Love Johnson’s work. And improv. And the absurd. The absurd is liberating. We no longer need to fret about being right or respected or serious. We can act freely and see what happens. I also like some of Camus’s commentary on the absurd (which is actually pretty dark): https://tempo.substack.com/p/groove
Hi Matt - I'm glad you liked the post - and yes, we do indeed share a love of Improv. I also greatly value the chapters, in Johnson's book, on status-games and, especially, on Mask. (It's particularly interesting to apply Mask concepts to a business-context: for example, business uniform and/or dress-code as Mask.)
I know _of_ Johnnie Moore's work, but I'll have to admit I don't know it - not in any practical sense, anyway. I do like and respect what I've seen of it, though. It's quite a while since I last came across it - via Jack Martin Leith, if I remember correctly, though I'm not sure now.
As you know, I'm a longtime advocate for improv as a valuable practice in business and in life. Johnstone is great. So is Viola Spolin, who used her games to help turn antipathy into understanding between children on Chicago's South Side, who came from different cultures and brought a lot of prejudice [she called it 'pre-judging'] to their initial encounters. Improv theater, and her games applied to its performance, worked miracles. Spolin's son, Paul Sills, co-founded Chicago's famed Second City Theater, and applied his mother's games to comedy. I always tell folks we're leapfrogging back in time, to before that event, when the games were the basis of understanding between children of different cultures. We are, after all, children in an increasingly multicultural world. We can play our way to understanding.
Love Johnson’s work. And improv. And the absurd. The absurd is liberating. We no longer need to fret about being right or respected or serious. We can act freely and see what happens. I also like some of Camus’s commentary on the absurd (which is actually pretty dark): https://tempo.substack.com/p/groove
BTW do you know Johnnie Moore? If you don’t then the two of you would get on: https://www.johnniemoore.com/
Hi Matt - I'm glad you liked the post - and yes, we do indeed share a love of Improv. I also greatly value the chapters, in Johnson's book, on status-games and, especially, on Mask. (It's particularly interesting to apply Mask concepts to a business-context: for example, business uniform and/or dress-code as Mask.)
I know _of_ Johnnie Moore's work, but I'll have to admit I don't know it - not in any practical sense, anyway. I do like and respect what I've seen of it, though. It's quite a while since I last came across it - via Jack Martin Leith, if I remember correctly, though I'm not sure now.
As you know, I'm a longtime advocate for improv as a valuable practice in business and in life. Johnstone is great. So is Viola Spolin, who used her games to help turn antipathy into understanding between children on Chicago's South Side, who came from different cultures and brought a lot of prejudice [she called it 'pre-judging'] to their initial encounters. Improv theater, and her games applied to its performance, worked miracles. Spolin's son, Paul Sills, co-founded Chicago's famed Second City Theater, and applied his mother's games to comedy. I always tell folks we're leapfrogging back in time, to before that event, when the games were the basis of understanding between children of different cultures. We are, after all, children in an increasingly multicultural world. We can play our way to understanding.
"We can play our way to understanding" - that's just beautiful, Mike - many thanks for that!