Main source: The Novelty of Improvisation: Towards a Genre of Embodied Spontaneity (open access)
by David Alfred Charles - PhD Dissertation - Department of Theatre - Louisiana State University, August 2003.
All rights reserved.

1897 - Paris (France) - Andre Antoine's naturalistic theatre: the rise of the fourth wall.
1898 - Moscow (Russia) - Art Theatre founded by Constantin Stanislavski on the principle of realistic theatre.
1920 - Paris (France) - Mask improvisation at the Ecole du Vieux-Colombier.
1921 - Vienna (Austria) - J.L. Moreno directs the "Theatre of Spontaneity".
1929 - Accra (Ghana) - The Accra Dramatic Society perform improvised plays.
1935 - New York (US) - Sanford Meisner join the Neighborhood Playhouse and starts developing his teaching technique.
1939 - Chicago (US) - Viola Spolin starts developing the concept of Theatre Games.
1951 - Milan (Italy) - Jacques Lecoq creates the Theatre School of the Piccolo Teatro.
1955 - Chicago (US) - David Shepherd and Paul Sills found the Compass Players, later to become The Second City, combining Theatre Games with audience participation to produce improvised and partially scripted performances.
1958 - London (England) - Keith Johnstone starts using improvisation to train students at the Royal Court theatre.
1963 - (US) Viola Spolin's Improvisation for the Theater is published.
Late 1960s - San Francisco (US) Del Close develops the Harold long form of improvisation.
1973 - (Latin America) Augusto Boal develops Invisible theatre and later Forum Theatre.
1975 - New York State (US) Jonathan Fox develops Playback Theatre.
1977 - Quebec (Canada) - Robert Gravel's Ligue Nationale d'Improvisation stages the first public performance mixing improvisation with sport.
1978 - Calgary (Canada) - Keith Johnstone's TheatreSports first public match.
1978 - Ottawa (Canada) - Carleton High School's Improv Olympics is founded.
1979 - (Canada) - Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre by Keith Johnstone is published.