I know you will fall in love with Stephanie Rae as much as I did in this podcast. Stephanie Rae is an improviser, community organizer, writer who has been studying traditional and musical improv for the last eleven years. After falling in love with the form at the Washington Improv Theater, she moved to Miami, founded Negative Four Months, and created hit shows including Law & Disorder and The Laughter Games. She later joined the Society Circus Players, performing monthly in Coral Gables and in festivals including Miami Improv, Palm Beach, Countdown, and UCB’s Del Close Marathon – in which she conceived and directed a Boyz II Men themed improv show. Stephanie has taught weekly classes for Red Carpet Kids and workshops for teens and adults from around the world.Continue reading “Stephanie Rae and The Black Improv Alliance”
What a great chat I had with the multi-talented Rick Hall. He is truly a Renaissance man who grew up on a farm in central Illinois, in the town of Carrollton, with a population of 2,484! As a young boy, Rick sang and performed with the Carrollton Community Chorus and at church. He attended MacMurray College and he was planning on being a veterinarian, but after auditioning and getting cast in a show he slowly began to grasp the fact that this could be his career. (He actually played a veterinarian twice on the Seinfeld show!)
I am so blessed to know Laura Hall and have been studying Musical Improv with her. Laura and her husband, Rick Hall, teach musical improv at theatres, festivals, comedy clubs, and universities around the world. In Part One of our podcast, we chat about her passion for music and how she took a pay cut when she went from waitress to musical director at Second City. We mention some mutual friends like Jane Morris, who directed the first show she created at Second City., and Deana Criess Tolliver, who introduced me to Musical Improv. Part Two of our talk covers the challenges of teaching musical improv online and her upcoming video classes, which teach musicians how to play with improv groups, like what she does on Whose Line.
Join me and meet acting and writing coach Aretha Sills, who comes from improvisational theater royalty. Her grandmother was Viola Spolin, the “mother” of improv, and her father Paul Sills started The Second City. Her mother, Carol Sills, was the editor of Viola Spolin’s “Improvisation for the Theater” and worked with Paul on many of his shows and productions. Hear Aretha talk about her father and the work he did in Door County, Wi., where Aretha recently returned to live. Aretha also speaks about shifting to on-line teaching since the pandemic. I’ve had the wonderful pleasure of studying several sessions with Aretha and she is a magical teacher. I know you will learn so much listening to her in this podcast.
David Leventhal is the Program Director and founding teacher of Dance for PD. He tells about his journey to becoming a dancer and his career with the Mark Morris Dance Company. Learn how he helped start this amazing program in 2001 when a local support group leader who had a dance background approached the Mark Morris Dance Group with the idea for specialized dance for Parkinson’s classes – even before there was tangible evidence about the benefits of exercise and movement. I’ve taken several of these classes and the combination of simple movements and beautiful music creates a sense of wellbeing, calm, and energy.
Marcus Sams is a beloved improviser and teacher in the Bay Area for 20 years. He is a dynamic, generous fellow who has developed incredible technology for on-line improvisers. In addition to fantastic classes on Improv, Marcus has developed techniques to move Online improv games out of the “Hollywood Squares” boxes into productions that look like TV & film. The Fixed Lens Improvisation Technique, a.k.a. F.L.I.
I was fortunate to meet Ellen Schnur at the Yes, and Mental Health Conference held at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago, September 2017! We recently reconnect through 
Join me and meet the multi-talented musician, improviser, actor, and author, Will Hines. Founder of 
Daniel is a delightful artist, actor, writer, and improviser that I met in a Susan Messing workshop this summer. He has taught thousands of young and old folks acting and improv and produced many plays. Daniel is one of only four people who graduated — twice— from the Player’s Workshop Of The Second City; once in 1992 and then a few weeks ago after the studio reopened. Daniel is also a 1995 conservatory graduate of the Second City Training Center.
