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Everyone Can Improvise

@everyone_can_improvise

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Improvisational theater workshops with Aretha Sills for individuals and organizations inspired by @violaspolin and @paulmsills

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“The heart of improvisation is transformation” -Viola Spolin

Playing Viola Spolin’s theater games at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum is special. Players told me they felt connected to a lineage of people working together to make lives better for each other. We also had a theme of people who came because they were feeling a sense of transformation in their lives. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend in Chicago—the weather, the place, and the group, who came from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to meet in the space and play theater games in their birthplace. Thank you to all the players and of course Viola Spolin, Neva Boyd, Paul Sills, and all the social reformers who met in the dining hall at Hull-House before us to make the world better for everyone (think Ida B. Wells, Eleanor Roosevelt, W.E.B. Dubois, Upton Sinclair, and many more). They did it once and we can do it again.

#violaspolin #theatergames #chicago@hullhousemuseum by @everyone_can_improvise

“The heart of improvisation is transformation” -Viola Spolin

Playing Viola Spolin’s theater games at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum is special. Players told me they felt connected to a lineage of people working together to make lives better for each other. We also had a theme of people who came because they were feeling a sense of transformation in their lives. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend in Chicago—the weather, the place, and the group, who came from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to meet in the space and play theater games in their birthplace. Thank you to all the players and of course Viola Spolin, Neva Boyd, Paul Sills, and all the social reformers who met in the dining hall at Hull-House before us to make the world better for everyone (think Ida B. Wells, Eleanor Roosevelt, W.E.B. Dubois, Upton Sinclair, and many more). They did it once and we can do it again.

#violaspolin #theatergames #chicago @hullhousemuseum @violaspolin by @everyone_can_improvise

Early-bird pricing now! Learn more at www violaspolin dot org slash workshops or link in bio

Photo courtesy of UIC archive #violaspolin #chicagoimprov #chicagotheatre by @everyone_can_improvise

Get early-bird pricing now!

Learn more at www violaspolin dot org slash workshops

#improv #theatre #violaspolin by @everyone_can_improvise

Get early-bird pricing now! More info at www violaspolin dot org slash workshops

#writer #improv #impro by @everyone_can_improvise

by @everyone_can_improvise

We took a quick breath after wrapping up the festival, but our 10th-anniversary celebrations are far from over! We’re jumping back into sharing reflections from the artists who have made these first 10 years so unforgettable. Today, we’re featuring writer and theater maker Aretha Sills, who joined us for DKAF 2025.

We're so grateful to Aretha and all the artists who make this community what it is.💫 by @everyone_can_improvise

Focus is meditation in action -Viola Spolin

#violaspolin #theatre #improv by @everyone_can_improvise

How much more certain would knowledge be if it came from and out of the excitement of learning itself? How many human values will be lost and how much will our art forms be deprived if we seek only success. -Viola Spolin

The ten-week online workshop with Aretha Sills is open to teachers in any field who’d like to explore Viola Spolin’s theater games with a group of fellow educators. We’ll play games like we would in an introductory course, but also make time to discuss questions that arise about presenting the exercises in our various classrooms.

Participants will be immersed in Spolin’s non-authoritarian teaching methods through experiential play and discussion. We will cover: the origins of improvisational theater in Progressive-era experiential educational philosophies including the innovative work of her teacher, sociologist Neva Boyd; Spolin’s non-authoritarian teaching methods; side-coaching technique; as well as workshop practices and procedures.

This is not a practicum, but a slowed-down introductory course with half an hour of each session dedicated to discussion. There will be recommended readings each week. Classes will be recorded for those who have to miss a session, but recordings will not be shared outside of our co-hort and won’t be saved after the class is over. Past groups have found the recordings extremely valuable. Signing up for this workshop means you give consent to be recorded and agree not to share recordings outside of our co-hort. Players are still expected to attend most sessions as this is an experiential method that depends on group trust and cohesion.

Live online classes will meet: Ten Wednesdays, Sept 9 - Nov 11, 2026, 7pm to 9:30pm Central Time. Mornings in Asia.

Link in bio or www dot violaspolin dot org

#theatre #improv #education by @everyone_can_improvise

Tomorrow, 8/22/2026, at 10 am, come to my ImprovCon Panel: Let’s Play: Viola Spolin and Improv in Education, with Aretha Amelia Sills (remote) and Dr. Katie Turner! More info: https://www.improvcon.com/event/letsplayviola by @everyone_can_improvise

What a week! The July Spolin intensive in Chicago was five days of pure play. We left exhausted but exhilarated. Truly a joy to work with the whole group of generous and fearless players!

Stay tuned for the dates for the summer 2027 five-day Viola Spolin intensive. Chicago was a blast. Where should I hold it next year?

Find workshops starting soon in linktree in bio or at
www.ViolaSpolin.org/workshops

#Violaspolin #theatre #improv by @everyone_can_improvise

Last week in Chicago I assisted Dan Castellaneta in a 5-day intensive workshop. On the last day, 14 incredible players improvised two plays before an audience using methods created by Deb Lacusta, Dan Castellaneta, and Michael Bernard. I side-coached the group in Viola Spolin’s warm up exercises each morning. What a joy to coach this amazing group of improvisers!

Back row: Mike Brunlieb, Michael Bernard, Erin Washington, Laurel Krabacher, Will Cleveland, Dee Ryan, Mike Jimerson, David Varney, Linda Orr
Front row: Thomas Kelly, Rick Hall, Dan Castellaneta, Zilu Wang, Cyndy Zahora, Shadee Vossoughi, Aretha Sills

#chicagoimprov #violaspolin #improvisation by @everyone_can_improvise