Licenced Clinical Social Worker and Improv Therapist
Francine Wolf and Leigh Shein keep people laughing with Pants Optional Comedy on Zoom
Join me and meet Meet Francine Wolfand 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.
Pants Optional Comedy is an online improv comedy short-form show with an emcee and actors from Ohio, Florida, and the United Kingdom. The show was conceived in May 2020 when producer, Francine Wolf of ZaZu Productions, LLC, was quarantined at home and live and on-stage acting was halted. Having toured with a one-woman improv show, “Half-Baked Boomer,” for the previous two years, Francine thought it would be more fun to do improv with seasoned improvisers and friends.
Pants Optional Comedy, performing every Wednesday at Happy Hour on Zoom, has raised funds for charities needing emergency COVID-19 funds, brought joy to those at home around the world, and creates custom-designed private shows for families, companies, and organizations.
More about Leigh Shein
I took my first improv class with Second City in 1979 – while still in high school – with my mom! Over the years I’ve done improv with Dick Schaal, Washington Improv Theatre, Bay Area Improv Theatre, and WoW Improv. Leigh has appeared in community and professional productions including Opera Tampa, as “Sword-fighting-later-dead Roman General” at the Kennedy Center and as “Action” in West Side Story where he was awarded “Best Improved Singer”. I also hosted radio shows in Chicago and Boston, have done voice-overs, worked in event production, TV engineering, management, and political consulting, as well as for the U.S. Government, kid’s holiday pageants, and even sold mobile homes in the South of France where I held the “No. 1 Salesman” honor. “Who’s Poopy?” won an Original Short Play Award from the Gulfshore Playhouse and recently I co-wrote and starred in “Who Killed the Rabbi,” an improv-based comedy murder mystery set during the craziest wedding in town. In addition to teaching improv, I currently direct Harry’s Senior Moment, and appear in Bonita City Improv, along with writing comedy skits and am collaborating on performance projects.
You can learn more about Francine, Leigh, and Pants Optional Comedy through the links below:
www.pantsoptionalcomedy.comhttps://www.leighshein.com/
You might want to listen to my fascinating discussions with other improv teachers and innovators including Miki Mantingand Emma Bird*Improv Interviews podcast‘ is introduced by Susan L. Parker of yourinternationalvoice.com
