dashwell publishing

Do richer improv scenes, get more laughs, and have more fun - all by doing less, and just being more. In this fresh and personal collection of themed essays, longtime Canadian improviser Ryan Millar offers observations, insights and tips to help players get a different perspective on their craft.

The stories, ideas, insights, and exercises it contains are there to both be an entertaining read and help the reader be a better more fulfilled player onstage and off. It also includes games and exercises for people to do on their own or to bring to their group, in order to spread that TAKE IT EASY goodness.

Essay titles include: ’Easy Listening’, ’The problem with Yes, and’ ’Changing the game’, ’Balancing the commercial and artistic’, and ’Literal Shmiteral’.

This book will show you how to get more out of your improv, make bigger contributions, all while doing less and having more fun. Sounds good right?

It is.

＂The relaxed friendly tone makes it an enjoyable read.＂ - Will Hines, UCB LA

＂Highly recommended for the beginning improvisor or the seasoned pro trying to rediscover the fun.＂ - Sam Super, The Second City Training Center’s 2017 Teacher of the Year

＂TAKE IT EASY provides valuable tips and advice for those who seek a greater flow in their improvisations.＂ - Feña Ortalli, Status Magazine

Ryan Millar is an Amsterdam-based improviser, actor, and writer. He started improvising in Vancouver in the late 90s. Since then he’s worked with, taught, learned, and performed improv around North America and Europe.

Highlights include working as a trainer and referee for the venerable Canadian Improv Games, working with Amsterdam’s comedy institution Boom Chicago, teaching at Impro Hotel in Corfu, performing in various shows (improvised and otherwise), at the Edinburgh Fringe, hosting talk shows The Yak in London, and The Big Ideas Show in Amsterdam, and doing two-man improvised longform hip-hop shows as Milly Can Rap with Trent Pancy.

As a performer and communications trainer, Ryan has worked with clients including Apple, Netflix, DG MARKT of the European Commission, Google, Virgin Media, Toastmasters, Greenpeace, and Deutsche Bank (among others). He’s on the faculty of Guardian Masterclasses, running regular sell-out courses called ’Learning to Love Public Speaking and Presenting’.

He holds an MA in Professional Writing from London Metropolitan University and a BA in Communications from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada - where he’s from. TAKE IT EASY is his first book.