Improv Interviews

Kay Ross – Imagining Possibilities Kay Ross was born in Scotland, grew up in Australia, and has lived in Hong Kong for 25 years. She has been acting since she was a teenager, did stand-up comedy for a while, has been performing with short-form improv team People’s Liberation Improv in Hong Kong for 11 years, is a member of the Applied Improvisation Network, and leads Applied Improvisation workshop...

Over the course of his seventy plus year career, Ed Asner has simultaneously established himself as one of the most legendary actors alive while championing social and charitable causes. Ed was born in Kansas City, Missouri, attended the University of Chicago, and served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, appearing in plays put on for the troops as they toured around Europe. After the war, Asner joine...

Carol Bleackley Sills, director of Sills/Spolin Theater Works has been an influential force behind improvisational theatre since 1960. Carol studied with Viola Spolin, acting as her editor since 1983. In collaboration with her husband Paul Sills, they went on to create innovative theatres that included The Compass, Playwrights Theatre, Second City, The Game Theater, Story Theater, The Body Politic...

Sean A. Mulvihill is currently directing the documentary feature film, “Act Social” featuring Colin Mochrie (Whose Line is it, Anyway?). The film follows Sean and his team on a mission to bring improvisation-based peacemaking skills to world leaders and communities in need. Sean resides in New York City and is the Artistic Director of the Exuberants Improv Comedy Team which performs in Times Squar...

Aretha Sills is the granddaughter of Viola Spolin. She studied theater games for many years with her father, director Paul Sills (creator/director of The Second City and Story Theater), and has conducted workshops for Paul Sills’ Wisconsin Theater Game Center, Bard College, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Stockholm International School, Sarah Lawrence College, and Northwestern University. She has w...

Part 2 of my podcast with Gary Schwartz, an award-winning TV and film actor, director, comedian and a master improvisational acting coach whose 30 years as a performer and improv teacher has helped transform the lives of thousands of people, both on- and off-screen. He studied and worked with Viola Spolin,the mother of modern improv, and is the only master teacher to have ever earned an endorsemen...

I met John Dawson through our mutual friend Nick Johne from Chicago's Second City. They had worked together at Toronto's Second City before they both immigrated to Chicago & Dublin. His first foray into using improvisation for improved mental health was 7 years ago when he was approached to design and facilitate a series of Dramatic Arts for Wellness Workshops for D.C.U. (Dublin City University) i...

I met John Dawson through our mutual friend Nick Johne from Chicago's Second City. They had worked together at Toronto's Second City before they both immigrated to Chicago & Dublin. His first foray into using improvisation for improved mental health was 7 years ago when he was approached to design and facilitate a series of Dramatic Arts for Wellness Workshops for D.C.U. (Dublin City University) i...

Margot Escott speaks with improv master Craig Price who is using his 30+ years of experience (including training with the great Del Close)in wellness classes that use improv to improve the lives of those who are differently abled. Craig shares with us the wisdom he learned from both Second City and IO with Del Close - To always play at the top of your intelligence, to encourage each other, to play...

Marshall C Stern by Margot Escott

Nancy Walker Podcast by Margot Escott

Cameron Algie - Improv for Anxiety by Margot Escott

Beth Boynton - Medical Improv by Margot Escott

Join me to listen the the fascinating and very funny improv master Nick Johne. An alumnus of Toronto’s award-winning Second City Main Stage cast, Nick Johne has been teaching improvisation in various capacities since 1983. He is currently teaching at The Second City Chicago and in the Theater Department of DePaul University where he is adjunct faculty. He has performed all over the world and was a...

Improv Interview Dave Razowsky by Margot Escott

Kelly Leonard is the Executive Director of Insights and Applied Improvisation at The Second City and Second City Works. His book, “Yes, And: Lessons from The Second City” was released to critical acclaim in 2015 by HarperCollins and was praised by Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair who called it “...an excellent guide to the lessons that have bubbled up in Second City’s improv workshops.” Kelly is a pop...

Improv Interview with Jill Bernard by Margot Escott

SANDY BRUCE - PIONEER IN IMPROV FOR ASD by Margot Escott

Listen to the exciting improv program created by Wendy Rush and Tom McCourt for the Las Vegas Juvenile Offenders program. This unique program will also serve the parents as well.

Meet Stephnie Anderson - improviser, performer, teacher and much more!

Meet the delightful Ted DesMaisons. Ted is known for his work with Mindfulness and Improv. He is an inspiring and lovely man!

Listen as Michael Golding shares his journey in improvisational theatre for over 40 years. He was mentored by the "Father of Improv" David Shepherd and wrote and produced the documentary, "David Shepherd: A lifetime of Improvisational Theatre".

Listen to Brie Watson, Candace Meeks and Alicia Douglas of the Fantastic Funny Femmes describe their powerful work on-stage and in the classroom. These ladies are definitely making a difference and using improv as a healing art.

Pam Victor describes her life in improv, founding the improv group The Ha-Ha's and how she co-authored "Improvisation at the Speed of Light" with TJ Jagodowski and David Pasquesi. Pam keeps busy teaching and performing at Happier Valley at the Northampton Center for the Art in Northampton, Mass.

Join us for a delightful talk with a woman who has brought improv to so many people. She is the author of the award-winning book,IMPROV WISDOM: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up (Bell Tower, 2005). She shares how she discovered improv through her passion for Tai Chi, which led her to studying with Keith Johnstone. She is a professor Emerita from Stanford University where she began teaching in 1977. In t...