Related Research Articles
Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.
The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques were taught by Del Close and other members of the Second City, located in Chicago and later St. Louis. They used these techniques to produce sketches and improvised scenes. Its name is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, Scene II: "...to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise." In 1975 the troupe purchased and moved into its current location on Melrose Avenue.
The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, Horatio Sanz and Drew Franklin. Other early members included Neil Flynn, Armando Diaz, Ali Farahnakian and Rich Fulcher.
Tim Meadows is an American actor, comedian, writer, and woodworker. Meadows was one of the longest-running cast members on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he appeared for 10 seasons from 1991 to 2000. For his work on SNL, he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1993. He played main character John Glascott on the ABC sitcom Schooled for its two-season run after playing the same character in a recurring role for six seasons on The Goldbergs. Meadows is also known for his role as Principal Duvall in the 2004 teen comedy film Mean Girls, a role he then reprised in Mean Girls 2 and in the film's 2024 musical adaptation.
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959, and has become one of the most influential and prolific comedy theatres in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City.
Matthew Gregory Besser is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, writer, and one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy Central from 1998 to 2000. He hosts the improvisation-based podcast Improv4humans on the Earwolf podcasting network.
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre is an American improvisational and sketch comedy training center and theatre originally founded by Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.
Matthew Paul Walsh is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his role as Mike McLintock in Veep for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He is a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, with which he co-starred in its original television series and the 2015 reboot. He also previously starred in short-lived comedy programs such as Dog Bites Man and Players, and was a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He has also appeared in films such as Road Trip (2000), Bad Santa (2003), School for Scoundrels (2006), Role Models (2008), The Hangover (2009), and The Do-Over (2016).
Ian Michael Roberts is an American actor, comedian, writer, and a founding member of the famed Upright Citizens Brigade improv and sketch comedy troupe.
Robert Anderson Huebel is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his sketch comedy work on the MTV series Human Giant and for his role of Dr. Owen Maestro on the Adult Swim series Childrens Hospital. He also appeared as Russell on the FX/FXX series The League and as Len Novak on the Amazon Prime Video series Transparent. In December 2022, Entertainment Weekly called Huebel "the premier d-bag character actor of his generation".
Improv Asylum is an improvisational comedy theater in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The theatre was founded in 1998 by Paul D'Amato, Norm Laviolette, and Chet Harding. The theater produces multiple shows per week including its critically acclaimed mainstage show. The mainstage show is a blend of both sketch comedy and improvised scenes.
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 taught and hosted 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.
Robert Martin is a television and musical theatre actor and writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) was an annual three-week summer festival that operated from 2004 to 2019. It presented more than 30 new musicals a year in New York City's midtown theater district. More than half were chosen by leading theater artists and producers through an open-submission, double-blind evaluation process. The remaining shows were invited to participate by the Festival's artist staff. The festival premiered over 447 musicals, which featured the work of over 8,000 artists and were attended by more than 300,000 people. More than 100 NYMF shows went on to further productions. By NYMF's count, alumni productions have been produced in all 50 US states and in 27 countries, and have been seen by roughly four million people. Over 20 NYMF shows have had cast albums recorded.
Theatre Strike Force is the University of Florida's premier improv and sketch comedy troupe. The group also goes by TSF. The style of improv performed by Theatre Strike Force is a combination long form and short form. They both teach and perform improvisational comedy. They have six house teams which include both forms of improv as well as a sketch team. There are four long form house teams which are cast every semester and usually have six to eight members. The TSF Short Form Team is cast every semester as well and usually has fifteen to nineteen members. TSF Sketch is the final house team and usually has twelve to sixteen members, cast each semester.
Dan Fishbach is an American theater director and producer. He was the Executive Director of The Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles from 2006 to 2008.
James Randall Snyder is an American actor and singer. He graduated from Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento, California and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the USC School of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, where he was a member of the SoCal VoCals, USC's premiere a cappella group.
Jimmy Ray Bennett is an American actor. He is best known as the voice of Floyd Hebert in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V and in television for the roles of Nathan Brooks in the Amazon Studios drama Hand of God and as the "White DL" in the Peabody Award-winning documentary DL Hughley: The Endangered List on Comedy Central.
George Abud is a Lebanese-American actor, playwright, and musician. He is known for playing Camal in the Off-Broadway and Broadway productions of The Band's Visit, receiving a Daytime Emmy Award for his work on the show's NBC Today Show performance.
References
- ↑ "Actor gives commencement speech at Magruder graduation". The Sentinel. June 9, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
- ↑ "Nominees & Recipients Database". TheatreWashington. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
- ↑ Brownfield, Paul (November 15, 2000). "Sketching Their Future". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
- ↑ May 11, Mark Harris Updated; EDT, 2001 at 04:00 AM. "Why The Practice' killed off a major character". EW.com. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ Fitzgerald, T. J. "A 'Drowsy' Jason Kravits Cooks On Stage". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
- ↑ Isherwood, Charles (2011-10-21). "Each Family, Tortured in Its Own Way". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-08-21.
- ↑ "Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Relatively Speaking" 10/20/11". www.talkinbroadway.com. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
- ↑ Genzlinger, Neil (2017-06-07). "A Familiar TV Face, Pulling an Improvised Life Out of a Bowl". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-08-21.
- ↑ Rabinowitz, Chloe. "OFF THE TOP! WITH JASON KRAVITS to Return to Birdland Theater". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
- ↑ Rabinowitz, Chloe. "2022 MAC Award Nominees Announced; View the Full List". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
- ↑ Camus, Renée (2022-06-21). "The Young Sheldon Actor You Forgot Played A Completely Different Character On TBBT". Looper.com. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
- ↑ Wang, Lydia. "You Might Recognize Some Of The "Our Cartoon President" Voice Actors". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
- ↑ Raynor, Madeline (March 17, 2016). "This Hamilton Parody Tells the Story of William Henry Harrison, Another American Historical Figure with a Seven-Syllable Name". Vulture. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
