The Improv Teachers

It's Tuesday and... Jimmy Carrane is our guest!

Jimmy Carrane was not raised by wolves. He did, however, grow up in a house where he wasn’t encouraged to express himself. This is very similar to being raised by wolves except wolves always get to be wolves. Except when they’re in sheep’s clothing. The good news is, Jimmy’s early years as a non-wolf in non-expressive clothing changed in 1986 when a chubby, insecure, 19-year-old Jimmy drove his parent’s Buick Station wagon to Chicago.

In Chicago, he didn’t find wolves. (Frankly, he was done with the wolf metaphors.) He did, however, find improv. And while he didn’t quite know it, that station wagon landed him square at the beginning of an over 30-year journey as a comedian, performer, and teacher.

His improv studies and performances began among a legion of legendary misfits at The Second City and iO Chicago (then known as Improv Olympics). Jimmy also became one of the original members of The Annoyance Theater. Years later, he would return to teach at all three theaters, excited to share his experiences and guide a new generation of performers through the art of improvisation.

During his team tenure, Jimmy was a member of Jazz Freddy, Carl and the Passions, and the original cast of Armando at iO Chicago. He also created one of the first two-person improv shows, “Naked” co-starring Stephanie Weir.

From teams to a duo and finally to solo performance, Jimmy’s performing career evolved. He wrote and performed his own one-man shows, such as the hit “I Am 27, I Still Live at Home and Sell Office Supplies” and “Living in Dwarf’s House.” Jimmy’s improv took him into interviewing on public radio in Chicago, where he was the host of Studio 312 and talked to everyone from Conan O’Brian to Cindy Crawford. He co-wrote Improvising Better: A Guide for the Working Improviser with Liz Allen and is the author of Improv Therapy. He is also the host of the podcast Improv Nerd on FeralAudio. Jimmy teaches his award-winning Art of Slow Comedy classes and workshops in Chicago and across the country. As a corporate trainer, Jimmy has worked with Fortune 500 companies, salespeople and advertising agencies to bring the art of improv to the workplace. Rounding out his performance résumé are film and TV credits in such productions as Public Enemies, The Playboy Club, Natural Born Killers, The Untouchables, ER, Early Edition and a (metric) ton of independent films.

He lives in Evanston, Illinois with his wife, Lauren, and their cat, Coco, whom they call Moosh Moosh for no apparent reason. When he’s not teaching or traveling to teach or traveling to the airport so he can travel to teach, Jimmy loves sports movies because they make him cry. If you ever catch him stomping his left foot, he’s not killing a spider. That’s how he laughs. For relaxation, he likes to go to grocery stores or talk on the phone with his older brother, Bobby, about grocery stores.

It's Tuesday and... Caitlin Steitzer is our guest!

Caitlin Steitzer is originally from Seattle, WA and brings over a decade of improv experience to the Magnet Theater. She has been fortunate enough to perform all over New York, as well as in exotic towns like Detroit, Phoenix, Rochester, Seattle, and Prague, Czech Republic. She feels incredibly lucky to have studied with such amazing people as (in alphabetical order by last name) Rick Andrews, Russ Armstrong, Armando Diaz, Megan Gray, Ed Herbstman, Louis Kornfeld, Alex Marino, Peter McNerney, Lennon Parham, David Razowsky, Ari Voukydis, and Zach Woods.

When not performing at the Magnet she is shaping bright young minds as a social worker for an after school arts program in Sunset Park.

She loves improv, meaningful conversations with friends, riding bikes, dancing to Ke$ha songs, thinking about social work, and reading magazine articles, but improv most of all.

It's Tuesday and... Will Hines is our guest!

Will Hines is an actor, writer and director in Los Angeles. He performs and teaches at the UCB Theatre, where he started in NYC in 1999. You’ve seen him on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Community, Brooklyn 99, Broad City, Inside Amy Schumer. He’s been in a bunch of videos for College Humor, FunnyOrDie and UCBComedy.

It's Tuesday and... Adal Rifai is our guest!

Adal Rifai has been performing improv in Chicago since 2007. You can see Adal at iO with the house team Revolver, in the weekly show Whirled News Tonight (iO) and around the U.S. with Pudding-Thank-You and El Guapo . Past iO credits include Swim Buddies, Our Feature Presentation: The Improvised Movie, Radical Concept and Hunter Family Crest. He has performed at Second City as a member of Twisty, HouseCo. and SketchCo. Along with performing Adal also coaches and teaches at iO and around Chicago, runs the coaching program at iO, directed the Incubator and coaching program at the Playground Theater and has taught and performed improv all over the

U.S. Adal is the voice of Chunt the shapeshifter/badger on the improvised podcast 'Hello From the Magic tavern’.

It's Tuesday and... Asaf Ronen is our guest!

Asaf Ronen is the author of Directing Improv: Show the Way By Getting Out of the Way and has taught improvisation in Canada, Great Britain, Norway and over half of The United States.

Asaf was a producer on TRUST US, THIS IS ALL MADE UP, a documentary on legendary improvisers TJ & Dave that premiered at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival in 2009 and helped develop the improvised film Days of Delusion with director Scott Myers.

His performance work has included ComedySportz, TheatreSports, touring with Imp. (a silent improv duo) and Confidence Men (improvised Mamet plays) and more. He has taught throughout NYC’s public school system as a resident artist through LEAP and New Horizons and as part of Weist-Barron’s ACTeen. In 2000, Asaf worked with Cirque du Soleil as a scout for improvisational talent.

He currently resides in Austin where he is the Education Director of The Institution Theater and Education Director for the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival.

It's Tuesday and... Stacey Hallal is our guest!

Stacey has been performing, teaching, and directing improv and sketch comedy in Portland and Chicago over the past ten years and has appeared and taught at over 25 comedy festivals across the United States and Canada. While in Chicago, Stacey complete the iO Chicago, Annoyance, and Second City training centers. She went on to complete the prestigious Directing Program at Second City where she also taught improv and writing to adults and kids as a member of the Second City Training Faculty. Stacey assistant directed the smash hit Second City mainstage production, Between Barack and A Hard Place. In Portland, Stacey was a member of the critically acclaimed comedy duo All Jane No Dick and debuted her one- woman show, The Humperdink Family Reunion, to rave reviews. Stacey uses improv to help corporations better understand and tell their brand stories with Character, LLC, a Portland- based company she helped start up in 2001.

It's Tuesday and... Kevin Mullaney is our guest!

Kevin is the founder of the Improv Resource Center, a company dedicated to the art of improvisational theater and improv comedy. Kevin is the head teacher of the IRC and often travels around the country teaching workshops.

Kevin has taught improvisation for 20 years starting at iO Theater in Chicago, later at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre in New York and more recently Under the Gun Theater in Chicago. He is the host of the Improv Resource Center Podcast and the webmaster of the Improv Resource Center. Among the shows he directed recently were: Based On a True Story, Trending, Haunted, This Film is Not Yet Made, Vampyre Hunter High, Dear James Franco, Space Warps and A Swarm of Spoilers. He also created two tournaments in recent years: The Improv Classic and The Tournament of Shows.

He is the former Artistic Director of the Chicago Improv Festival and of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York, where he also served as the chief administrator of their training program. He directed numerous improv shows for the UCB Theater including “Tracers”, “Retraced”, “Individually Wrapped”, and “The Swarm in Slow Waltz Around Rage Mountain”. He is the creator of Cage-Match and the Annual 3 on 3 Tournament at UCB. He recently won the 2015 INNY award from Improvisation News for the best “Best Improv Comedy Instructor/Coach”.

Kevin lives in Chicago and teaches through the Improv Resource Center. He plays poker and likes dogs.

It's Tuesday and... Susan Messing is our guest!

Susan Messing, a NJ native and graduate of Northwestern University’s Theatre School, has been an improviser and comedian for almost thirty years. She is an alumna of the iO Theatre, Second City’s Mainstage, and a founding member of Chicago’s infamous Annoyance Theatre. Susan created and has taught her curriculum at iO and iO West, The Annoyance Theatre, The Second City, and around the globe. Susan is an adjunct instructor for DePaul University, The University of Chicago, and The School at Steppenwolf. Her standup act with her puppet, Jolly, was featured at the HBO/US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, and on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and NBC’s Late Fridays. Her most impressive bit movie role was as a bad stripper in a halo brace in Let’s Go to Prison! Every Tuesday night she performs at the iO with Blaine Swen in Blessing, Thursday nights in her own critically acclaimed show, Messing with a Friend, now in its 11 th year at The Annoyance, and Friday nights with The Boys at The Second City. She was in the lineup for the TBS/Just For Laughs festival all five years of its residence in Chicago. She presented ‘Braving the Unknown’ at TedXUofC in 2014.

It's Tuesday and.... Karen Graci is our guest!

Karen Graci is a proud native of Buffalo, NY, Karen performed for Chicago’s The Second City for more than three years. While touring the US and abroad with The Second City National Touring Company, Karen was grateful to perform in The Second City’s first-ever USO Tour, entertaining American troops in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. She was also a resident cast member in The Best of Second City at The Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas for over a year.

It's Tuesday and... Amey Goerlich is our guest!

Currently a Teacher & Performer at M.I. Westside Comedy in Santa Monica, CA

Recently taught at San Diego Improv Festival, Voodoo Comedy in Denver CO and will be teaching at The Torch Theatre in Phoenix AZ and at Improv Utopia West in May 2017. She is also the co-creator of Humans Being card game (an improv card game). Humansbeingcardgame.com

UCB New York Performer 2001-2016: Krompf, Indie Cage Match (Host & Producer), Best Cupcakes in the World, Upton Abbey, Wicked Fuckin' Queeah, Spoiled Space Monkeys, Fart Police

Past Shows: Film Noir Improv, Sunnyside Up Players, UCBW, The Ol' Factory: Krompf sketch show, FILTH (UCB harold team), Your Favorite Thing, The Documentary, After School Super Power Hour and other stuff and things.

Amey has directed and or coached over 300+ improvisation groups/sketch teams and off broadway productions. UCB Maude Teams:( MIX TAPE 98', THE SKUNTZ, 27 KIDNEYS), Killgore The Musical (asst. director/art director), The Documentary UCB class (co-teacher w/ Billy Merrit) TV: Raising McCain, Giving You The Business (Food Network), HP Total Care, Sundance Channel, PBS create channel, The Girl in the Show (Documentary coming 2016). Has taught

Film/TVProduction/Theatre/Animation/Improvisation at Elementary Schools around NYC from 2001-2015.

Was the Artistic Director of E-MPROV.COM & Currently runs Improvtraininghub.com