Improv Interviews

Join me and meet my friend, Patrick McCartney, as we talk about the many related gifts of studying and teaching improv. Patrick McCartney is an actor, improviser and teacher who has studied with and taught some of the most respected names in the entertainment industry. His improv journey began in Chicago in the late 1990s where he studied with the legendary Del Close and Mick Napier. He spent two years in Chicago’s Second City Touring Company Blue Co where he toured the country with Ali Farahnakian, Amy Poehler, and Tina Fey. Currently, Patrick teaches all advanced levels of improv, as well as Acting for Scripted Comedy at the People's Improv Theater in NYC. Some of Patrick's former students include Eric Stonestreet, Julie Klausner, and Ed Helms.  Click here to read more: https://margotescott.com/podcast/patrick-mccartney/

Join me and meet my friend Deana Criess, as we talk about the magic of musical improv and her work using improvisation games and techniques with her students at the Perkins School for the Blind. Deana is a professional improviser, master instructor, director, writer, and performer with a specialization in applied improvisation. Deana’s work has been featured on PBS, NPR, KBS (the Korean Broadcasting System), The Boston Globe, CNN, and Slate.com. Her original musical comedy, Lube had a sold-out premiere run in Boston

Meet Clay Drinko who is an educator, an improvisor, and the author of Theatrical Improvisation, Consciousness, and Cognition. He earned his Ph.D. in drama and theatre studies from Tufts University and a Master of Science in education and a Master of Arts in performance studies. Clay started improvising over two decades ago and experienced firsthand the powerful effects of finding flow onstage. This started a lifelong journey to understand how improv affects the brain and how to harness this understanding to improve our everyday lives.

Join me and meet Izzy Gesell, an organizational alchemist who helps individuals and organizations transform their thinking from commonplace to extraordinary. He is skilled at delivering meaningful material in a way that makes participants enjoy their time with him. Izzy is also the author of Playing Along: Group Learning Activities Borrowed From Improvisation Theater, a co-author of Humor Me: America’s Funniest Humorists on the Power of Laughter, and a contributor of a chapter on Improvisation as a facilitation tool in the IAF Group Facilitators Handbook. His latest project is a deck of cards with improv games on them. Learn more at izzyg.org.

Join me and meet Dr. Kristin Krueger who is an internationally known Research Scientist at Rush University Medical Center and a Chicago based neuropsychologist who wrote the first evidence-based research paper on the effectiveness of Improv for Anxiety. The results of the study conducted by Krueger along with two Illinois Tech research collaborators were published in the paper “Thera-Prov: A Pilot Study of Improv Used to Treat Anxiety and Depression” in the Journal of Mental Health (July 2017). Kristin took her first class in improvisational theater at the famed The Second City Theater and Training Center in Chicago in 2006 for fun, but she soon realized that improvisational theatre techniques could prove useful in her practice. She is currently working on a second study that seeks to categorize improv exercises based on cognitive activities. Her method involves inviting clinical neuropsychologists or trainees and having them participate in games, such as “Wind and Rewind,” which sharpens memory. Kristin is also a member of The Therapy Players, an ensemble of mental health professionals from the Chicago area who are also trained improvisers.

Join me today to meet Jay Sukow, who has been performing scripted and improvised work professionally for over 20 years. Jay has trained with improv legends that include Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Jon Favreau, David Razowsky, Keith Johnstone, Dick Schaal, Del Close and Mick Napier. Jay is a faculty member of The Second City and has performed regularly as part of their “Those Who Can’t” Faculty Jam. He taught and coached teams at iO Chicago, where he was also head of its artistic committee, ComedySportz Chicago, Club Med International, Illinois State University, the New Orleans Improv Festival, the Phoenix Long Form Improv Festival, the C-U Improv Festival, and The Chicago Improv Festival, among others. Jay teaches improv to people from every walk of life, from beginning students to executives at Fortune 100 companies. He was an ensemble member of ComedySportz Chicago and several teams at iO Chicago and has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Del Close Marathon, the C/U Improv Festival and the New Orleans Improv Festival. Jay has been a guest performer at Boom Chicago, the Second City, the Second City ETC, the Second City Northwest and Messing with a Friend. Jay has written, produced and been a cast member of the narrative features “American Legacy” and directed “Trubadeuax: A Restaurant Movie,” both of which feature improvised dialogue within a scripted storyline.

Join me and meet Robert Cochrane, an award-winning filmmaker, with numerous narrative and documentary features to his credit. His touching relationship with his father who has Parkinson’s was the inspiration for Robert’s Parkinson’s-themed documentary series, Boys of Summer. He is a Ph.D. student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) studying the effect of improvisation on Parkinson’s Disease and Co-Owner of ComedySportz Las Vegas, which is part of an internationally-acclaimed improvisation league. You can check out some of his work as host and creator of the web series, Faces of Parkinson’s. Robert is part of the passionate team of Parkinson’s Place, whose goal is to refresh minds by connecting, empowering, and inspiring the Southern Nevada Parkinson’s community.

Dr. Dan Bacalzo - FGCU Drama Department by Margot Escott

Lisa Kays, LCSW studied improvisational theater prior to becoming a master's level social worker. She has been using improv as group therapy and to train therapists in this exciting art form.

Robert Lowe is lovingly referred to as The Godfather of Improv in Atlanta. During his thirty-nine-year engagement in Improvisation Robert has been a player, an Improv dancer, a teacher, a director, a producer, and a pioneer in the uses of Improvisation for purposes other than performance. He has taught Improvisation, and stand-up comedy, public speaking, and presentation, and community, and personal advocacy in a variety of venues. He has also been a management consultant, a public speaker, an adjunct professor at Georgia State University, a corporate vice president and a U. S. Navy officer.