Going onstage and giving an improvised performance might sound scary, but NAU associate teaching professor Rob Wallace thinks you should do it anyway—whether you’re an artist, an aspiring engineer or a future nurse. That’s why he dreamed up the Honors College elective Performance in Practice: Improvisation, Music, Performance Art, and Beyond (HON 240), offered every spring semester.
“In job interviews, they ask you all these weird questions because they want to see how you think in the moment,” Wallace said. “If you can improvise—take the skills and knowledge you already have and put those together to make something new—that will help you regardless of what you do in life.”
First conceived in 2020, Performance in Practice delves into the rich history of improv in the arts, politics, law, science, philosophy and religion through reading and discussion. Outside the seminar room, students create individual improv projects in the realms of speaking, poetry, music, theater and visual art, then they team up with one another to prepare for a semester-ending class performance. (The video above shows a few Spring 2025 students preparing for a performance that married improvised sound with a set of computer-generated visuals for an unpredictable multisensory experience.) Along the way, they receive sage advice from guest artists that change every year—last spring, the guests were saxophonist Catherine Sikora and vocalist Eric Mingus.
Wallace stressed that the course isn’t just open to students majoring in music, theater and art. It’s for anyone who wants to exercise their creative muscles, whether for the first time in years or the first time ever.
“Lots of my students say stuff like, ‘Oh, I used to write poetry, or I used to play guitar, but now that I’m in college, I don’t do that anymore,’” Wallace said. “But then they come into this class and realize, ‘Wow, I can do that thing I thought I had to quit, plus just about anything else that’s creative I can think of.’”
The main takeaway of the course—that honing improvisational skills can improve anyone’s life—isn’t just Wallace’s opinion. It’s scientific fact. Multiple studies show that trying improv can reduce social anxiety, increase creativity, improve well-being and expand our ability to tolerate uncertainty.
“In Western culture, we feel like we’ve failed if we go in not having prepared and having to improvise,” Wallace said. “But I can guarantee you are going to have to improvise in a lot of moments when life throws surprises at you. If you can’t figure out how to switch on a dime, you’re not going to be successful.”
Jill Kimball | NAU Communications
(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu