Improv Comedy Connection – Détails, épisodes et analyse

We're back with Patti Stiles in our first episode of Season 5.  Listeners know Patti from episode 2 of Season Three as well as panelist in the first, fourth, fifth and last sessions of the COVID-19 Summit. Our focus in this episode, though, is her wonderful book - Improvise Freely.  It's a timely book, as well as an encouragement and challenge to improvisers - no matter how seasoned.

Patti has an infectious enthusiasm for improvisation that comes through in everything she does. You'll no doubt be encouraged to pick up a copy of the book after this interview, but you'll also likely want to find out more and follow Patti.  You can do so at pattistiles.com and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In this, our 50th episode!, Whit has a conversation with Rachael Mason.  Rachael has been a mainstay of the Chicago improv scene for many years.  She has been a central figure in the Second City’s curriculum and performance and has moved to iO which is set to re-launch under new ownership in Fall of 2022.  There, she is the Director of Education and is involved in both the design of the theater’s improv curriculum and performance structures – and as you might guess, we spend some time discussing what is to come at iO.

Rachael’s teaching also extends to coursework at DePaul University and Columbia Chicago, as well as her own workshops that she has delivered all around the world.  Her performance credits are many, with many credits at Secondy City, iO, Annoyance, Baby Wants Candy, as well as regularly performing with her good friend and improv beshert, Susan Messing.

You can get access to drop in classes and more through ioimprov.com, which certainly will develop more fully in the months and years following the release of this episode.

Our guest for episode 5 of season 4 is Felipe Ortiz - a performer, director and teacher based in Bogota, Colombia.  But that 's really not a full summary of what Felipe is as a performer or educator.  He blends in, exchanges, plays, interacts and shares tools techniques and insights with artists from around the world.  You can see his interest in the body in movement in his use and integration of acrobatics, improvisation, clowning, physical theater, object manipulation and more in his performances.

He's currently working as a clown, acrobatics and impro teacher at the Javeriana University in Bogota and is the co-founder and co-artistic director of La Gata Cirko (new circus company) for many years and co director for of the improv ensemble PICNIC.

In this episode, we get to spend time with a true improv pioneer -- Oluwadamilola Apotieri-Abdulai.  Damilola is one of the few improvisers in Nigeria and in West Africa. He has an amazing background in using theater, improv, and other techniques and structures to positively impact individuals and communities throughout the region and indeed across the world.  The work he's done and is doing will inspire you - and is reason enough to listen in to this conversation.

Damilola is the founder of Playback Nigeria which focuses on using art for social transformation and is a leader in the region in promoting mental health awareness, using the arts to support those impact of disasters and dislocations, and otherwise.  He also has a drive to spread the practice of improvisation and other similar arts throughout the continent of Africa and continues to create online fesitvals and other opportunities for people from different countries, particularly children, to connect with each other.

You can follow Playback Nigeria by looking up @PlaybackNigeria on IG, Facebook and Twitter. They are also on the web at www.playbacknigeria.com.

Our third episode in Season 4 is with Dr. Sophie Scott, the Wellcome Senior Research Fellow in Basic Biomedical Science and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London.  She is part of UCL's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and in the Division of  Psychology & Lang Sciences.  So of course we're having her on the podcast, right?  Well it is an of course because of her particular lines of inquiry do have quite a lot to say about a subject that all improvisers, comedians and communicators who use humor care about -- laughter.

More generally, Dr. Scott's work looks at the neural basis of vocal communication - how our brains process the information in speech and voices and correspondingly produce what comes out of us that's audible. Within that, is a very special and interesting focus that she has placed on laughter.  And her conclusions can -- if we let them -- be quite transformational, I think, in how we evaluate our work.  I don't want to give too much away, so I will leave it there -- but what for more follow up material on the topics addressed.

You are also welcome and encouraged to check out more of Dr. Scott's background and work product.  Here are a few places to get you started:

Official Site: http://ucl.ac.uk/pals/people/profiles/academic-staff/sophie-scott

Select Lectures and Resources from Dr. Scott:

Sophie Scott: Why we laugh | TED Talk

The Science of Laughter with Sophie Scott - YouTube

‎The Neuromantics on Apple Podcasts

Born in Indonesia, and now based in Norway, Aree Witoelar is an improv teacher, director and performer who is also the founder and artistic director of Impro Neuf International.  Impro Neuf International is Norway’s first international improv community with over 1,000 members from over 50 countries.

Aree has been improvising since 2005, studying from many teachers and throughout his improv career has believed in bringing the global voice to the improv stage. In the new era of online improv, he is teaching improv to every corner of the world and regularly performing duos -- as of this episode he's played with over 120 players from 50 or more countries.  These scenes can be accessed at his facebook page

Aree also writes periodically on topics of improv on Medium and can pretty easily make the case as the lead foodie in the international improv foodie community.  Aree and Whit share a love of Beef Rendang, chilaquiles, snert and much more -- but conversation about foods from around the world will have to wait for a second episode.

For more on Aree, go to:

www.areewitoelar.com
Medium
Facebook

We're back for season 4 with Shaun Landry!  Shaun got her start in improv in the mid-1980s in Chicago and has been a strong, joyful, positive presence not only in Chicago, but then in San Francisco, LA and through her travels and online, all over the world.

It was a fantastic conversation - both what is being published and what followed -- and it's a great way to start off our next season.  We missed you, and if you didn't miss us, you certainly won't want to miss Shaun Landry.

More details on Shaun on the episode webpage at https://wp.me/paJcZS-xF.

You can find Shaun on the web at shaunlandry.com and also on social media at:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
LinkedIn
YouTube

Listen in to a fire side chat with Joe Bill -- widely regarded as one of the best teachers of Scenic and Comedic Improvisation in the world today. He is one of the founding members of Annoyance Theater Chicago where, for 12 years, he performed in and/or directed more than 60 different shows. He was the Director of Corporate Training at iO Chicago for 15 years and a Teacher & Guest Artist in Residence at The Second City Conservatory & Training Center for another 15 years. Joe first learned Improvisation and in 1977 studied and worked with Del Close from 1985 through the mid 90’s.

Joe is ½ of the original improvised Monoscene, BASSPROV with Mark Sutton, . They have been heralded by the NY TIMES: "BASSPROV refreshingly has the feel of a quiet character study...jokes emerge organically, using wordplay, character quirks and quicksilver wit."

Joe tours all over the world, teaching and headlining with extremely talented Duo partners like Mark Sutton (Annoyance Theater Co-Founding Member and Artistic Director for Training and Development at The Second City) in the long-running BASSPROV,  Jill Bernard (Huge Improv Theater – Mpls.) in their hit show SCRAM!, with Lee White (CRUMBS – Winnipeg, Berlin) in their heroic Duo show PARADIGM, with International Improv Legend Patti Stiles (AD - Impro Melbourne) in their groundbreaking show Our Play, Stacey Hallal (Curious Comedy Theater – Portland, OR) in Stacey & Joe and We Slept Together, Heather Urquhart (Improviser/Director The Maydays & Showstopper The Improvised Musical – London/U.K.) in their magical improvised Musical Blues Hammer (with the stupendous Joe Samuel on Improvised Orchestra) and with David Razowsky (Host A.D.D. Comedy Podcast) in Razowsky & Bill. He’s played with many other Duo partners, in the U.S. and abroad, in many Festival Ensemble shows and in every improvised format and/or style imaginable. For the last 6 years he has also been teaching and performing in French, in many cities in France, Belgium & Luxembourg. He is living his dream!

He has played as a guest in Play Unscripted with ImproTheatre L.A., Grand Theft Impro at Impro Melbourne (Australia), The Scene at The PIT in New York City and UCB in L.A., with Let’s Have A Ball and ASSSSCAT 3000 at UCB Theater in New York & L.A. and with Kornfeld & Andrews at Magnet Theater in New York City.  And, of course, he has performed, directed, taught and served as an Artistic Adviser for a number of Improvisation/Comedy Theaters & Festivals on every continent except Antarctica (but he’s working on that!) and at every major Improv Festival in The United States.

You can find Joe on facebook at Joe Bill Teaches! | Facebook, which is also the best place to get connected with the Story Chain sessions that Joe hosts.

Our penultimate episode of Season 3 is with Aretha Sills - the granddaughter of Viola Spolin - widely considered the mother of modern improvisational theater) an daughter of Paul Sills (founder and initial director The Second City in Chicago, as well as Story Theater).  Aretha studied for many years with her father and is an outstanding instructor in her own right, having worked with Tony- and Emmy-Award winning actors and having trained faculty from Northwestern, DePaul, Columbia College, The Second City, The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, LAUSD, CETA, and many other institutions and schools. Aretha is presently the Associate Director of Sills/Spolin Theater Works and directs The Predicament Players.

In our conversation, we look at the whole of improv.  In re-considering the genesis and revolutionary utilization of theater games and the experiential learning approach of Viola Spolin against the backdrop of a variety of narratives about what improv is, it becomes apparent that not only are some unaware of the impact and importance of Viola Spolin, but that the Mother of Improv has been written out or ignored to our detriment. Hopefully we help right some of that wrong in this episode.

Episode Webpage: wp.me/paJcZS-uE

As we get ready to close out Season 3 of the podcast, Whit has a conversation with Jon Carr -- just a week or so out from the big news that Jon has been hired as Executive Producer at Second City.  Just prior, Jon was serving as Artistic Director at Dad's Garage in Atlanta.  Jon was not only a fixture for many years at Dad's, but also in the Atlanta creative community as a whole.  We discuss his start in improv at Dad's, his approach to the craft, and so much more.

In addition to his work at Dad's Garage, Jon impacted and connected with many other organizations.  He has had staged readings at Synchronicity Theatre, Happy Accident Theatre, and Stage Door Players. He worked with Alliance Theatre as their Audience Development Manager. Jon founded United Atlanta Improv and has helped improv theatres around the city come together through collaborative works. With his improv group Dark Side of the Room, he has been able to work with The Center For Civil and Human Rights and perform around North America. He has appeared in a number of Dad’s Garage shows such as: “Cannibal! The Musical,” “The Dad’s Garage Going Out of Business Show,” “The Wrath of Con” and “Effed Up Fairy Tales.” Dad’s Garage has also given him the opportunity to write shows as he has written “Wrath of Con 1,” “Wrath of Con 2,” and “Black Nerd” (Winner of the 2018 Suzi Bass Award for Best Orginal play).

You can connect with Jon on social media:

Instagram @joncarrjr

Twitter @JonCarrJr

And keep watching as he makes his mark on Second City in 2021 and beyond!