Ever imagined walking into a train station to find that everyone frozen in place? Or maybe witnessing a live musical while you're eating in the food court?
These amazing, crowd-stopping events already happened in the United States, and they were all orchestrated by Improv Everywhere, a New York-based group that sets up "missions" that are mostly a fun source of entertainment for its participants and witnesses of the acts they put up. Interestingly, it started when Charlie Todd, one of the group's leaders, posed as the musician Ben Folds as a prank in a bar. "As an actor new to the city, I discovered I could create my own theatre rather than waiting around for someone to give me stage time," he wrote in the IE FAQ.
But first, what does improv mean? Improv is actually short for "improvisation," the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting on the spot, in response to the environment. It is spontaneous, "of the moment," and requires some amount of intuition and a profound understanding of a certain situation. Improv can apply not just to theater, but also music, dance, film, and comedy.
Since 2001, Improv Everywhere has already completed more than 70 missions, most of them pretty elaborate--the Frozen Grand Central mission involved 200 Improv Agents, all of whom froze in place at the exact second for five minutes; 16 agents completed the Food Court Musical in a mall, while 11 agents arranged to have a marriage proposal in a subway train. Their missions are posted in detail, with accompanying photos and videos in their site, www.ImprovEverywhere.com.
Here's a video of the Food Court Musical last March 9, 2008.
Now, there's not just one Improv group based in New York, there are also local groups hailing from Hong Kong, Hampshire, Los Angeles, San Diego, and more in the Improv Everywhere Global site. And if you think it's exclusive, it isn't really--anyone, even visitors of a certain city with an IE group, can join as soon as the group posts an announcement of their new mission on the site. Kind of makes us wish that we have our own IE group, too!
Curious yet? Go check out ImprovEverywhere and prepare to be entertained by stuff you don't normally see on TV.
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