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ITN (Interactive Improv Theatre News) was established in 1992 by executive editor Jeff Wirth. Its mission: to enhance the quality and recognition of all forms of spontaneous and audience participatory theatre.

From 1992 through Spring of 1999, ITN was published as a subscription newsletter which included: show profiles, introductions to new performance styles, interviews with leaders in the field, technique and training methods, news bites, improv games, and calendar clips. Subscribers included: professional theatres, university theatre departments, improv ensembles (including Theatresports and ComedySportz), Boal-based groups, murder mystery companies, Playback Theatre troupes, performers, playwrights and producers. ITN also maintained the web-based ITN Calendar which listed improvisational and interactive shows throughout the United States.

ITN is currently on hiatus. Following is an article by executive editor Jeff Wirth which explains why. To contact Jeff, click here .

May 1999

ITN Steps Out of the Scene
By Jeff Wirth

Some things don’t seem to change. Groups argue over which form of improv is “better.” Different types of work remain segregated from each other. Prejudices and false assumptions continue to masquerade as truth. And for all the excitement within the field about its own growth, aside from the number of people doing it, there is little that has significantly changed in its own artistic development.

And some things have changed. Del Close died. Companies are undergoing dramatic re-visioning and restructuring. The web is becoming a place of nationwide community for improvisors. The number of books on spontaneous theatre continues to expand. And every year a new improvisation festival seems to spring up in yet another part of the country.

You know that moment when you’re in the middle of an improvised scene, and suddenly you realize that you have no idea why you are there or what the scene is about? To keep going along, simply because you are already on stage, is a sure-fire recipe for disaster, or even worse, mediocrity. At that point you have two choices -- you can stay on stage and play out the scene or you can step off stage and get a better idea of what is going on in the scene. How do you know which to do? Trust your impulses.

My intuition says it is time for ITN to step off stage and sit out a few scenes, to see what becomes evident when not in the thick of it all., because frankly, it is no longer clear to me how ITN can best serve the field of spontaneous theatre. So ITN is going on hiatus. For how long? Until it becomes clear what purpose ITN can serve and that it is time once again to resume.

I thank you for your support of ITN, not because the postal service needed another newsletter to deliver, but because you are supporting an evolving field of spontaneous theatre in which the potential is still waiting to be fulfilled. May we all continue to learn, to grow, to be fearless within ourselves and to be generous with each other.

To the future!.

Contact Information for Jeff Wirth

ITN Web Page, (c)1999 Jeff Wirth