Improv Interviews

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.

Join me and meet Lacy Alana and learn about her innovative Yes and Brain work. The Yes And Brain framework is the creation of a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, circus artist, and improviser Lacy Alana. As Lacy spent time in the clinical, educational, corporate, and expressive arts worlds over the last decade, she recognized that she was having great success blending facets from each discipline into the others. When colleagues asked her to teach them tools to mimic her work, she developed the Yes And Brain framework to serve as a foundational framework for work in each setting. Over the years, The Yes And Brain Model is refined, with specialized sub-models and training pathways for many different populations. Lacy has a varied professional history, including working in the corporate world (with a business/advertising degree), running specialized circus and improv theatre programs for neurodivergent and at-risk youth, training educators/helping professionals/medical professionals, and working as a therapist. Lacy provides one-of-a-kind training that fuses Interpersonal Neurobiology, therapeutic frameworks, business communication, and pedagogy from improvisational theatre and the circus arts. Yes And Brain provides training worldwide. Lacy is based in Montreal, and the team home base includes Toronto, Montreal, Austin, Indiana, and Ottawa.

Meet Rob Snow who is the Creator and Director of The Improvaneer Method and Executive Director of Stand Up for Downs, he also performs his one-man show, We Need a Sign, nationally (www.weneedasign.net). Rob began his comedy career in the late 90s while training at the famed Second City Theatre in Chicago, performing at comedy clubs and colleges in the Midwest.  In 2009 Rob and his wife Ellen had their second son Henry who was born with Down Syndrome. In 2013, they created Stand Up for Downs, whose mission is to enhance the lives of those with Down syndrome through humor.

Michael J Gellman now resides in Ontario Canada and is Artistic Director of The Process Theatre. He teaches at Loyalist College as well as Master Workshops for Second City International and Artistic New Directions NYC. He is an alumnus of the Second City mainstage and was a resident director for Second City in Canada and the USA for 25 years. He was Artistic Director of the Second City Toronto where his shows were nominated for 7 Dora Mavor Moore Awards including twice for Outstanding Direction, nominated for Best Director for Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Award, and won a Chalmers Award for Best Director. He is a senior faculty and founding member of the Second City Training Center where he was a Program Head and also Director of the NY training Center. Michael was an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College Chicago teaching Acting For Directors in the Film Directing department and designed and taught Improvisation and Acting III for the Comedy Studies department. In addition to Second City and Columbia College he has taught and designed classes and workshops in directing, acting and improvisation since 1976 at such notable institutions as: Actors Centre London, The Audition Centre, Victory Gardens Training Centre, Act One Conservatory and Loyola Law School as well as master workshops for hundreds of Universities, festivals, theatre companies and improv groups around the world. He is credited with originating “Long Form” Improvisation and his book “Process: An Improvisers Journey” (Northwestern University Press) co-authored with Mary Scruggs is a summary of his workshops on improvisational training.

Lenny Ravich is an actor, author and leading expert in the field of humor and joy.

Today we speak with Lisa Bany and Angela Nino, trained Improv directors, performers and creative professionals who teach and facilitate the use of applied Improvisation in the improvement of mental health. Their organization is called Improv Therapy Group and I am proud to have recently been added to their advisory board. Lisa and Angela are not therapists, but they work with licensed therapists and group treatment facilities to bring Improv into the mental health environment. Lisa Bany is Improv Therapy Group’s, Chief Improv Officer. She is also an instructor, director, and coach at The Second City. She has authored numerous books, including On Stage: Theatre Games and Activities for Kids; Show Time: Music, Dance and Drama Activities for Kids; Funny Bones; and Family Fun Nights. She started teaching at The Second City in the early nineties has directed and taught throughout the Chicagoland area. A graduate of Columbia College, Lisa is a member of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. Angela Nino is a Certified Forensic Interviewer and the Chief Executive Officer for Empathic Workplace. She teaches seminars on workplace interviews, investigations, and difficult conversations. Angela is a graduate of The Second City improv training program. Learn more at https://empatheticworkplace.com/ https://improvtherapygroup.com/

The husband and wife team, Carla and Craig Cackowski are the creators of the two-person improv show “Orange Tuxedo” in Los Angeles, California. The perform “Close Quarters”, with a focus on creating grounded relationships formed by eccentric characters. If you like comedy, you may have seen Craig wear various mustaches and costume pieces on Comedy Central’s Drunk History. If you like drunken history, you may have seen Carla drink various beers on Instagram.