Often when people discuss improv, they're actually discussing comedy. These people discuss shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway? or Saturday Night Live, and even if one of those shows is improv, it doesn't begin to encompass all the fluid aspects of improv or comedy. The evidence will not convince many of these people, outsiders of the art form, that improvisation is much more serious than just telling jokes. Those who practice and perform, the initiated, learn that this branch of the performing arts goes far beyond humor. Insiders recognize that there is humor in reality, honesty, connectivity of a scene or a story, but they know that improvisation is an interprofessional and beneficial discipline on the personal and collective. Improvisational theater is a branch of performing arts that focuses on acting. and a performance created at the moment it is performed, without any written script or preparation1. This art originated as a tool used to train actors and actresses to prepare for any unexpected mistakes during stage performances. The first cases of improvisation would have taken place during the plays of Plautus around 200 BCE in Rome?. From then on, the tradition continued informally in theaters and performances until the 19th century – although theater was heavily inhibited by the Catholic Church for many of those centuries – when Italian masked artists, known as Commedia dell'arte, stimulated a movement of improvisation. , through their performances based on broad scenarios or sketches given to them by spectators in the streets. Although Commedia dell'arte may have launched the widespread teaching of improvisation, it was still considered the middle of paper....... The Funniest in the Room, Lives and Legends by Del Close. Chicago, IL. : Chicago Review Press, 2008. More, Laurie Frederik. 2007. “Reading Theater in Cuba: The Politics of Improvisation and Free Expression.” TDR: The dramatic review 51, no. 4:106-120. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed February 6, 2014). Pagano, Christopher J. 2012. “Exploring the therapist's use of self: enactments, improvisation and affect in psychodynamic psychotherapy”. American Journal of Psychotherapy 66, no. 3:205-226. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed February 9, 2014). Shochet, Robert, Julie King, Rachel Levine, et al. 2013. “Thinking on My Feet: An Improvisational Course to Improve Students’ Confidence and Responsiveness During the Medical Interview.” » Education for Primary Care 24, no. 2:119-124. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed February 8, 2014).