Traveling Time & Space with Improv & Vaudeville Skip to main content
2017-2018 Season

Traveling Time & Space with Improv & Vaudeville

“One Night Only Showing”

“Traveling Caravan”

From the 1880’s to the 1930’s and beyond, Vaudeville sprawled across the vast North American continent and reached beyond to other parts of the world, such as England, Germany, and Australia. Yet entertainment through variety shows and improvisation and variety acts that showcased talent that was traveling through town began long ago.

“Atellan Farce” circa 391 B.C.

Improvisation with recurring characters was first recorded as early as 391 B.C. in the Etruscan City of Atella. Young men would play stock characters including:

  • Buccus (fat, butt of the joke)
  • Centunculus (the rom-com figure)
  • Dosseunus (vain doctor)
  • Maccus (hot-tempered long nose man of the “Punch” variety)
  • Manducus (greedy fellow, which fosters plot development)
  • Pappus (old man)
Commedia dell'arte Troupe on a Wagon in a Town Square, by Jan Miel, circa 1640.

Some historians believe that these characters evolved over time to form the basis for 16th and 17th-century commedia dell’arte and then onto the “Punch and Judy” shows.

Improv lessons by Viola Spolin

Skip forward a couple of centuries and you have Dudley Riggs doing improvisation on the Vaudeville stage. Further still, we would have to include Viola Spolin, who brought improvisation to the attention of professional theatres of America in the 1920’s. Her influence and book, Improvisation for the Theater reached beyond Vaudeville’s era to the heart of a troupe of improv actors in Chicago, who formed Second City.

Today we continue the tradition of improv entertainment with shows such as “Whose Line is it Anyway?” From this timeline we can see that one small step for young Italian actors has become one giant leap for the entertainment of mankind.

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

What Makes a Classic?

April 22, 2025 06:56 PM
On any list of “must-read classics” you will find Great Expectations. Since its publication in 1861, this novel has inspired numerous adaptations, including at least 28 films and TV series and more than 11 different plays.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

She Loves Me - A musical from the Golden Age

April 19, 2025 04:03 PM
She Loves Me is a musical with a book written by Joe Masteroff (Cabaret), and music by the duo Harnick and Bock (Fiddler on the Roof, and Fiorello!). This is one of many musicals written during the time period known as the Golden Age of musical theater.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Fed UP!

April 10, 2025 01:41 PM
An exciting new musical by recent BYU graduate Joseph Phillips, directed by current BYU student Lydia Cox
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=