Improvisational theater is common in the west, and it’s a mainstay of comedy in the United States. Think of Chicago’s Second City, The P.I.T. in New York, or the countless improv-trained stalwarts of Saturday Night Live.

Improv is now taking root in other parts of the world too. Sometimes it crops up in business situations as a tool for staff development, and it’s also becoming a tool for overseas theater companies working towards social goals .

In Bangalore, a major city in south India, there’s a young company called Yours Truly Theatre, one of only a handful of Indian theater groups working with improv techniques. The company performs improvised plays for adults and children; it improvises in a variety of languages; and now it’s practicing improv comedy, American-style.