Last summer I met Amy in a workshop and fell in love with her immediately! . Her enthusiasm and love of improv is contagious. Amy Burge is an improviser, public school teacher and a mother of two very active teenage boys. Currently, she is a very involved in the Minneapolis improv community as a performer, a committee member (Tiny Funny Women Fest and FairPlay) and teacher. She is most excited about being able to teach improv at an adolescent chemical treatment center and would like to further he work in the area of mental health. Continue reading “Amy Burge”
Eric Fisher
Meet Eric Fisher, a mindful improviser! Though Eric’s younger years were heavily involved improv and the arts, his career has been in design and technology. After studying computer graphics and psychology at UPenn, he spent over a decade designing apps and online communities in addition to working at Facebook, Apple and Google in Silicon Valley. Continue reading “Eric Fisher”
Rick Thomas
Enjoy Rick Thomas’s unique point of view on his experiences and the history of improvisational comedy. He’s an Alumnus Chicago Main stage Second City Resident Company; studied Improv with Second City Founders including the great Paul Sills and David Shepherd; acted with Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey and other luminaries, and for Woody Allen and Mike Nichols. Continue reading “Rick Thomas”
Gary Schwartz- Part 1 of 2
Gary Schwartz is 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 endorsement from both Viola Spolin and her son, Paul Sills, the co-founder and director of The Second City.
Part II: Click to listen to part 2
Continue reading “Gary Schwartz- Part 1 of 2”Lisa Kays, LICSW, LCSW-C
Meet Lisa Kays who holds an MSW from Catholic University and has been practicing psychotherapy with individuals, couples and groups since 2013. She holds an LICSW in Washington, D.C. and an LCSW-C in Maryland, and has acquired additional training from the Washington School of Psychotherapy’s ISTDP First Year Program and from Rehearsals for Growth! In addition, she has integrated improvisation into her work in a women’s prison, given workshops using improv techniques for individuals in recovery, and been a trainer in Washington Improv Theater’s WIT @ Work professional development and team building trainings. Over the past year, she has developed Washington Improv Theater’s first Improv for Mental Health Professionals class, which has received press on NBC4 and in The Washington Post. Continue reading “Lisa Kays, LICSW, LCSW-C”
Elizabeth Ehrenberg, LCSW – Improviser/Therapist
Meet the talented Elizabeth Simone, LCSW She is a professional improviser and therapist who has brought improv to the Bay Area and is the founder of Living Improv where she facilitates groups that combine improv with group therapy. Continue reading “Elizabeth Ehrenberg, LCSW – Improviser/Therapist”
Jeff Winer, MS – Psychology & Improv
Meet Jeffrey Winer, who is currently a Psychology Intern at McLean Hospital, a Clinical Fellow in Psychology at Harvard Medical School, and a Clinical Psychology Doctoral Candidate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Much of Jeff’s research and clinical practice to date has focused on better understanding the development, maintenance, and treatment of depression, anxiety, emotion dysregulation, and traumatic stress across development, with a focus on adolescence. Continue reading “Jeff Winer, MS – Psychology & Improv”
Improv for Anxiety
Anxiety disorders are one of the top reported psychiatric disorders in the US today. Most of the clients seeking help in my practice are coming due to anxiety issues. There are many types of anxiety disorders, from nervousness to full blown panic attacks.
According to professional literature, psychotherapy that emphasizes working with, rather than against, the experience of anxiety – for instance, CBT, ACT, and various forms of exposure therapy – has proven very effective.*
I love Improvisational Comedy because it connects me to the playful, spontaneous child that’s still a part of me, and all of us! Find a friend and create a story together today. Or have a deep conversation with your dog. Better yet, call someone and tell them, “I love you.”Why I Love Improv
George Carlin, when asked, “How old are you?” “I’m four and a half! You’re never thirty-six and a half. You’re four and a half, going on five! That’s the key.”Dr. Dave Carbonell
Meet Dave Carbonell, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and the founding member of The Therapy Players, www.therapyplayers.com an improvisational troupe of professional psychotherapists which performs all around the Chicago area. His practice is specialized in the treatment of fears and phobias. He is the author of Panic Attacks Workbook and The Worry Trick, maintains a popular self-help web site at www.anxietycoach.com, and has taught workshops on the treatment of anxiety disorders to more than 7000 therapists in the U.S. and abroad.<!–more> Therapy Players is Dave’s second improv troupe of mental health professionals. He was also the founding member of Freudian Slippers, a troupe of psychology graduate students at DePaul University who played at numerous venues around Chicago in the early 1980’s.