Live class sessions will start at 3pm CST, and all classes will be available afterward in the video library. (The videos will not include breakout rooms.)

December 14, 21, 28 – JOE BILL

Joe Bill is widely regarded as one of the best teachers of Improvised Storytelling and
Scenic, Longform & Duo Improvisation in North America today. He is one of the
founding members of Annoyance Theatre Chicago where, for 12 years, he performed
in and/or directed more than 60 different shows. Joe is ½ of the first touring Improv Duo
in North America, BASSPROV, created in 2000 with Mark Sutton. They are still
performing at Festivals and theater engagements globally 25 years later. Since then
Joe’s been touring all over the world teaching, directing, and improvising with several
other amazing Duo Partners like Patti Stiles (Our Play), Jill Bernard (SCRAM!),
Stacey Hallal (Stacey & Joe, We Slept Together) Lee White (Paradigm), Heather
Urquart (Blues Hammer), Felipe Ortiz (Les Disciplinos) and David Razowsky
(Razowsky & Bill), ALL in different, original formats and styles.
Over the last year, Joe has been touring his solo show, Surviving Consciousness:
Lessons learned from Cancer, LSD & Michael Jordan, both in the USA & abroad. He
is the creator and host of Story Chain, a virtual (and now sometimes live!), 90-minute,
international story sharing event that he developed in 2020 during the Pandemic. He
was the Director of Corporate Training at iO Chicago for 15 years and started
training and performing there in 1985. He was a Guest Artist in Residence at The
Second City Training Center & Conservatory where he taught intensives in Duo
Improvisation and Improvisation for Actors for 10 years.

Joe has taught and performed on every continent on earth, except for Antarctica which
remains on his bucket list.

LINKS: JOE BILL TEACHES – FB || JOE BILL WEBSITE

Jay Sukow has been performing with and without a script for the past 33 years. He has trained with some pretty amazing teachers include Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Mick Napier, Jon Favreau (the director and actor, not the speechwriter), David Razowsky, Keith Johnstone, Del Close, and Jeff Michalski. He is a graduate of training centers of The Second City, The Second City NW, iO Chicago, and ComedySportz Chicago. 

He is the founder of Today Improv and has extensive experience helping businesses drive behavior change through improvisational philosophies and exercises. His students include everyone from beginners to the most experienced performers. 

Jay was the Artistic Director/Head of Training at the Improv Comedy Copenhagen Theatre and has previously taught for Second City Chicago, Second City Hollywood, Westside Comedy Theater, iO Chicago (where he was also head of its artistic committee), iO West, and ComedySportz Chicago. 

Jay has taught at many improv festivals around the world, including the Oslo Impro Festival, the Copenhagen International Improv Festival, the Barcelona Improv Festival, and the Chicago Improv Festival. He is the winner of The Golden Pineapple, awarded to the best visiting teacher at Improv Comedy Copenhagen. 

He has been a guest performer at many theaters, including Boom Chicago, the Second City, the Second City ETC, and the Second City Northwest. He was featured in the improv documentary “Whether the Weather” and was a guest on the improv podcasts “Improv Nerd”, “ADD Comedy”, “The Improv Teachers”, “Improv Yak,” “Improv Tips with Paul Vaillancourt”, and more. 

Jay lives in LA with his wife, kids, and cat, and they all love Beastie Boys, just some of them don’t know it yet. 

LINKS: JAY SUKOW

October 12, 19, 26 – JOHN HARTMAN

John Hartman is an actor and writer currently living in Los Angeles, and he can currently be seen on the CBS show Ghosts. Most recently he appeared in recurring roles on Young Sheldon (CBS), The Good Place (NBC), Trial & Error (NBC), and Scorpion (CBS). Other TV credits include 2 Broke Girls (CBS), Disjointed (Netflix), Modern Family (ABC), and Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO). Before that, he was a member of The Second City Mainstage in Chicago. There he wrote and performed in two revues, Panic on Cloud 9, for which he was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actor, and Depraved New World, for which he won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actor. He has written and performed two solo shows at The Annoyance Theatre, Your Friends and Enemies and I’m Sorry I Missed You, both of which received Time Out Chicago Critic’s Picks. He has also performed solo shows at the TBS Just for Laughs Festival, UCB Theater in New York and the Comedy Central Stage in Los Angeles. He performs improv in Los Angeles with the musical improv powerhouse Baby Wants Candy.

September 14, 21, 28 – ANDEL SUDIK

Anděl Sudik is a director, improviser, actor, and writer based in Los Angeles and Chicago, known for her explosive energy onstage and in the classroom. A faculty member at The Second City and iO, she teaches sketch writing and improvisation, including summer intensives and remote courses. An alum of Boom Chicago (Amsterdam), The Second City Touring Company, and the ETC stage, she has directed sketch, improv, and solo shows at The Public House, iO, Annoyance, Lyric Hyperion, Thymele Arts, Second City, and the Edinburgh Fringe. She’s traveled the world teaching and performing — and, these days, does the same (sometimes over Zoom). She does not update her website enough.  YesAndel.com.

August 17, 24, 31 – SUSAN MESSING

Susan Messing is a NJ native and graduate of Northwestern University’s Theatre School, has been an improviser and comedian for over 39 years. She is an alumna of the io Theatre, Chicago’s Second City MainStage, and a founding member of Chicago’s infamous Annoyance Theatre. Susan has created and taught her curriculum at io/iO West, The Annoyance, The Second City, and around the globe. Susan has been an adjunct instructor for Loyola University, DePaul University’s Theatre School, The School at Steppenwolf, and currently teaches for The University of Chicago. Her standup act with her puppet, Jolly, was featured at the HBO/US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, and on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and NBC’s Late Fridays. Her most impressive bit movie role was as a bad stripper in a halo brace in Let’s Go to Prison! She performed open runs at the iO with Blaine Swen in ‘Blessing,’ and with Norm Holly in ‘Molly,’ at The Annoyance in her critically acclaimed show, Messing With a Friend, and with The Boys at The Second City. Other credits include all five years of Just For Laughs in their Chicago residency and presenting ‘Braving The Unknown,’ a TedXTalk in 2014 at the University of Chicago. She often plays with her ride-or-die, Rachael Mason. She is currently touring with the brilliant John Lehr around the country and around the world, and continues to teach and perform where she is asked because otherwise it is rude and presumptuous.