Improvising with and in Higher Education - (Palgrave Studies in Play, Performance, Learning, and Develop) by Luke Perone (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

How and why does improvisational theater (improv) serve the learning and development of adults in higher education? What new approaches to higher education are possible with and because of improv activities? This edited collection considers these questions while illustrating the power of improv activities with and in higher education to co-create revolutionary opportunities for holistic human development, learning, community building, social change, and research. Moreover, this collection emphasizes the presence and significance of life-span imaginative play in the form of improv both as a topic of scholarship and as a means of teaching, learning, research, and administration in higher education. It provides illustrations of the imaginative, playful activities of the authors and offers reflections of, theoretical groundings for, and current sociopolitical contexts of these activities.

From the Back Cover

In this uplifting and liberating volume, we're invited to peek behind the curtains of other possible performances in higher education. The ensemble of writers show us the transformational potential of applying a performance and improvisational lens to our worlds. A long overdue text for those curious about the boundless possibilities of play, improv, and performance.

--Richard Bale, Senior Teaching Fellow, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

At a moment when higher education desperately needs new performances that move beyond competition, atomization, and communal disconnection, this groundbreaking new book invites faculty, staff, and students to improvise their ways forward. Saying "yes, and..." to the playful, emergent, and relational spaces that generate all forms of knowledge to begin with, the book's authors perform the very types of imaginative growth and development envisioned throughout. A must read for transforming higher educational contexts!

--Don Waisanen, Professor, Baruch College, City University of New York, United States

How and why does improvisational theater (improv) serve the learning and development of adults in higher education? What new approaches to higher education are possible with and because of improv activities? This edited collection considers these questions while illustrating the power of improv activities with and in higher education to co-create revolutionary opportunities for holistic human development, learning, community building, social change, and research. Moreover, this collection emphasizes the presence and significance of life-span imaginative play in the form of improv both as a topic of scholarship and as a means of teaching, learning, research, and administration in higher education. It provides illustrations of the imaginative, playful activities of the authors and offers reflections of, theoretical groundings for, and current sociopolitical contexts of these activities.

Luke Perone is a faculty member at the University of Washington Tacoma, USA, where he teaches courses in human development. Luke's research interests include the power and possibilities of imaginative play, improvisational theater, performance activism, social therapeutics, humanitarian clowning, and socially-engaged arts to create revolutionary opportunities for lifespan learning, development, and community building.

About the Author

Luke Perone is a faculty member at the University of Washington Tacoma, USA, where he teaches courses in human development. Luke's research interests include the power and possibilities of imaginative play, improvisational theater, performance activism, social therapeutics, humanitarian clowning, and socially-engaged arts to create revolutionary opportunities for lifespan learning, development, and community building.