October 7, 2021
Stories this photo appears in:
INVENTING IMPROV A CHICAGO STORIES Special Premiering
How a trailblazing woman sparked the improvisational theater movement and made Chicago the home of improv
Chicago’s greatest cultural export just might be improvised theater, which was born at Jane Addams’ Hull House during the Great Depression and carried out into the world by the likes of Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Stephen Colbert. But while to most people improv might seem synonymous with comedy, the art form was devised by a woman who wasn’t out for laughs. On Friday, October 22 at 8:00 pm on all WTTW platforms, WTTW brings you a new CHICAGO STORIES special, INVENTING IMPROV, that explores the life and legacy of Viola Spolin, the social-worker-turned-theater guru known as The Mother of Improv.