When I started out in improv, I had no clue what I was doing on or off stage. I knew I wanted to be famous — that was it. I was a mess. Looking back, I wish I would have done things differently. So, today if I could talk to my younger self, this is […]
When you first start improvising you are told to listen to your partners on stage. Sometimes you focus on them so deeply, you forget there is an audience. One of the things that makes improv so special is that it’s a shared experience between the player on stage and the audience. One of the best ways to […]
Recently an improviser contacted me and said he was struggling with playing low-status characters in his improv shows and he wanted some advice on how to do it. I have always loved playing low-status characters, maybe too much. In fact, I think that’s all I played the first ten years of my improvising. This got […]
There's an expression that goes, “Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy?” This applies to improv. I have seen my students time and time again wanting to "do it right" and follow the rules, rather than trusting their instincts and having fun. They would rather be right than happy. There are a lot of reasons […]
If you've been improvising for a while, at some point one of your teachers/coaches will say you need to take an acting class. This may be confusing. If you are like me, you might think something like, “I am improviser, not an actor.” And then a huge acting opportunity will come along, like a play, […]
Keli Semelsberger has been teaching, directing and performing improv for more than 26 years. She founded the award-winning Charlotte Comedy Theater and she is the author of her new book, Improv Shaman: The Transformative Journey of Divine Play. We talked to her about being enough, taking care of yourself and how to be more vulnerable.
This Sunday is Father’s Day and it’s making me think a lot about my dad, who died a little over six years ago, a few months before my daughter, Betsy, was born. In one of the last conversations I had with him, I read him a list of 11 things he gave me as father. […]
Kindergarten ended this week for Betsy. She made it through, and more importantly, I did, too. Watching your kid grow up is emotional. One day she has a new BFF, the next she doesn't. It's like watching the stock market. When she was a baby all my friends that were parents said, "Enjoy this time. It will go fast." At […]
Rich Sohn is a master teacher and improviser at The Pack Theater in Los Angeles. He's worked at The Annoyance Theater, iO-Chicago and Second City. We talked to him about how he found his voice as a teacher and improviser at The Annoyance, how the Annoyance style brings such freedom on stage, and what he […]
Do your art for the joy of it. Don't do it unless it brings you happiness. It's not about the fame and fortune. Those will come or they will not. Make up your own definition of what "making it" means and fuck the rest. Do what makes your heart sing or skip a beat, just […]