Improvisational theater has been around as long as people. Before we wrote scripts, we told stories by acting them out.

According to improvcomedy.org, a clearinghouse for information about improvisational theater, the most direct ancestor of modern improv is the Commedia DellâÂÂArte, popular throughout Europe for almost 200 years starting in the mid-1500s. Performance troupes traveled from town to town, presenting shows on makeshift stages in public squares. They improvised their own dialog within a framework provided by a set âÂÂscenario.âÂÂ

When Commedia died off, improv theater sort of fell off the map until the 20th century, when two people – working separately – reinvented and shaped the craft as it exists today: Viola Spolin and Keith Johnstone.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Spolin developed a new approach to teaching acting based on the idea that children would enjoy learning the craft as a series of games.

SpolinâÂÂs son, Paul Sills, built on his motherâÂÂs work and was a driving force of improvisational theater centered around the University of Chicago in the mid-1950s. With people like Del Close and David Shepherd, Sills developed a type of theater designed to appeal to the average person on the street.

The group that sprang from Sillsâ work, called The Compass, brought people to the theater who in many cases had never gone before, and eventually led to the development of ChicagoâÂÂs Second City, which has turned out successes like John Candy, Mike Myers, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.

More recently, Keith Johnstone developed a hybrid known as Theatresports to draw into the theater the type of audiences typically more interested in attending sporting events.

Teams competed for points awarded by judges, and the audience cheered for good scenes and jeered the judges: âÂÂKill the umpire!âÂÂ