Inventing Improv: A Chicago Stories Special Documentary

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 named Viola Spolin who wasn’t out for laughs.
Find out more about Viola Spolin and today's Chicago improvisers at www.wttw.com/improv
00:00 ➤ Preview
01:51 ➤ Intro
04:48 ➤ Viola Spolin's Early Life
07:28 ➤ Jane Addams' Hull House
10:40 ➤ The "Educational Playroom"
12:49 ➤ Viola's Theater Games
18:40 ➤ Young Actors Company
20:15 ➤ Paul Sills' Theater Workshops
23:41 ➤ Playwrights Theatre Club
26:23 ➤ The Compass Theatre
33:49 ➤ Birth of The Second City
46:26 ➤ Viola Publishes Her Theater Games
#ImprovWTTW

[@TeddiFish]

I've taken so many classes and workshops, but was today years old when I learned about #ViolaSpolin.
Thanks for filling a gap I didn't know I had! ❤

[@dajonzboy]

This is the Spolin doc I have been waiting for!

[@rothloaf1980]

I never knew the *wayback* story of Second City. The Hull House connection is a beautiful history. Out of the fetid stockyards comes this artform... just Wow. Thanks.

[@tylerbarker8877]

What a line! “The cast lived off of coffee and cigarettes, and the rush they felt from the audience”!!

[@nickmajora]

Great doco.

[@luckystoller6171]

We owe so much to Chicago improv and especially to Viola Spolin. The talent of its performers and the spontenaety of the performances made our movies and television material so relatable and touched our hearts when we most needed the comfort and healing of laughter. We still do and its legacy lives on in today's performers, writers and directors. Thank you so much for posting this!

[@Justen]

I loved this. Thank you! ✨

[@tylerbarker8877]

42:39 is actually really clever!! It made me laugh!! That was smart!

[@tundrawomansays694]

This is so fascinating! What a wonderful documentary and thank you for making it available to us. I grew up in the metro Manhattan area and spent a summer in Chicago with my cousins. They and the Chicago people were so welcoming, I cried when the summer ended and I had to get on that plane and go back to NY. I love Chicago and the the people of this great city! Thank you from the one time little *girl who lost her heart to the place and the people.* (And 50 + years later, it’s still there!) Only in Chicago could a place called Second City be born and thrive.

[@ItsMikeSandovalsYouTubeChannel]

its really a shame there is no market for improv comedy. one has to move on to something else to make a living. Zip Zop Zap !!

[@donaldkingsbury5614]

amziliant

[@weiweileung9531]

That's the improv class Michael Scott went to.

[@guilhermefranco2383]

I think they have to do her biography in holywoood,by Helena bonhamCarter who really looks like her

[@luckystoller6171]

What a great idea!

[@CoconutJustice]

❤

[@benmpreg2221]

40:00 too real

[@badad0166]

10:09 For you A/V geeks out there, this footage is super early "Pro-Sumer" videotape. Schools and Churches and Super Geeks only. Reel to Reel. Really.