Today's episode features Jill Eickmann.

Jill Eickmann is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Leela, a San Francisco based improvisational theatre company and training center. She has directed over 100 original productions with Leela and serves as a Producer/Board Member for The San Francisco Improv Festival and Executive Producer of Femprovisor Fest: SF’s all female-identified improv fest. She has taught her signature style of improvisation to thousands of improvisors of all ages. Most recently, she taught a six week private improv class to cast members of Disney’s The Lion King - Broadway Tour. Jill was the founder of the three person improv ensemble, Road Dawgz, where she performed with Tony Award Winner Dan Fogler (Balls of Fury, Good Luck Chuck) and Law Tarello (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) throughout NYC. Her Bay Area performance highlights include Life and Adventures!, Sacrifices and Transformations, God Put A Smile Upon My Face (her one-woman show), and The Razowsky Project, collaborating with the Artistic Director of The Second City (Los Angeles), David Razowsky. She currently performs with Leela's Armando Company and duo, Shades of Grey with Marcus Sams, as well as directs multiple Performing Improv Ensembles (PIE) within Leela’s PIR Program. She studied in New York and Chicago with some of the best from Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (UCB), The Second City, IO (Improv Olympic), Annoyance Productions, and Magnet Theater. Jill is also a licensed marriage and family therapist and drama therapist, and self-revelatory theatre director who continues to research and teach the psychological implications and therapeutic benefits of improvisation. She worked for many years as an adoption social worker, creating and supporting diverse families (single parent, LGBT, trans-racial) built through the California foster care system. Through the use of drama therapy, improvisation, and role play, she helped diverse individuals commit and connect to one another, ultimately becoming a family who can survive any crisis that comes their way. She enjoys working with local start-ups, established companies, and business leaders to support a positive working environment while fostering boundless collective creativity. Past clients include The Clorox Company, Adobe, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Conoco Phillips, Go Pro (among others.)

You can find Jill on social media:

https://www.facebook.com/LeelaSF