Improv Interviews

Listen as Improv coach and director, Aretha Sills, shares her story of teaching improv during the pandemic. Aretha is the granddaughter of Viola Spolin, considered to be the founder of Improvisational Theatre. She is also the daughter of Carol and Paul Sills. Paul Sills started the early improv theatres in Chicago like the Compass and eventually The Second City theatre, home to many well-known act...

Tara Langella - Voice Over Actor by Margot Escott

David Levanthal - Dance for PD by Margot Escott

Marcus Sams is an improviser from the Bay Area for over 20 years. He is a delightful improviser and has developed unique technology that makes on-line improv look and feel like film!

I was fortunate to meet Ellen at the Yes, and Mental Health Conference held at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago, September 2017! Ellen is passionate about experiential learning and helping everyone on the team to “Be the Difference” and work better together. After 25 years in business and training, she grew tired of the endless PowerPoints and toxic cultures. She dared herself to take classes at 2...

Join me and meet the multi-talented musician, improviser, actor, and author, Will Hines. Founder of The World's Greatest Improv School Will is a beloved teacher in the improv world. He started at UCB in NY and then LA. I really enjoyed chatting with such a relaxed and authentic person. We talked about mutual improv teachers like Jimmy Carrane and Jay Sukow.

Daniel DeWalt is a delightful artist, actor, writer, and improviser that I met in a Susan Messing improv workshop this summer. He has taught thousands of young and older folks acting and improv and produced many plays. He was a wonderful guest and I know you’ll enjoy getting to know Daniel as much as I did.

Join me and meet the multi-talented improviser, actor, and true gentleman Brian Palermo. In his early days at the Groundlings, Brian was lucky enough to play with, learn from, and direct a gaggle of Big Name Comedy People that include Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Will Ferrell, Maya Rudolph, Lisa Kudrow, and many others.  I met Brian at the Vintage Improv Festival this fall and loved his style o...

Meet Francine Wolf and their director Leigh Shein of Pants Optional Comedy. They share their lengthy experience in improvisational theatre and tell us about how they are adjusting to virtual shows on Zoom to entertain and keep people laughing.

Join me and meet Emma Bird. Emma is an improviser, teacher, and professional actor and director. She has been improvising since 2007. She was trained in improv by The Maydays (Brighton/London) and has been on training courses and workshops led by world-renowned improvisers: Rachel Mason & Susan Messing (Second City, Chicago); Rich & Rebecca Sohn (Annoyance Theatre, Chicago); Michael Gellman (Secon...

Listen to the journey of Miki Manting who created the first festival and workshops for folks over 50. She is truly a pioneer! Miki talks to us about how she became involved in improv and what inspired her to start this festival where improvisers who are fifty-years-old and over perform. At Improv theaters where casts are largely made up of improvisers in their 20’s and early 30’s vintage improvise...

Nick Doyle - Advice To Folks With Autism by Margot Escott

Join me and meet Peter Margaritis, CPA, CGMA, business coach, and author of Improv is No Joke, who uses applied improvisation to inspire people to achieve higher levels of success in their business. Through the improvisation tenets of Yes, And, keep it simple, collaborate and experience, Peter teaches his clients to embrace C.H.A.N.G.E. (Creative | Humor | Aspire | Navigate | Gracious | Ethical) a...

Join me and meet my friend, Patrick McCartney, as we talk about the many related gifts of studying and teaching improv. Patrick McCartney is an actor, improviser and teacher who has studied with and taught some of the most respected names in the entertainment industry. His improv journey began in Chicago in the late 1990s where he studied with the legendary Del Close and Mick Napier. He spent two...

Join me and meet my friend Deana Criess, as we talk about the magic of musical improv and her work using improvisation games and techniques with her students at the Perkins School for the Blind. Deana is a professional improviser, master instructor, director, writer, and performer with a specialization in applied improvisation. Deana’s work has been featured on PBS, NPR, KBS (the Korean Broadcasti...

Meet Clay Drinko who is an educator, an improvisor, and the author of Theatrical Improvisation, Consciousness, and Cognition. He earned his Ph. D. in drama and theatre studies from Tufts University and a Master of Science in education and a Master of Arts in performance studies. Clay started improvising over two decades ago and experienced firsthand the powerful effects of finding flow onstage. Th...

Join me and meet Izzy Gesell, an organizational alchemist who helps individuals and organizations transform their thinking from commonplace to extraordinary. He is skilled at delivering meaningful material in a way that makes participants enjoy their time with him. Izzy is also the author of Playing Along: Group Learning Activities Borrowed From Improvisation Theater, a co-author of Humor Me: Amer...

Join me and meet Dr. Kristin Krueger who is an internationally known Research Scientist at Rush University Medical Center and a Chicago based neuropsychologist who wrote the first evidence-based research paper on the effectiveness of Improv for Anxiety. The results of the study conducted by Krueger along with two Illinois Tech research collaborators were published in the paper “Thera-Prov: A Pilot...

Join me today to meet Jay Sukow, who has been performing scripted and improvised work professionally for over 20 years. Jay has trained with improv legends that include Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Jon Favreau, David Razowsky, Keith Johnstone, Dick Schaal, Del Close and Mick Napier. Jay is a faculty member of The Second City and has performed regularly as part of their “Those Who Can’t” Faculty...

Join me and meet Robert Cochrane, an award-winning filmmaker, with numerous narrative and documentary features to his credit. His touching relationship with his father who has Parkinson’s was the inspiration for Robert’s Parkinson’s-themed documentary series, Boys of Summer. He is a Ph. D. student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) studying the effect of improvisation on Parkinson’s Dis...

Dr. Dan Bacalzo - FGCU Drama Department by Margot Escott

Lisa Kays, LCSW studied improvisational theater prior to becoming a master's level social worker. She has been using improv as group therapy and to train therapists in this exciting art form.

Robert Lowe is lovingly referred to as The Godfather of Improv in Atlanta. During his thirty-nine-year engagement in Improvisation Robert has been a player, an Improv dancer, a teacher, a director, a producer, and a pioneer in the uses of Improvisation for purposes other than performance. He has taught Improvisation, and stand-up comedy, public speaking, and presentation, and community, and person...

Join me and meet Lacy Alana and learn about her innovative Yes and Brain work. The Yes And Brain framework is the creation of a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, circus artist, and improviser Lacy Alana. As Lacy spent time in the clinical, educational, corporate, and expressive arts worlds over the last decade, she recognized that she was having great success blending facets from each discipline in...

Meet Rob Snow who is the Creator and Director of The Improvaneer Method and Executive Director of Stand Up for Downs, he also performs his one-man show, We Need a Sign, nationally (www.weneedasign.net). Rob began his comedy career in the late 90s while training at the famed Second City Theatre in Chicago, performing at comedy clubs and colleges in the Midwest.  In 2009 Rob and his wife Ellen had t...