Let’s face it: Life is something we all makeup as we go along. No matter how carefully we formulate a “script,” it is bound to change when we interact with people with scripts of their own.
Our guest's book, "Improv Wisdom" shows us how to apply the maxims of improvisational theater to real-life challenges—whether it’s dealing with a demanding boss, a tired child, or one of life’s never-ending surprises.
Patricia Ryan Madson distills thirty years of experience into thirteen simple strategies, including “Say Yes,” “Start Anywhere,” “Face the Facts,” and “Make Mistakes, Please,” helping readers to loosen up, think on their feet, and take on everything life has to offer with skill, chutzpah, and a sense of humor.
Patricia is a professor Emerita from Stanford University where she began teaching in 1977. In the Drama Department, she served as the head of the undergraduate acting division and developed the improvisation program. She founded and coached the Stanford Improvisors and taught beginning and advanced-level courses in improvisation for undergraduates as well as adults in Stanford's Continuing Studies Program.
Selected Podcast
Improv Wisdom for Women: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up
Featuring:
In 1998, Patricia won the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Outstanding Innovation in Undergraduate Education. In 1996, she founded the Creativity Initiative at Stanford, an interdisciplinary alliance of faculty who share the belief that creativity can be taught. She had the pleasure of teaching Design Improv for the School of Engineering, and has been a guest lecturer for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and for the Mayfield Fellows Program.
Regularly, Patricia is on the faculty at the Esalen Institute and has given workshops for the California Institute for Integral Studies, the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, the National Association of Drama Therapists, the Western Psychological Association, Duke University East Asian Studies Center, Wellness in the Workplace for BC University, the Meaningful Life Therapy Association in Japan, and for the Intrepid Foundation.
Patricia is happiest when improvising in the classroom, helping to solve a problem, or painting watercolor au plein aire.
Patricia Ryan Madson
Patricia Ryan Madison is the author of IMPROV WISDOM: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up, and a professor Emerita from Stanford University where she began teaching in 1977. In the Drama Department, she served as the head of the undergraduate acting division and developed the improvisation program. She founded and coached the Stanford Improvisors and taught beginning and advanced-level courses in improvisation for undergraduates as well as adults in Stanford's Continuing Studies Program.In 1998, Patricia won the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Outstanding Innovation in Undergraduate Education. In 1996, she founded the Creativity Initiative at Stanford, an interdisciplinary alliance of faculty who share the belief that creativity can be taught. She had the pleasure of teaching Design Improv for the School of Engineering, and has been a guest lecturer for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and for the Mayfield Fellows Program.
Regularly, Patricia is on the faculty at the Esalen Institute and has given workshops for the California Institute for Integral Studies, the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, the National Association of Drama Therapists, the Western Psychological Association, Duke University East Asian Studies Center, Wellness in the Workplace for BC University, the Meaningful Life Therapy Association in Japan, and for the Intrepid Foundation.
Patricia is happiest when improvising in the classroom, helping to solve a problem, or painting watercolor au plein aire.
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