John Stoops is the Executive Director of The Revival, a theater and education company that uses improvisation and its underlying skill set to affect personal, professional, and social change both at home in Chicago and around the world. The company is located in Hyde Park, which is often considered the birthplace of modern improvisational comedy.

John began his career working in advertising, but after taking employer-sponsored improv classes at The Second City and realizing how much he enjoyed it, he began performing around the city and even moved to Amsterdam to join an improv group at one point. After 17 years in advertising, John left the industry and created The Revival, which officially opened in 2015.

As an arts organization on the south side of Chicago, The Revival has prioritized gathering an ensemble of teachers and collaborators that reflect the diverse community that it serves. While much of Chicago theatre is situated on the north side of the city and tends to draw in largely white audiences, The Revival has laid the foundations to be an organization that stays engaged with a wider demographic.

In this episode, John tells us about finding his way from advertising to the performing arts — and back agin, and then back again — as well as what sets the Revival apart, and how learning improv can serve people who are pursuing pretty much any career path.

The Chicago Artists Relief Fund was launched back in March in response to the pandemic and its abrupt impact on artists, most of whom can’t benefit from work-from-home policies and who found themselves without paychecks suddenly and indefinitely. The team behind the Fund recognized the need as it was unfolding and responded immediately — and they’ve been working hard ever since then to deliver micro-grants to individual artists throughout Chicago. The Fund focuses on supporting communities that are subject to societal inequity both during and outside of times of crisis, and so it prioritizes delivering funds to artists who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Queer, Trans+, Non-Binary, and Disabled.

I was excited to have a chance to speak with four members of the team behind the Fund — Ellie, Hal, Jess, and Liz. We talked about their individual backgrounds as creators and supporters of the arts in Chicago and how they were able to mobilize quickly and effectively around a sudden need in the arts community.

Although the Fund has had an equity lens built into its mission from the outset, the team demonstrated a strong awareness of how and when to leverage social media appropriately to achieve their goals while allowing the space for even more urgent calls to action — our conversation took place in early June, when there was a particularly strong need for funds to be directed to Black Lives Matter and bail funds. During this time, the team encouraged donors to direct resources to those organizations, rather than promoting their own fund. With so many deserving causes to work towards, exercising organizational discernment is not always straightforward or simple, but I think this is indicative of CARF’s commitment to truly listening to the communities they aim to serve.

Since the interview, CARF has continued to act on its mission — they’ve raised over $100,000 and supported over 400 artists in Chicago so far, and plan to continue their efforts for as long as the need persists.

Kane Repertory Theatre, located in St. Charles, Illinois, was founded in 2019 by Dan Krimer and Avery Bowne after they graduated from the MFA Acting program at Northern Illinois University. As the pandemic started turning the theatre industry upside down, Dan and Avery decided to use the unconventional circumstances to start workshopping new plays, opening submissions to playwrights hoping to develop their work — and as a result, The New Play Lab was born.

Dan and Avery have worked hard to build the Kane Rep and have been successful in creating opportunities to connect playwrights, actors, and virtual audiences over the past few months. Starting a theatre company from the ground up is no easy feat, and we talked about the importance of mentorship, learning how to shape and execute a vision, and why being a flexible creative organization is so important. I’m excited to see where the Kane Rep goes as they wrap up Cycle 3 of the New Play Lab.

Back in May, I talked to Jackie Taylor, the founder and CEO of Black Ensemble Theater. The organization’s mission is to eradicate racism through theatre arts, which is activated through their performances as well as educational outreach programs meant to foster community.

The ever-present impact of systemic racism against the Black community has been proven to be disturbingly apparent through recent displays of violence, including the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and has incited another wave of reckoning that’s echoed throughout the country and the world. I think Jackie has captured the sentiment of the present moment wonderfully through the quote found on Black Ensemble’s website: “The human spirit and need for justice, fairness, and equality will never die, no matter how long you continue to keep your knee embedded in its neck. You cannot kill the human spirit. The human spirit will rebel. It will fight. It will rise up and it will, eventually, win.”

Jamil Khoury is the co-founder and co-Executive Artistic Director of Silk Road Rising, which is dedicated to telling stories rooted in Middle Eastern, Asian, and Muslim experiences. Jamil had a rich set of perspectives to share around cultural exchange through storytelling, how to challenge and engage with a diverse audience base, and how his experience living in the Middle East has impacted the work that Silk Road puts forward. He talks about the complexities of cultural representation in theatre and film, and why expanding the pool of stories told about Arab-American, Asian-American, and traditionally underrepresented communities can lead to the expansion of empathy between individuals.

Jill Valentine is the Executive Director and co-founder of Stage 773, a performance venue that provides space to several resident theatre companies, and produces the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival and the Women’s Funny Fest each year.

A long-time lover and creator of comedy, Jill talks about the work that goes into producing Stage 773's large-scale festivals, how she and other passionate teammates built the foundation for the company, and the joys of Chicago's comedy scene. This dynamic space is located in Lake View and is hoping to hold its next Women’s Funny Fest on August 20-23rd.

Ricardo Gutiérrez is the Executive Artistic Director of Teatro Vista, which is committed to sharing and celebrating the riches of Latinx culture with Chicago audiences, and is approaching its 30th season.

Ricardo has had a rich career as an actor, director, producer and Artistic Director of 3 different theatre companies. He offered valuable perspectives on career and family, as well as how to be prepared as an organization and imaginative as an individual.

Hayley Rice is the Artistic Director of Babes with Blades Theatre Company, which uses stage combat to tell stories that elevate the voices of underrepresented communities and dismantle the patriarchy.

She talks about the company's aim to provide free training in stage combat , how this time could be used to rethink standards around accessibility in the arts, and the work they're excited to move forward with in the future. Check their social media pages for info on how to access their live-streamed performances!

Elise Marie Davis is the Artistic Director of Broken Nose Theatre, which was a recipient of the 2018 Emerging Theatre Award and which dedicates itself to economic accessibility. You can see their performances at the Den Theatre in Wicker Park.