1st Edition
Fifty Key Improv Performers Actors, Troupes, and Schools from Theatre, Film, and TV
Fifty Key Improv Performers highlights the history, development, and impact of improvisational theatre by highlighting not just key performers, but institutions, training centers, and movements to demonstrate the ways improv has shaped contemporary performance both onstage and onscreen.
The book features the luminaries of improv, like Viola Spolin, Keith Johnstone, and Mick Napier, while also featuring many of the less well-known figures in improvisation who have fundamentally changed the way we make and view comedy – people like Susan Messing, Jonathan Pitts, Robert Gravel, and Yvon Leduc. Due to improv’s highly collaborative nature, the book features many of the art form’s most important theatres and groups, such as The Second City, TJ & Dave, and Oui Be Negroes. While the book focuses on the development of improvisation in the United States, it features several entries about the development of improv around the globe.
Students of Improvisational Theatre, History of Comedy, and Performance Studies, as well as practitioner of comedy, will benefit from the wide expanse of performers, groups, and institutions throughout the book.
Part 1: Introduction 1. Forerunners Part 2: The Icons 2. Viola Spolin and Keith Johnstone 3. David Shepherd, Paul Sills, and Ted Flicker 4. Mike Nichols & Elaine May 5. Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal 6. Josephine Forsberg and Martin de Maat 7. Del Close and Charna Halpern 8. Mick Napier Part 3: The First Groups 9. The Compass Players 10. The Committee 11. The Second City 12. The Groundlings 13. The Brave New Workshop 14. The Loose Moose Theatre Company 15. The Match – Robert Gravel and Yvon Leduc 16. IO 17. Comedysportz 18. The Comedy Store Players 19. The Annoyance 20. The Upright Citizens Brigade Part 4: The Second Wave Luminaries 21. IO House Teams 22. TJ & Dave 23. Mark Sutton & Joe Bill 24. Susan Messing and Jonathan Pitts 25. Frances Callier, Shaun Landry & Oui Be Negros Part 5: Film & Television 26. SNL and Sctv 27. Whose Line Is It Anyway? 28. Nick Cannon and Wild ’n Out 29. Robert Altman, Judd Apatow, Paul Feig, and Adam McKay 30. Mick Leigh, Christopher Guest, Larry David, and Sacha Baron Cohen 31. Steve Carell and Steven Colbert 32. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey 33. Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key 34. Middleditch and Schwartz 35. Improv Nerd 36. Comedy Bang! Bang!, Hello from the Magic Tavern, and Improv4humans Part 6: The (Further) Expansion of Improv 37. Applied Improvisation 38. The Improv Ambassadors – Jason Chin, Patti Stiles, and Jill Bernard 39. The Improvised Shakespeare Company 40. Boom Chicago 41. Barbixas 42. 3PEAT, the Black Version, and Dark Side of the Room 43. Asian AF Part 7: The International Powerhouses 44. Europe 45. Latin America 46. Australia, Africa, and Asia Part 8: The Fourth Wave 47. The Pandemic & the Reckoning 48. The New Artistic & Executive Directors 49. The Fourth Wave Theatre 50. The Person You Cannot Believe I Didn’t Include
Biography
Matt Fotis is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Albright College, where he teaches improvisation, comedy studies, and writing for performance. He is the author of Satire & The State: Sketch Comedy and the Presidency (Routledge 2020), Long Form Improvisation and American Comedy: The Harold (Palgrave Macmillan 2014), and co-author of The Comedy Improv Handbook (Routledge 2016). He has published or presented on various topics, including improvisational theatre, new play development, political theatre, solo-performance, comedy studies, folklore studies, popular culture and more. His work has appeared in Theatre Journal, Theatre Topics, Theatre/Practice, The Journal of American Drama & Theatre, Academic Minute, The Encyclopedia of Humor Studies, The Encyclopedia of American Studies, McSweeney’s, and MLB.com, among others. He is an award-winning playwright and the co-founder and co-executive director of The First Thursday Comedy Series in Reading, PA.
