I am back writing this blog after a very busy and unusual summer and will return to talking about improv in the future. I need to ease myself back into writing, and since the summer is coming to a close, I thought this would be a good place to pick back up. Today was Betsy's […]
On July 31, I will be going back to teaching improv in person. The last time I taught in person was March of 2020. It's been a long time. The world has changed and so have I. I have learned a lot by teaching on Zoom and I look forward to continuing to do so. I am one […]
Mark Larson is the author of the wonderful book Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater. He recently posted on Facebook an excerpt from a conversation he had with actor John C. Reilly for an interview that he did for The Paul Sills and Viola Spolin Oral History Collection at Northwestern University. Though it speaks […]
I have interviewed a lot of comedians and improvisers over the years, and I always find it interesting who turned them on to their first comedy album, or movie or TV show. For me, it was my older brother, Bobby. I was a grade behind him in school, so when I was in seventh grade, he […]
Yesterday, I got my second dose of the vaccine. In two weeks, I should be free. And I feel sad about it. This is not what I expected. I thought I would be excited, like my friends who got their vaccines months ago. Yes, I will not have to worry every time I go out the door that I […]
If you’re a reader of my blog, you know that I often recommend that you stop looking to the gatekeepers to give them validation, but instead work on developing your own shows and your own work so you do the work that inspires you. So I was incredibly proud and impressed when I found out […]
For years I thought to get good at improv you, had to get piled on by constructive criticism — what some people call “negative notes.” I was that student who would go up to the teacher after class and beg them to “be tough on me.” I was tortured that way. I even took this philosophy into […]
Since the start of the pandemic, I haven't gotten to perform in front of a live audience. That changed last week. No, it wasn't in a theater. It was for a small group of preschoolers and their parents in our backyard. Betsy, who is almost five years old, became obsessed with inviting some of her friends over to put […]
In the last year that I have been teaching improv online, I have gotten to work with improvisers from all over the country and at various skill levels. And regardless of their experience, I have seen the students in my classes and workshops make the same mistakes over and over again. And I’ve also seen that once most […]
I recently watched a documentary on Netflix called The Last Blockbuster. It's about the last remaining Blockbuster video store in Bend, OR. It also takes a look at how the once-powerful chain that had 9,000 video stores collapsed. Watching this documentary brought back memories about when I was high school and first started renting videos. […]