GII Symposium 2026

These days, uncertainty about the future has grown into anxiety and dread for many people.. Applied improv training can teach business people to be more flexible and agile in decision-making. Improv games teach helpful skills for coping with anxiety and navigating the ever-changing landscape. Amidst the epidemics of isolation and loneliness, we are also seeing a frightening increase of hate .and hostility. We need improvisation to help us at a deeper level than business planning. Viola Spolin and Paul Sills were both inspired by the way Martin Buber's philosophy intersected with improvisation. Buber describes genuine dialogue in terms that sound very like an ideal exchange between improvisers. Then, Buber urges that, rather than being afraid of the unknown, we can embrace the "Holy Insecurity" of being totally open, positive and curious about encountering the other. Feeling a connection to the spiritual quality of Buber's vision of human interaction, Sills left Second City frustrated that a commercial comedy focus now overshadowed Spolin's teachings there. When Sills later developed the Story Theatre, he encouraged his players to embrace the "Holy Insecurity" of improvising classic folk tales. This hybrid of theatre and philosophy created a magical piece of theatre that played to rave reviews in Chicago and then on Broadway. In this session, I using Story Theatre techniques and new exercises that blend Buber's genuine dialogue with Spolin's game structures to explore the potential of Buber-inflected improv to create the improvisation we need to face our futures together.