Harold is a structure used in longform

improvisational theatre Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...

that is performed by improv troupes and teams across the world. In the Harold structure, characters and themes are introduced and then recur in a series of connected scenes. It was first performed in California by The Committee in 1967.

History

The Committee, a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

improv group, performed the first Harold in

Concord, California Concord ( ) is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California. According to an estimate completed by the United States Census Bureau, the city had a population of 129,295 in 2019 making it the eighth largest city in the San Francisco Bay ...

, in 1967. They were invited to a high school and decided to do their improvisations on the war in Vietnam. On the way home in a

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, they were discussing the performance, when one of them asked what they should call it. Allaudin (Bill) Mathieu, ( W.A. Mathieu) called out "Harold", which was a joking reference to a line from '' A Hard Day's Night'' where a reporter asks George Harrison what he calls his haircut and he answers "Arthur". The form was further developed by improv teachers

Del Close Del Close (March 9, 1934 – March 4, 1999) was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was ...

and

Charna Halpern Charna Halpern (born June 1, 1952) is an American comedian who is co-founder of the ImprovOlympic, now known as iO. Upon iO's founding, in 1983, with partner Del Close, she began teaching Harold to many students in the Chicago theater community ...

, as well as the Upright Citizens Brigade. When The Committee disbanded in 1972, improv company ''Improvisation, Inc.'' was the only company in America continuing to perform the group's "original" Harold: a 45-minute free-form piece that would seamlessly move from one "Harold technique" to another. In 1974, in Los Angeles, former Committee member Gary Austin co-founded

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniqu ...

, using improv-as-a-tool. In 1976, two former ''Improvisation, Inc.'' performers, Michael Bossier and John Elk, formed ''Spaghetti Jam'', performing in San Francisco's Old Spaghetti Factory through 1983. ''Spaghetti Jam'' performed Harolds while also turning Spolin games and Harold techniques into stand-alone performance pieces (i.e., shortform improv). The 1994 book ''Truth in Comedy'' describes a "training wheels Harold" as three acts (or "beats"), each with three scenes and a group segment. With each beat, the three scenes return. By the end of the piece, the three scenes have converged.

Modified Harolds

Some modern improv forms are Harolds with an added requirement. These include: * Monoscene – Originally and occasionally still Harold set in one location. * Sybil – Harold performed by a solo performer. * The Bat – Harold performed in the dark. * The Armando - A Harold performed with a guest monologist telling true stories

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harold (Improvisation) Theatrical genres Improvisational theatre 1960s introductions 1960s in comedy