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Dr. Theresa R. Dudeck, our new instructor of theatre, will be representing the College of Performing Arts at the Big Orange Book Festival and signing copies of her newly released book, Keith Johnstone: A Critical Biography (London: Bloomsbury, 2013).  This biography is the first written on Johnstone, a pioneer of improvisation and the creator of Theatresports, who developed a unique system of training that has been influencing practice within and beyond the traditional theatre for over 50 years.


Dr. Dudeck has spent the last 5 years working on this project, but her first workshop with Johnstone was in 2006 at Bay Area Theatresports in San Francisco.  Since then, Dr. Dudeck has worked with Johnstone and observed him teaching in Calgary, London, and Stockholm.  She has done extensive archival work and, as Johnstone’s Literary Executor, was granted full access to his personal collection of papers (which she continues to organize, document, and preserve for future scholarship).  Furthermore, many hours were spent interviewing Johnstone and over three dozen of his colleagues and/or former students for the book.  This comprehensive research allowed Dr. Dudeck to rigorously examine Johnstone’s life and career from various perspectives.

For many years, Dr. Dudeck herself has been teaching and applying Johnstone’s Impro System in actor training, directing, and applied theatre practices.  “Impro System” is the term Dr. Dudeck uses to identify Johnstone’s theories, techniques, exercises, games, terminology, and pedagogy.  This year at Chapman, students will be able to benefit from Dr. Dudeck’s expertise in impro.  She will be offering an Impro for People Skills course during Interterm and an advanced Impro course in the spring.

Please stop by the CoPA booth at the Big Orange Book Festival to meet and say hello to Dr. Dudeck!