n recognizing May
as National Mental
Health Awareness
month, Kim Greene Hiller, founder of The Laughing Academy, shares how the art of improv can extend beyond performance training, and provide a variety of benefits for mental health. In fact, it has been said that improvisation can actually be effective for strengthening a person’s capacity to cope with uncertainty and manage anxiety while also boosting the creative thinking that is essential to navigating an increasingly complex world.
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At its core, improvisation is a playful practice within a set of understood principles and a framework. The cornerstone of theatrical improv is the principle ‘Yes, and’, or the rule of agreement and building on an idea. Improvisers must accept what the other scene partner is saying, without question, and add to it. Improv players must stay hyper-focused on each other to achieve successful collaboration, and therefore, a successful scene execution. The skills at the heart of improv include active listening, collaboration, and creativity, which can improve a person’s life across a variety of fields, especially if that field requires clear, collaborative communication.
“We live in a rapidly changing world, and more than ever we’ve been faced with the fact that due to circumstances beyond our control, that world can change in an instant,” adds Greene Hiller. “An improv mindset can help build the resilience to face that challenge. In a world where nothing goes as planned, the genius is not in the planning but in our grace to adapt to the unexpected.”
Where an improviser is going, there are no roads, only possibilities. The stage is an empty space that becomes anything at all. In fact, neurologists Charles Limb and Allen Braun found that while improvising, the side of the brain that controls language and creativity (medial prefrontal cortex, to be exact), lights up with activity. Simultaneously, the side of the brain that acts like our voice of doubt (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), quiets. The result? A perfect playground for collaboration and improvisation, free of self-doubt and overthinking.
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