Modern theatrical improvisation began in Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s with the first theatre games of Viola Spolin, a children’s theatre director, and from there evolved quickly into an independent art form worthy of presentation before a paying audience.
Spolin developed improvisational games based on suggestions to entertain and educate immigrant children in Chicago. She believed that instead of telling the children how to act and what to say as in a scripted play, that by giving them suggestions and by letting them work things out on their own, they would be able to create more spontaneously. Spolin brought her technique to inner city neighborhood theaters and communities through the WPA.
The Development of Chicago Improv
The Compass Players
Paul Sills (Viola Spolin's son) joined with actors Del Close and David Shepherd at the University of Chicago during the 1950s and revolutionized the form with Shelley Berman, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Zohra Lampert and Sheldon Patinkin. Actors from this group formed the Compass Players, the earliest organized Improv troupe in Chicago.
The Compass Players formed in 1955 and their work was based on Spolin’s theater games and modified for a socially and politically relevant form of cabaret theater. The Compass Players combined sketch comedy developed from improvisation and live Improv into an easily accessible format that all audiences could enjoy. The popularity grew and others began to develop their own versions of the format. The pioneering comedy of the Compass Players eventually spawned The Second City.
Second City
The Second City opened in 1959 and began giving Improv lessons in 1960. It now has satellite theaters in Toronto, Las Vegas, Detroit, Cleveland and Los Angeles.
Second City alums have risen to the top of the entertainment industry and include such stars as: Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Jim & John Belushi, Peter Boyle, John Candy, Dan Castellaneta, Mary Gross, Robert Klein, Eugene Levy, Shelley Long, Tim Meadows, Colin Mochrie, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Bob Odenkirk, Catherine O'Hara, Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis, Joan Rivers, Martin Short, George Wendt and Fred Willard.
Second City uses Improv as the basis for developing its signature sketch comedies, which are developed and scripted by a group of actors. Second City shot to fame in 1975 with the premiere of the television sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. Several members of that show's original cast - John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner were Second City alumni who went on to further success in film and on television.
The Saturday Night Live/Second City connection remains strong today. Current Second City alum who have graduated to SNL include Ana Gasteyer and Horatio Sanz.
The Second City offers classes for anyone interested in learning to perform sketch comedy and Improv. The training center has several different levels, and each level focuses on different elements of comedic acting, writing, improvisation and staging. Upon graduation, students have the right to produce their own shows at the theatre.
The iO Theater and Del Close
Del Close, an original member of both The Second City and The Compass Players, founded ImprovOlympic (now iO Theater) with partner Charna Halpern in 1981 as a training center in improvised comedy for actors and lay people alike, as well as a performance venue for the training center’s students. iO Theatre specializes in the teaching of long-form Improv comedy and is the birthplace of the Harold, an Improv game which begins with an audience suggestion that the Improv players use to create a host of characters, situations and themes, woven together into a performance.
Some iO Theater alumni include Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mike Meyers, Andy Dick, Andy Richter, Rachel Dratch and Horatio Sanz.
The Annoyance Theatre
In 1989, the Annoyance Theatre opened on North Broadway in Chicago and debuted “Coed Prison Sluts” which ran for a record-breaking 11 years, the longest-running musical in Chicago. In 2000, the Annoyance Theatre, which had since relocated to Clark Street, closed.
In 2002, Mick Napier, founder of the Annoyance Theatre, and partner Jennifer Elstin reopened as Annoyance Productions in Lakeview, but now with a focus on producing web, video and television comedy content.
The Annoyance was well-known for producing shocking shows, including ones where buckets of fake blood are flung onto the stage.
Celebrating an International Contribution
Chicago Improv Festival
Each spring, Chicago hosts the annual Chicago Improv Festival . A juried and professional festival, it celebrates the world of improvisation in all its forms. The 2006 year festival highlighted ''Improv as Theater''. A special focus was Improv's role in the theatrical process, highlighting the art form's use as a writing tool, as a teaching medium and as a performance avenue.
International Exchange, National Growth and New Directions
Boom Chicago is an Improv exchange program that sends top Chicago improvisers to Amsterdam. They perform at the 300-seat Leidseplein Theater almost every night and also perform at theatres, festivals and corporate events.
ComedySportz is another Wrigleyville Improv theater where Improv comedians form teams which perform short pieces based on audience suggestions until a referee determines the winner. ComedySportz also offers a six-level training program for aspiring improvisers and has spread satellite locations widely across the country, becoming, perhaps, the first Improv chain or franchise.
The Playground Theater, founded in 1997, is the nation’s first and only improvisational not-for-profit co-op theater and training center where all the actors perform on a 100 percent volunteer basis. The theater offers children’s programs, fundraising benefit shows, classes and corporate performances.