Keith Johnstone is a drama instructor whose teachings and books have focused on improvisational theatre and have had a major influence on the art of improvisation.

Born February, 1933, in Devon, England, Johnstone grew up hating school, finding that it blunted his imagination and made him feel self-conscious and shy. In the late 1950s, as a play-reader, director and drama teacher at the Royal Court Theatre in London, he chose to reverse all that his teachers had told him in an attempt to create more spontaneous actors.

In the 1970s, Johnstone moved to Calgary, Alberta to teach at the University of Calgary. There, he co-founded the Loose Moose Theatre, and invented Theatresports, that has become a staple of modern, improvisational comedy. Johnstone has subsequently invented further improvisation formats including "Gorilla Theatre", "Micetro" or "Maestro", and "Life Game" that has been seen at the National Theatre courtesy of Improbable Theatre, and on U.S. cable television.

He has written two books about his work, Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre and Impro For Storytellers.

Coordinates: 55°50′05″N 4°30′10″W / 55.83461°N 4.50272°W / 55.83461; -4.50272

Johnstone (Scots: Johnstoun,Scottish Gaelic: Baile Iain) is a town in the council area of Renfrewshire and larger historic county of the same name in the west central Lowlands of Scotland.

The town lies three miles west of neighbouring Paisley and twelve miles west of the centre of the city of Glasgow. Part of the biggest conurbation in Scotland, Johnstone is at the western edge of the Greater Glasgow Urban Area.

The town was a planned community created in the latter half of the 18th century by the local Laird, George Ludovic Houston who held an estate in the town, the remains of which are known as Johnstone Castle. Industrial development brought coal mining, thread-making and cotton weaving to Johnstone causing it to grow considerably in size, expanding out in the 1930s with a number of newly build residential areas which addressed the problem of population density in the historic area of the town. Today it supports a small commercial centre and serves as a commuter settlement for Paisley and Glasgow.