Service Description

This workshop will help improvisers, that are early in their studies of Improvisation, to understand the differences in how their brains work when they are playing improv games vs when they are improvising scenes. We’ll cover how the harmony of the Engineer and Jazz Musician in your head can be vital in playing Scene, Longform, Narrative and “Game of The Scene”. There are psychological differences that happen when we play for comedy as the goal vs. when we play for comedy as a consequence of emotional and psychological connection. I’ve studied psychology and behavioral neuroscience for more than 30 years and I aim to help anyone who is in the first 10 years their improvisation journey to understand immediately what is going on in an improv show/scene/game, in ANY context, by the time they leave this workshop. I will help you gain confidence and feel more connected so you can just PLAY! Joe Bill is one of the founding members of Annoyance Theater Chicago - 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 24 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. He's touring his solo scripted show, written as he successfully took on and survived surgeries & chemo associated with 3 different cancers from late 2022 to early 2024, Joe Bill: Surviving Consciousness, (Lessons learned from Cancer, LSD & Michael Jordan) all over the U.S. and the world. In April 2024 he debuted it at the Auckland Improv Festival in Auckland, NZ. He has since preformed it at Festivals and Theaters across the USA and will record it at Curious Comedy Theater in Portland, OR in early 2025. 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 a Guest Artist in Residence at The Second City Training Center & Conservatory where he taught for 10 years.