a few well-meaning folks that he doesn’t “look” autistic. But, as he’s quick to point out in this memoir, autism “looks” different for just about everyone with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Diagnosed with ASD at age five, McCreary got hit with the performance bug not much later. During a difficult time in junior high, he started journaling, eventually turning his pain e into something empowering—and funny. He scored his first stand-up gig at age 14, and hasn't looked back. This unique and hilarious #OwnVoices memoir breaks down what it’s like to live with autism for readers on and off the spectrum. Candid scenes from McCreary's life are broken up with funny visuals and factual asides. Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic is an invaluable and compelling read for young readers with ASD looking for voices to relate to, as well as for readers hoping to broaden their understanding of ASD.

Introducing a Social TheatreTM, this book provides guidance on how to deliver fun and transformative activities to develop social skills in teenagers and children. Drawing on ideas from Social Thinking®, CBT, mindfulness and assertiveness training this book develops games, skits and short plays which can be adapted to suit children and teenagers including those who are gifted, typical, and those with mild to moderate cognitive abilities. These activities will help participants become more assertive and flexible as well as improving confidence, focus and self-esteem. Social TheatreTM can be used in small groups, in class or throughout the school, as well as in group therapy sessions. It provides a new and inclusive way to teach social skills and collaborative learning and is especially useful for those with anxiety, ADHD and ASD.

While much has been written about what democracies should look like, much less has been said about how to actually train citizens in democratic perspectives and skills. Amid the social and political crises of our time, many programs seeking to bridge differences between citizens draw from the surprising field of improvisational theater. Improv trains people to engage with one another in ways that promote empathy and understanding. Don Waisanen demonstrates how improv-based teaching and training methods can forward the communication, leadership, and civic skills our world urgently needs. Waisanen includes specific exercises and thought experiments that can be used by educators; advocates for civic engagement and civil discourse; practitioners and scholars in communication, leadership, and conflict management; training and development specialists; administrators looking to build new curricula or programming; and professionals seeking to embed productive, sustainable, and socially responsible forms of interaction in and across organizations. Ultimately this book offers a new approach for helping people become more creative, heighten awareness, think faster, build confidence, operate flexibly, improve expression and governance skills, and above all, think and act more democratically.

Fifty Key Improv Performers highlights the history, development, and impact of improvisational theatre by highlighting not just key performers, but institutions, training centers, and movements to demonstrate the ways improv has shaped contemporary performance both onstage and onscreen. The book features the luminaries of improv, like Viola Spolin, Keith Johnstone, and Mick Napier, while also featuring many of the less well‐known figures in improvisation who have fundamentally changed the way we make and view comedy – people like Susan Messing, Jonathan Pitts, Robert Gravel, and Yvon Leduc. Due to improv’s highly collaborative nature, the book features many of the art form’s most important theatres and groups, such as The Second City, TJ & Dave, and Oui Be Negroes. While the book focuses on the development of improvisation in the United States, it features several entries about the development of improv around the globe. Students of Improvisational Theatre, History of Comedy, and Performance Studies, as well as practitioners of comedy, will benefit from the wide expanse of performers, groups, and institutions throughout the book.

This collection of Applied Improvisation stories and strategies draws back the curtain on an exciting, innovative, growing field of practice and research that is changing the way people lead, create, and collaborate. Applied Improvisation is the umbrella term widely used to denote the application of improvised theatre's theories, tenets, games, techniques, and exercises beyond conventional theatre spaces, to foster the growth and/or development of flexible structures, new mindsets, and a range of inter and intra-personal skills required in today's volatile and uncertain world. This edited collection offers one of the first surveys of the range of practice, featuring 12 in-depth case studies by leading Applied Improvisation practitioners and a foreword by Phelim McDermott and Lee Simpson. The contributors in this anthology are professional Applied Improvisation facilitators working in sectors as diverse as business, social science, theatre, education, law, and government. All have experienced the power of improvisation, have a driving need to share those experiences, and are united in the belief that improvisation can positively transform just about all human activity. Each contributor describes their practice, integrates feedback from clients, and includes a workbook component outlining some of the exercises used in their case study to give facilitators and students a model for their own application. This book will serve as a valuable resource for both experienced and new Applied Improvisation facilitators seeking to develop leaders and to build resilient communities, innovative teams, and vibrant organizations. For theatre practitioners, educators, and students, it opens up a new realm of practice and work.

Children with strong social-emotional skills are better able to cope with everyday challenges and benefit academically, professionally, and socially. But the benefits that can be derived from these skills can only be seen if children are given the opportunity to develop them. This accessible guide helps teach children to participate in social-emotional learning. Offering fun group activities including social skill-based improv games, participant written plays, and basic plays that can be transformed using the creative minds of children themselves. To increase participant comfort levels with these activities, the book allows for a graduated exposure of techniques, starting with improv trust building and joint focus games, and progressing to improvisation and writing sketches. Featuring additional downloadable content, including worksheets and lesson plans for classroom use, this is the perfect companion for educators and therapists.

The Comedy Improv Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to University Improvisational Comedy in Theatre and Performance is a one-stop resource for both improv teachers and students, covering improv history, theory, maxims, exercises, games, and structures. You will learn the necessary skills and techniques needed to become a successful improviser, developing a basic understanding of the history of improvisation and its major influences, structures, and theories. This book also addresses issues associated with being a college improviser – like auditions, rehearsals, performances, and the dynamics of improv groups.

Drama therapy provides valuable opportunities for children on the autism spectrum to interact and connect with others in a fun, supportive environment. The innovative model of drama therapy described in this book is rooted in neuroscience, and designed specifically to develop social, emotional and expressive language skills in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Lee R. Chasen provides an accessible explanation of the theoretical foundations, concepts and techniques that make up the approach, and describes in detail a thirty-session drama therapy program which uses creative and playful tools such as guided play, sociometry, puppetry, role-play, video modeling and improvisation. Scenarios drawn from his own practice provide useful insights into the practicalities of setting up and running such a program, as well as into how children's social, emotional and expressive language skills deepen through their immersion in this unique approach. This book will be of interest to drama and creative arts therapists, as well as teachers, school psychologists, counsellors and other professionals who work with children with autism spectrum disorders.