Viola Spolin was a theatre academic, educator and acting coach. She is considered an important innovator in 20th century American theater for creating directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices improvisationally, as if in real life. These acting exercises she later called Theater Games and formed the first body of work that enabled other directors and actors to create improvisational theater. Her book Improvisation for the Theater, which published these techniques, includes her philosophy and her teaching and coaching methods, and is considered the "bible of improvisational theater". Spolin's contributions were seminal to the improvisational theater movement in the U.S. She is considered to be the mother of Improvisational theater. Her work has influenced American theater, television and film by providing new tools and techniques that are now used by actors, directors and writers.
Unexpected Productions (UP) is an improvisational comedy company in Seattle, Washington, USA. From their home at the Market Theater in Seattle's historic Pike Place Market, in Post Alley, Unexpected Productions produces year-round shows, teaches improv classes, and hosts the Seattle International Festival of Improvisation.
Dan Bakkedahl is an American actor and improvisational comedian from Chicago's Second City. He is best known for starring as Tim Hughes on the CBS sitcom Life in Pieces, as Congressman Roger Furlong on the HBO series Veep, and as Steve Nugent in the FX comedy series Legit. From 2005 to 2007, he was a correspondent for three seasons on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Naked Stage / Goli oder is an international contemporary theatre festival, held annually in the last week of October in KUD France Prešeren, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Up until 2006, its focus has been the improvisational theatre. As of 2006, the festival is dedicated to improvisation in various fields of contemporary art. Naked Stage was designed and is organized by the most prominent Slovenian improv group, Narobov. Artistic directors of the Naked Stage are Maja Dekleva and Gregor Moder.
iO, or iO Chicago, is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater teaches and hosts performances of improvisational comedy. It was founded in 1981 by Del Close and Charna Halpern. The theater has many notable alumni, including Amy Poehler and Stephen Colbert.
Started in 2005 by Shaun Landry, artistic director of Oui Be Negroes, The San Francisco Improv Alliance is a group of actors dedicated to Improvisational Theater. The Alliance offers performance opportunities to upcoming ensembles, stages self-produced shows, co-production of pre-established ensembles, master class workshops and national ensembles and community outreach in the field of improvisational theatre.
David Gwynne Shepherd was an American producer, director, and actor primarily noted for his work in improvisational theatre.
Jet City Improv is a Short Form Improvisation troupe that performs in the Seattle, Washington area. The troupe was founded in 1992 and is operated by Wing-It Productions.
Allison Silverman is an American comedy writer from Gainesville, Florida. She was the head writer and executive producer for The Colbert Report until 2009. In 2011, she was an executive producer and writer of Portlandia.
The Immediate Gratification Players (IGP) are a collegiate improvisational comedy troupe based out of Harvard College. They specialize in long form, free-form improvisation and are recognized as one of the top college troupes in the nation.
Fawad Siddiqui is an American actor, improvisational comedian, journalist and cartoonist.
The Purple Crayon of Yale, or the Purple Crayon, is an improvisational theater group at Yale University in New Haven, CT, United States. The group specializes in longform improv, such as the Harold. The Purple Crayon is Yale's second-oldest improv group, after the Ex!t Players, and the oldest collegiate longform group in the country.
HUGE Improv Theater is a Minneapolis theater founded in 2005 dedicated to long form improvisational theater. The non-profit theater acquired its own building in 2010, where it runs scheduled nightly improv performances and hosts several annual improv festivals. HUGE announced plans to move into a new space by 2020 following a controversy over its landlord's support of David Duke's 2016 campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana.
Alex Harz is a filmmaker, actor, improvisational theater performer, high-altitude mountaineer, adventurer, entrepreneur, radio personality and philanthropist. He is known for writing, producing, directing and or acting in such films as Imagine That, American Dream?, Lamb TV, Sink, etc. and has been featured in various television commercials, print and web advertising, music videos, comedy theater, and radio show productions.
