The Improv Teachers

It's Tuesday and... Max McCal is our guest!

Max McCal has been teaching in San Francisco since 2009, and improvising since 2007. As a founding member of Endgames Improv, he has been teaching classes, and coaching teams ever since. Max is a director of the company, and the primary architect of Endgames' curriculum. He has studied with iO Chicago, UCB NY, and Annoyance theater.

You can find Max online at www.twitter.com/radarcowboy

It's Tuesday and... Rob Alesiani is our guest!

Rob Alesaini began improvising in 2006 taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York. Soon after, he choose he chose to become a corporate cog for a while. Fear not, though, because upon throwing off the shackles of corporate life, he returned to the improv world in 2013 when he moved back to his home, Philadelphia. He's been improvising like his life depended upon it since. He was a member of Philly Improv Theater house team Outside Voices for 2 and a half years. He is one of the hosts of popular live late night talk show Two Late with Rob and Joe, along with his best friend and fellow comedian Joe Tuzzi. He is currently a writer and performer on The Worst Generation, PHIT's very first digital sketch house team. He has been coaching independent improv teams since the Spring of 2014, and was recently added as a faculty member of Philly Improv Theaters Training Center. He has completed both the Summer and Advanced Intensive Training Programs at iO Theater in Chicago. He currently works as a corporate communications consultant for The Delaware River Port Authority, where he uses the tennants of long-form improvisation to help their management team improve internal communication practices. He has a cat who is constantly plotting against him. He is too verbose.

It's Tuesday and... Dylan Rohde is this week's guest!

Dylan is the founder and co-owner of The Backline in Omaha, NE. He is also the producer of The Omaha Improv Festival. He has studied at UCB and iOWest. You can find Dylan and The Backline at www.backlinecomedy.com.

It's Tuesday and Nick Armstrong is our guest!

Nick is an Actor, Improvisor and Writer living in Los Angeles, CA. On TV Nick has been on the Emmy-Award winning shows The Office and Grey's Anatomy. He has also made appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, New Girl, Hot in Cleveland, Stan Against Evil and Parks and Recreation.

Nick has trained at The Groundlings and iO West. He is an alum of The Sunday Company at the Groundlings and currently performs at the world-famous iO West on LA's Critically Acclaimed Harold Team King Ten.

Nick is currently the Artistic Director of Mi's Westside Comedy Theater and teaches and performs there. He has also taught improv at iO West, The Groundlings, NOW Improv and has done workshops all over the world.

Nick is also the Camp Director and Founder of Camp Improv Utopia a a 501(c) (3) Non Profit improv retreat for grown ups. He is also one of the founding members of the The Improv Network.

For more information visit www.improvutopia.com or www.theimprovnetwork.org

It's Tuesday and... we welcome Pam Victor!

Pam Victor is an improv comedian, author, teacher, consultant, and nice person. She is the founder and Head of Happiness of Happier Valley Comedy, the epicenter of improv in Western Mass, where Pam teaches The Zen of Improv to the best students in the world as well as bringing the power of improvisation to the workplace in her "Through Laughter" program. TJ Jagodowski, David Pasquesi, and Pam are the co-authors of "Improvisation at the Speed of Life: The TJ and Dave Book." She lives online at www.pamvictor.com.

To find Pam online visit: https://www.facebook.com/happiervalley/ https://www.facebook.com/pamelacvictor/

www.happiervalley.com

www.pamvictor.com

Brian James O’Connell is a working actor, writer, director, filmmaker and teacher in Los Angeles. He currently teaches as part of the Core Faculty at The Pack Theater and at iOWest.

Brian is the Creator and Executive Producer of Big Yellow Taxi, the Executive Producer and Founder of Long Hard Tuesdays, the Executive Producer and Founder of The Lady Invitational and Executive Producer of Genre Night! at The Pack Theater.

Brian is a graduate of the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts (David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Jody Hill, Anthony Mackie, Peter Hedges, Mary-Louise Parker, Dane DeHaan, Terrence Mann, Chris Parnell, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Jeff Nichols) and moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to follow his dreams of a career in filmmaking.

BOC (as his friends call him) is part of the comedy collective Dr. God, who recently completed their first feature film project BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS, starring Fran Kranz, Pedro Pascal, Joey Kern, Joel Murray, and Emma Fitzpatrick, which O’Connell directed (his third feature as a director) as well as co-writing the script with Dr. God. The film was the Opening Night Premiere at Slamdance in 2015 and is available now on DVD and On-Demand after it’s theatrical run.

A regular performer, coach and teacher in Los Angeles, Brian derives most of his approach to improv from The Deconstruction, the form created by iO’s legendary team, The Family (Miles Stroth, Neil Flynn, Ian Roberts, Matt Besser, Adam McKay, Ali Faranahkian.). With his internationally touring improv duo Billyhawk and iOWest’s legendary improv group Dr. God, Brian has performed and taught in festivals in Denver, Phoenix, Toronto, Philadelphia, Austin, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chapel Hill, NC.

Well-respected as one of Los Angeles’ premier improvisers, Brian is famous for his encyclopedic knowledge of minutiae and his insane recall ability and memory. BOC also serves as the Director of Camp Outreach and is a board member for the non-profit Camp Improv Utopia, the premiere improv, acting and training retreat in the country.

Check out www.facebook.com/Improv1to1/ for Brian’s signature 1-on-1 improv coaching.

It's Tuesday and... Rachel Ben Hamou is our guest!

Rachel is a British improviser, trainer, facilitator and agile enthusiast. She has a blast using applied improv techniques to super-charge organizations like Riot Games who want to harness the deep and enduring value of play. She loves to tweet & blog about creativity, collaboration, improv principles and emotional intelligence.

https://twitter.com/agileimprov

https://www.facebook.com/Agileimprov/

https://medium.com/all-things-improv

www.agileimprov.com

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

Missy Whitis is a two-time cancer survivor, a high school/middle school drama and choir Director for over 15 years. She has studied improv at SAK Comedy Lab in Orlando, FL and with Paul Sills (co-founder/director of Second City). She teaches at University of Cincinnati, and directs theater around the Cincinnati area. For a decade now, she has been traveling the country teaching improv, leadership, and communication. Continuing clients include GE Aviation, Hershey, P&G, Educational Theatre Association, just to name a few. She is a current Board Member of Applied Improv Network. She is also the founder and director/coach of several improv troupes, including "The Middle Child" - together for over eight years, and based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

To find Missy online visit:

Personal FB: Missy Whitis

Improv Troupe FB: https://www.facebook.com/themiddlechildimprov/

Improv Twitter: @TheMiddleChild4

Personal Twitter: @HotShotPR

Jill Bernard has been performing with ComedySportz-Twin Cities since 1993, and is a founding member of HUGE Theater in Uptown Minneapolis. She is the author of Jill Bernard's Small Cute Book of Improv. She has taught and performed improv in Norway, Australia, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Argentina, Bulgaria, Romania, Colombia, Peru, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany and over thirty-five of the United States; and also on an episode of MTV “Made.

You can find Jill online at:

https://twitter.com/jillybee72

jillbernard.com

https://www.facebook.com/Jill-Bernard-37589556767/