Aretha Sills's guest appearances

Aretha Sills

Improv Nerd With Jimmy Carrane

ImprovCast with Jay and Landon

Improv Comedy Connection

Improv Interviews

The Brady Bunch of Autism

Will Hines

Laura Hall

Jimmy Carrane

Jay Sukow

Rich Baker

Billy Merritt

Jonathan Pitts

Joe Bill

Paul Vaillancourt

Nick Johne

Patti Stiles

Jill Bernard

Marcus Sams

Dave Razowsky

Rachael Mason

OwlTail

Aretha Sills is a legendary improv teacher and writer. She is also the daughter of Paul Sills and the granddaughter of Viola Spolin. If you really want to get a sense of the origins of improv and what it was like to grow up in an improv family and the huge contribution that Viola made to improv, then you will want to listen to this episode.

Our penultimate episode of Season 3 is with Aretha Sills - the granddaughter of Viola Spolin - widely considered the mother of modern improvisational theater) an daughter of Paul Sills (founder and initial director The Second City in Chicago, as well as Story Theater).  Aretha studied for many years with her father and is an outstanding instructor in her own right, having worked with Tony- and Emmy-Award winning actors and having trained faculty from Northwestern, DePaul, Columbia College, The Second City, The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, LAUSD, CETA, and many other institutions and schools. Aretha is presently the Associate Director of Sills/Spolin Theater Works and directs The Predicament Players. In our conversation, we look at the whole of improv.  In re-considering the genesis and revolutionary utilization of theater games and the experiential learning approach of Viola Spolin against the backdrop of a variety of narratives about what improv is, it becomes apparent that not only are some unaware of the impact and importance of Viola Spolin, but that the Mother of Improv has been written out or ignored to our detriment. Hopefully we help right some of that wrong in this episode. Episode Webpage: wp.me/paJcZS-uE--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/improvcomedyconnection/message

Our penultimate episode of Season 3 is with Aretha Sills - the granddaughter of Viola Spolin - widely considered the mother of modern improvisational theater) an daughter of Paul Sills (founder and initial director The Second City in Chicago, as well as Story Theater).  Aretha studied for many years with her father and is an outstanding instructor in her own right, having worked with Tony- and Emmy-Award winning actors and having trained faculty from Northwestern, DePaul, Columbia College, The Second City, The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, LAUSD, CETA, and many other institutions and schools. Aretha is presently the Associate Director of Sills/Spolin Theater Works and directs The Predicament Players. In our conversation, we look at the whole of improv.  In re-considering the genesis and revolutionary utilization of theater games and the experiential learning approach of Viola Spolin against the backdrop of a variety of narratives about what improv is, it becomes apparent that not only are some unaware of the impact and importance of Viola Spolin, but that the Mother of Improv has been written out or ignored to our detriment. Hopefully we help right some of that wrong in this episode. Episode Webpage: <a href="https://wp.me/paJcZS-uE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">wp.me/paJcZS-uE</a>--- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/improvcomedyconnection/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/improvcomedyconnection/message</a>

Paul Sand

Live from the Westside Comedy Festival at the Westside Comedy Theater! Educator, writer, and improv thought leader Aretha Sills joins us to talk about her grandmother Viola Spolin and the importance of theater games. BUT WAIT...there's more. Tony award winning actor and original Second City cast member Paul Sand joins to talk about his incredible life in performance. Special thanks to Lauren Flynn in the booth for making this recording possible.    AUDIO NOTE: Paul's audio is quiet throughout so lean in. 

Live from the Westside Comedy Festival at the Westside Comedy Theater! Educator, writer, and improv thought leader Aretha Sills joins us to talk about her grandmother Viola Spolin and the importance of theater games. BUT WAIT...there's more. Tony award winning actor and original Second City cast member Paul Sand joins to talk about his incredible life in performance. Special thanks to Lauren Flynn in the booth for making this recording possible.  AUDIO NOTE: Paul's audio is quiet throughout so lean in.

Aretha Sills and Paul Sand LIVE

Aretha Sills is the granddaughter of Viola Spolin. She studied theater games for many years with her father, director Paul Sills (creator/director of The Second City and Story Theater), and has conducted workshops for Paul Sills’ Wisconsin Theater Game Center, Bard College, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Stockholm International School, Sarah Lawrence College, and Northwestern University. She has worked with Tony- and Emmy-Award winning actors and has trained faculty from Northwestern, DePaul, Columbia College, The Second City, The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, LAUSD, CETA, and many other institutions and schools. She is the Associate Director of Sills/Spolin Theater Works and she directs The Predicament Players.Learn more about Aretha Sills: Sills/Spolin Theater Works, Associate Directorwww.ViolaSpolin.org www.PaulSills.com www.facebook.com/sillsspolin www.instagram.com/sillsspolintheater/aretha.sills@violaspolin.orgSpolin Improvisation Sidecoach * Acting &amp; Writing Coach"My vision is a world of accessible intuition." -Viola Spolin

Aretha Sills is the granddaughter of Viola Spolin. She studied theater games for many years with her father, director Paul Sills (creator/director of The Second City and Story Theater), and has conducted workshops for Paul Sills’ Wisconsin Theater Game Center, Bard College, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Stockholm International School, Sarah Lawrence College, and Northwestern University. She has worked with Tony- and Emmy-Award winning actors and has trained faculty from Northwestern, DePaul, Columbia College, The Second City, The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, LAUSD, CETA, and many other institutions and schools. She is the Associate Director of Sills/Spolin Theater Works and she directs The Predicament Players. Learn more about Aretha Sills: Sills/Spolin Theater Works, Associate Director <a href="http://www.ViolaSpolin.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.ViolaSpolin.org</a> <a href="http://www.PaulSills.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.PaulSills.com</a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sillsspolin" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.facebook.com/sillsspolin</a> <a href="http://www.instagram.com/sillsspolintheater/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.instagram.com/sillsspolintheater/</a> aretha.sills@violaspolin.org Spolin Improvisation Sidecoach * Acting &amp; Writing Coach "My vision is a world of accessible intuition." -Viola Spolin