As an improv teacher, I have been greatly inspired by Viola Spolin, a woman that is often deemed “The grandmother of improvisation.” For new improvisors, and/or those who need some education on their lineage, here’s our history:
Viola Spolin (1906-1994) initially trained to be a settlement worker, similar to our modern day social worker- a person who works with underprivileged people. She studied with Neva Boyd at Group Work School in Chicago, and was highly influenced by Boyd’s teaching on the areas of group leadership, recreation, and working with traditional game structures to create changes in social behavior for inner city youth and immigrant children. She later formalized her concepts into “Theater Games” that focused on tapping into each individual’s creativity, and on the concept of play for unlocking creative self-expression.
Spolin believed that every person can learn to act and express themselves creatively. In the beginning of her book, Improvisation for the Theater she wrote:”Everyone can act. Everyone can improvise. Anyone who wishes to can play in the theater and learn to become ‘stage-worthy.’ We learn through experience and experiencing, and no one teaches anyone anything. This is as true for the infant moving from kicking and crawling to walking as it is for the scientist with his equations. If the environment permits it, anyone can learn whatever he chooses to learn; and if the individual permits it, the environment will teach him everything it has to teach. ‘Talent’ or ‘lack of talent’ have little to do with it.”
With her maternal wisdom, Viola Spolin not only birthed improvisation, she literally birthed Paul Sills, her son. Paul enrolled at The University of Chicago and established himself as a theatre director, and co-founded the Playwright’s Theater Club. In 1955, he and David Shepherd founded The Compass Players- deemed the first improvisational theater in the US. In 1959, Sills and friends (Bernie Sahlins and Howard Alk) opened The Second City in Chicago. Revues were developed improvisationally under Sills’ direction. Bernie Sahlins later opened the Second City in Toronto in 1973 and was also one of the creators and producers of SCTV. Del Close and Charna Halpern, the next wave of great improvisation teachers in Chicago can be traced back to their early training at Second City.
And now let’s give a nod to another great mother of improvisation, Charna Halpern. After the death of her business partner and friend, Del Close, Ms. Halpern of Improv Olympic has been creating a nurturing space for comedy artists to play, learn, and grow. Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Adam McKay, Chris Farley, Mike Myers are just a few of the stars who played under Del Close and Charna Halpern’s artistic haven of Improv Olympic.
For me, I want to give thanks to my first improv teacher, Heather Roberts Parady. Heather created a safe loving environment for Theater Strike Force members at University of Florida. As students of improv during our young adulthood years, she helped nurture and support a vast array of creative ideas and endeavors. She always responded to each one of us with a BIG LOVING “YES!”
To really truly learn improv, one has to get comfortable and “turned on” by his/her own creative choices. For the vulnerable infant, the loving gaze of the mother is what helps develop this self confidence and assurance to brave the scary new world alone. We need that big loving “YES” internalized in order to improvise confidently. Viola Spolin provided us the structure and guidance of Theater Games to find our unique creative expression. Like a good mother, she gave us guidance, and told us we were free to express who we are within the confines of “the game.”
I have been deeply emotionally effected by the political climate of the world and “The War on Women” that persists throughout the globe. It is crucial, now more then ever, for us all to remember our beginnings, our very conception, was due to the fact that a woman nurtured our vulnerable beings into life. Please don’t ever forget- like all things on this planet- Improv also- was born from a woman.
In the spirit of giving thanks to the origins of brain children, I’d like to give thanks to important people as my inspiration for this blog post. 1) Diana Hart- an improv student from my Spirit of Play class. In 1990, Diana co-founded a non-profit called Born Of Woman. They addressed the issue of violence against women as a root cause of war, and formed at the time of the Persian Gulf War. 2) Viola Spolin- often referred to as “The Grandmother of Improvisation”