Ben’s Books

On Deck with Lucy Interview – October 2012

Lucy-Jade Norris interviews me about the book, plus my other improv projects, for her talkshow On Deck with Lucy.

Improvised New York Interview – October 2012

Elizabeth Quinn interviews me about the book, plus my other improv projects, for her Podbean podcast Improvised New York.

I recently adopted Ben Hauck’s Long-Form Improv for my intensive summer course at Yale. My job was much easier than in previous summers because my students read, understood and loved Hauck’s book. The author’s analysis of moves in terms of game theory, clear explanation of conflict and desire and discussion of ideation, relationships, attitude, heightening, endowing and justification all helped my students step off back wall with courage, play the games they discovered together and support each other appropriately. They performed the tightest Harolds I have seen from beginning students — and that after only five-and-a-half weeks of daily instruction. I would definitely adopt Long-Form Improv as a textbook again. In fact, I would love to see a whole sequel from this author just on group scenes.

— Doug Honorof, PhD

I just got this and it is now one of my favorite books on improvisation! It’s very clearly written and addresses some of the more mysterious aspects of improvisation in an accessible and straightforward way. The insights in the book were immediately applicable to my own rehearsals. Since the exercises are directly related to specific issues, it’s easy to target exactly what you want to work on. I highly recommend it particularly if you’re interested in understanding dramatic structure in improv.

— Amy Larimer

Reading Long-Form Improv

In this video series, I describe the first six chapters of the book to flesh out ideas for even better understanding.

This playlist arranges episodes in order of chapter and includes some bonus videos.

It was circa late 2003, and I was working with the improv group Devil’s Dancebelt, trying to teach them the concept of “game” that I’d failed to grasp when I trained in long-form improvisation at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City.

Desperate to teach this critical concept, I sought out non-traditional means for learning the concept.  For example, as simple as it may sound, I hit the dictionary for definitions of the term “game” for what obscure meaning might come to light and make obvious the lesson UCBT had tried to teach.  I also happened upon the topic called “game theory,” a subject of much repute, which seemed to promise only a mathematical analysis of strategic interactions like tic tac toe.  But it was when a co-worker of mine handed me the book The Strategy of Conflict by Thomas Schelling that I was introduced to a game theory that provided a less mathematical, more qualitative analysis of strategic interactions.  Suddenly, international conflicts, world wars, or just the mundane little conflict between him and her were brought down to the tic tac toe level, viewed unapologetically as strategic interactions.  Via Schelling, I came to see games — both the leisurely and the serious — as bargaining.  And my life and my improv teaching were immediately transformed.

Bargaining has become a sort of “religion” for me, and I see bargaining and bargaining games and bargaining interactions pretty much anywhere I look and in any context or frame.  Not only is negotiating a great price on a sleeper sofa at Raymour & Flanigan a bargaining game, but also is negotiating your way to the subway entrance on a very busy East 86th Street sidewalk in Manhattan during rush hour.  And while bidding for lower rent as you shop for apartments is obviously bargaining, did you know that standing firm and never relenting for your cause against unethical animal treatment is also a form of bargaining?  The question becomes how able you are to get what you want with your bargaining tactics.  It should be of little surprise that I saw bargaining inherent in long-form improv, and suddenly the concept of “game” opened up for me and for those members of the improv group Devil’s Dancebelt.

So much opened up that I felt compelled to write a book.  That book, eventually titled Long-Form Improv, basically wrote itself in the very beginning, the product of the simple idea.  That simple idea was this: Based on the information I’d learned from long-form improv classes and based on the information that bargaining was not always competitive but sometimes cooperative, improvised scenework in the long-form improv tradition was not merely a matter of agreement but instead it was a matter of playing cooperative bargaining games — scenes that contain conflict as well as agreement.  The object of the improvised scene you play with your fellow actor was to reach agreement, and this object was despite a conflict that was required to be a part of your improvised scene.  For me, in learning about bargaining long-form improv gained a goal, and the path to performing fantastic long-form improv became apparent.

So, on the whole and through and through, long-form improv was a bargaining game.  Its scenes were bargaining games, the interactions of the characters was a bargaining game, as was the interactions of the actors, as was the interactions between actors and audience.  Many other aspects were bargaining games.  And the most famous performance form from long-form improv, The Harold, was also one massive bargaining game.

It took nearly eight years after starting to write this book to finish it and get it published.  It’s seen countless rewrites and in the process has become what I believe is as clearly and crisply written a book on improv that you can find.  My hope is that you’ll be able to read the book and “get” long-form improv so that you don’t suffer from confusion that many long-form improv classes engender with their conflicting teachings and vague verbiage.  My hope is that Long-Form Improv will become your go-to text when it comes to improvising scenes, creating characters, and pulling off that monstrous task of a half-hour Harold.

Online Retailers

The Stand-In Handbook is $20.00 and available for immediate download with a credit card or PayPal account from the Stand-In Central website.

Download The Stand-In Handbook

Online Retailers

The Fi-Core Workbook is $22.00 and available for immediate download with a credit card or PayPal account from the Fi-Core Central website.

Download The Fi-Core Workbook