Emergent Story Generation: Lessons from Improvisational Theater

An emergent approach to story generation by computer is characterized by a lack of predetermined plot and a focus on character interaction forming the material for stories. A potential problem is that no interesting story emerges. However, improvisational theater shows that – at least for human actors – a predetermined plot is not necessary for creating a compelling story. There are some principles that make a successful piece of improvisational theater more than a random interaction, and these principles may inform the type of computational processes that an emergent narrative architecture draws from. We therefore discuss some of these principles, and show how these are explicitly or implicitly used in story generation and interactive storytelling research. Finally we draw lessons from these principles and ask attention for two techniques that have been little investigated: believably incorporating directives, and late commitment

Exploring children's creative narratives: some theoretical, methodological and applied perscpectives

This chapter introduces the edited collection, Exploring Children’s Creative Narratives that offers fresh perspectives on children’s creative narratives and that explores what these perspectives reveal about their imagination, their thought processes and how they understand the world. The chapter argues that ethnographic case studies, naturalistic observations, conversations and playful interactions with children ranging in age from two to eleven years allow the development of theoretical insights that challenge traditional accounts of creativity and narrative. It also argues that a proper understanding of creative narratives has to be an interdisciplinary endeavour if it is to do justice to the rich, complex, multi-modal and embodied nature of the children’s thought processes as revealed through their drawing and story-telling, music making, dance, drama and imaginative play. Interpretation of these processes draws on socio-cultural accounts of creativity and creative development that challenge more traditional accounts of creativity as an attribute or talent that belongs only to certain gifted individuals. The chapter (and contributors to the collection) maintains that to understand the situated nature of children’s creative activity it is important to examine the social, affective and cognitive processes that take place when children are immersed in such activity. This re-conceptualisation of children’s creativity challenges conventional educational practice and suggests that formal educational training programmes should offer teachers more sophisticated cultural discourses and experiences which will allow them to gain a more rounded understanding of children’s creative narratives

Improvisational Theatre in the Classroom

Rad sadržava povijesnu i teorijsku osnovu improvizacijskoga kazališta te se posebno bavi njegovom strukturom i smjernicama. Kako se moderno improvizacijsko kazalište dvadesetoga stoljeća, nastalo na baštini commedije dell’arte, razvilo na području Velike Britanije i Sjedinjenih Američkih Država unutar sustava obrazovanja pod utjecajem Viole Spolin i Keitha Johnstona, tehnike improvizacije koje imaju vrlo široku praktičnu primjenu mogu se primjenjivati i u nekazališnom kontekstu kao dodatne aktivnosti integrirane u formalnu nastavu. U skladu s tim metode improvizacijskoga kazališta povezuje se s onima „kritičke pedagogije“, predstavljaju se rezultati istraživanja koje povezuje tehnike improvizacijskoga kazališta s modificiranjem straha od javnoga nastupa, promatra se improvizacijska komunikacija u sklopu „sustava usvajanja“ ili „prirodne komunikacije“ (Krashen) te se raspravlja proces i epistemička tipologija „poetike tijela“ (Lockford i Pelias, 2004.) koja podrazumijeva utjecaj tehnika improvizacije na razvoj cjelokupnoga ljudskoga biće te njegovih kognitivnih, afektivnih, fizičkih i vokalnih sposobnosti. Uz teorijsku podlogu, rad sadržava i pregled vrsta i struktura improvizacijskoga teatra te kategorizaciju izlagačko-pripovjedačkih (narativnih) vježbi i „igara“, koje su izuzetno primjenjive u odgojno-obrazovnom kontekstu, na aktivnosti transformacije, asocijacije, nadogradnje, riječ-po-riječ i interakcije. Kako struktura vježbi i igara koje potiču usvajanje određene vrste gradiva te razvijaju izlagačke i pripovjedačke vještine dopušta automatsku prilagodbu između razine vlastitih vještina i težine zadatka, one su primjenjive u različitim odgojno-obrazovnim okruženjima s polaznicima različitih dobnih skupina. Stavljanjem naglaska na aktivnu komunikaciju između sudionika, uporabu ljudske intuicije te spontanost i usredotočenost na zadatak, tehnike improvizacije djeluju opuštajuće i poboljšavaju međuljudske odnose unutar grupe. Kao takve potiču slobodni tjelesni i verbalni izričaj, pretvaraju „štetni“ strah u „poticajni“ te su uspješna psihološka i komunikacijska strategija u nastavi.The paper presents a historical and theoretical basis of improvisational theatre with a specific focus on its structure and guidelines. Due to the fact that the modern improvisational theatre of the twentieth century, built on the legacy of commedia dell’arte, was developed simultaneously and spontaneously in the United States and Great Britain within the educational system by Viola Spolin and Keith Johnstone, improvisational theatre techniques are applied very diversely and can be used in the non-theatrical context as additional activities included in formal instruction. Accordingly, this work connects improvisational theatre methods with those of “critical pedagogy“, discusses the results of the research which links improvisational theatre techniques with modifying public speaking anxiety (PSA), observes improvisational communication practices in view of “acquisitionlearning hypothesis“ (Krashen), and presents the process and epistemic typology of “bodily poeticizing“ (Lockford and Pelias, 2004) which implies the influence of improvisational techniques on the development of the whole human being and their cognitive, affective, physical and vocal capacities. The theoretical background will be complemented by the overview of theatrical forms and structure of improvisational theatre, as well as the categorisation of presentational and storytelling (narrative) exercises and “games“, which are applicable in the educational context, into activities of transformation, association, building, word-at-a-time and interaction. Because the structure of exercises and games which encourage the acquisition of educational content and influence the development of presentational and narrative skills allows for the automatic adjustment between one’s own skills and the degree of difficulty of a task, such activities can be implemented in different educational contexts with participants of different ages. By fostering active communication, human intuition, spontaneity and focus, improvisational theatre techniques exhibit therapeutic properties and improve interpersonal relations within a group. As such, they initiate the development of free physical and verbal expression, transform “debilitating“ into “facilitating“ anxiety and are a successful communicational and psychological strategy in the classroom

Process Drama in the Virtual World - A Survey

Process drama is a form of improvisational drama where the focus is on the process rather than the product. This form of improvisational activities has been used extensively in many domains. Role play, for example, has been used in health therapy as well as for training health personnel. Creative drama is a form of process drama that focuses on the use of story dramatization techniques; it has been extensively used to promote language and literature skills as well as creative and critical thinking. In these domains process drama exhibit itself in physical space. Recently, there have been many advances in technology that allows process drama to be exhibited in virtual space. In this article, we look at the form and structure of process drama. We specifically discuss process drama, especially Creative Drama. We outline several key factors of process drama that affect its effectiveness as a learning vehicle, including involvement and reflection. Through this lens, we survey several cases of virtual process drama both as a single person experience as well as a multiuser internet-based virtual experience

The artistry of teaching: Commedia Dell\u27arte\u27s improvisational strategies and its implications for classroom participation

The purpose of this study was to determine if instructor improvisation affects student participation in the classroom. The participants in this project were professors/instructors at Cal State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) and the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus