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About CIF Productions Mission Statement The Chicago Improv Festival Production’s mission is to celebrate the present, honor the past, and showcase the future of improvisational theatre, in all of its multi-disciplinary expressions, through local, regional, national, and international prespectives; by presenting and producing performances and workshops for both the general public and practicing improvisational theatre artists. Chicago Improv Festival Productions is an Illinois not-for profit arts organization, with a 501(C)(3) granted from the IRS. CIF Productions' 2008 Statistics (12/23/08) In 2008, CIF Productions produced 124 performances, which were seen by 15,017 people. The populations served were 72% European-American, 21% African-American, and 7% Latino-American. In 2008, CIF Productions showcased over 500 improvisers in performance. The improvisers were professionals, semi-pros, college students, high school students and grammar school students. In 2008, CIF Productions taught 34 workshops and 621 students participated. The ages served were 6% grammar school students, 69% high school students, 4% college students, and 21% adult students. In 2008, CIF Productions presented 10 different original programs (All-State Improv Team; Chicago Improv Festival; CIF Preview; College Improv Tournament; Holiday Storybox; Ridge Park Summer Theatre Camp; Storybox; Storybox For Kids; Teen Comedy Fest; World Tales). Board of Directors President: Ron Waliczek
Members: Sinead Aylward, Megan Basten, Ashlee Busta, Karen Dorff, David Fink, Paul Fleishman, Jonathan Kurasch, Sherry Thomas, Jeff Velis Advisory Board Dan Abbate, Andrew Alexander, Kirsten Ames, Matt Barbara, Frances Callier, Dave Gaudet, Jason Geis, Charna Halpern, Tim Kazurinsky, Beth Kligerman, Kelly Leonard, Jen McLaughlin, Heather Meibach, Mick Napier, Sheldon Patinkin, Joyce Piven, Brian Posen, Josephine Raciti-Forsberg, Bernie Sahlins, Cheryl Sloane, Joyce Sloane, Claire Sutton Administration/Staff Executive Director - Jonathan Pitts*
(*Co-Founder of Chicago Improv Festival) Funders City Arts Grant
Partners Around The Coyote Arts Festival, Artropolis, Beverly Arts Center of Chicago, Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Library, Columbia College Chicago Television Department, ComedySportz Chicago, Illinois High School Theatre Fest, Improv Asylum, The Improv Playhouse, Lakeshore Theater, Links Hall, Loyola University, OSTN-TV, Piven Theatre, Resolution Digital Studios, RooftopComedy.com, The University of Chicago's Theatre Department; The Westside Eclectic Artistic Associates Jill Bernard, Joe Bill, Mark Chalfant, R. Kevin Doyle, Jet Eveleth, Deborah Frances-White, Jeff Griggs, Kerry Griffith, Naomi Ikegami, Wade Jackson, Nick Johne, Anthony King, Shaun Landry, Will Luera, Billy Merritt, Susan Messing, Sean Monahan, Andrew Moskos, Dan O'Connor, Jesse Parent, Dave Razowsky, Ed Reggi, Amy Roeder, Asaf Ronen, Todd Stashwick, Marianne Steinsrud, Zach Ward Lifetime Achievement Award Winners Dick Blasucci, Del Close, The Compass, Martin DeMaat, Don DePollo, Charna Halpern, Fred Kaz, Tim Kazurinsky, Mina Kolb, Laraine Newman, Sheldon Patinkin, Byrne Piven, Joyce Piven, Josephine Raciti-Forsberg, Bernie Sahlins, Avery Schreiber, David Shepherd, Paul Sills, Joyce Sloane, Viola Spolin, Eugene Troobnick, Fred Willard Staff Bios Jonathan Pitts, Executive Director
Jonathan Pitts is the Co-Founder of the Chicago Improv Festival, and this is his eleventh year working on CIF. He is also the Creator and Founder of the College Comedy Championship the Teen Comedy Fest and CIF's education outreach programs. For three years in a row he was selected by New City as one of Chicago’s "Top 50 Theatre Players". For seven years, he was the Theatre and Performance Arts Curator for the Around The Coyote arts festival and two years for their Winter Fest. For two years he was the Coordinator of the Bailiwick Directors Festival. While there he also Co-Founded and Co-Produced Bailiwick's Naked i Visual Arts Festival. For two years he was the Producer of Art Attack, a performing arts festival in Three Oaks, Michigan, and for two years he also was the Co-Producer of Three Oak’s Shakespeare in the Park. As a creator/director of spontaneous theatre, performance art, original productions, and sketch comedy, he has created/directed several shows including Storybox; Storybox's World Tales; Double Play; Viola Spolin: Visionary Woman of Play; The Xprovisation Series; The Silent Movie; The Oracle; Chimes; The Answer; Kidz Writes; Sybil's Playhouse; and for three years in New Mexico, Phantasmagoria Improvisational Theatre. For two years he was the Resident Improv Director at Chicago's Navy Pier. He is currently an Advisory Board member of Directors Lab Chicago. He's a former Artistic Associate of Bailiwick Repertory Theatre and WNEP Theater. He's also a former company member of Blue Rider Theatre. As an improviser he has performed in over 1,000 improvised shows with several improv ensembles across America. He was a member of iO's first ever House Team, Stone Soup. As an actor he has appeared in over 30 productions with numerous Chicago area theatre companies. For the past ten years he's been a Guest Artist Faculty Member of The Second City Training Center. For five years he was an Artist-In-Residence at Richards High School. He's also taught improv and theatre workshops for After School Matters, Beverly Arts Center, Brave New Workshop, Chicago Academy for the Arts, Chicago Park District, DePaul University's Writing Program, Dirty South Improv Festival, Free Street Theater, Illinois High School Theatre Fest, Magic City, Redmoon Theater, Southwest Theatre Fest, London's The Spontaneity Shop, and Very Special Arts. He was a contributing writer to Anne Libera's book The Second City's Almanac of Improvisation. He also wrote the forward to CIF Artistic Associate Asaf Ronen's book Directing Improv. In 1984, as a young Chicago improviser, he wrote the original version of An Improv Almanac. Alison Royer, Associate Producer
Alison Royer has been working with CIF Productions for 5 years. She started out with CIF Productions as an intern, then she became a driver, then an Assistant Producer, and now the Associate Producer. Her work for CIF Productions focuses on the Chicago Improv Festival and the College Improv Tournament. A former native of Chicago, Alison is an actor/improviser/writer on the main stage of Improv Asylum in Boston. She is also a member of the improv team, Burning Desires. She is an alumni of several improv teams and sketch comedy ensembles. She has performed at the Chicago Sketchfest. She trained at The Second City Training Center and IO. Isla Axelrod, Assistant Producer
Isla's bio will be posted soon. Jess Jones, Assistant Producer
Jess has been working with CIF Productions for 4 years. In 2006, she started as an intern, then in 2007 she was the Assistant Stage Manager for CIF's Main Stage, and in 2008 she became the Assistant Producer. She has worked on Chicago Improv Festival, College Improv Tournament, Teen Comedy Fest and the CIF Preview. Jess works as a talent agent at Lily's Talent Agency. She has also been a casting assistant for Bravo Network, Claire Simon Casting, and Oxygen. She was an intern for O'Connor Casting. She is also an improviser and has performed with Theatre Momentum and at The Second City Skybox. She's also a graduate of The Second City Training Center Conservatory. Mark Sutton, Artistic Director - Chicago Improv Festival
Mark Sutton is a former Associate Producer of the Chicago Improv Festival, in 2006 he became the festival's Artistic Director. 2009 will be his 4th year as CIF's Artistic Director. He is one of 3 improvisers (along with Joe Bill and Susan Messing) to have performed in all 11 Chicago Improv Festivals. A founding member of The Annoyance Theater and he's been performing, teaching, writing, and directing comedy in Chicago for 22 years. Over the last 7 years, he has become highly known for being half of the hit improv duo BASSPROV with Joe Bill. BASSPROV has performed nationally and internationally at numerous improv festivals. BASSPROV debuted in 2002 at CIF's Improv All Night and for the past six years headlined on CIF's Main Stage with special guests Dan Castellaneta, Mo Collins, TJ Jagodowski, Tim Kazursinky, Emo Phillips, Horatio Sanz, and Fred Willard. He also performed in the critically acclaimed improv duo Sutton and Hallal, and they appeared at numerous improv festivals across North America. He appeared in over 65 original shows at The Annoyance Theater including Co-Ed Prison Sluts; Manson: The Musical; and The Real Live Brady Bunch. He has appeared in several independent films including Fatty Drives the Bus; Waiting For The Man; Watch; and Penniless: One Man's Crusade. He's a former director of The Second City National Touring Company, and he directed the Canadian premiere of Co-Ed Prison Sluts for The Second City Toronto. Currently, he teaches and performs for The Second City BizCo. He is also a member of the faculty at Annoyance Theater, The Second City Training Center, and he has taught at almost every North American improv festival, including (of course), Chicago Improv Festival. Jet Eveleth, Co-Artistic Director - Chicago Improv Festival
Jet Eveleth is a member of the iO Theater's improv group The Reckoning. She currently performs with Paul Brittian in Ted & Melanie and in Pleasant Valley with Susan Messing and Holly Laurent. She can also be seen in The Armando Diaz Experience and the Deltones at the iO Theater. Jet has created and toured The Barb Lameter Show, Roseville, Cafe Noir, Touched, and I Live Next Door To Horses winner of the Del Close Award for Best Scripted Show. She had understudied the Etc stage at the Second City and traveled to Alaska with the Second City on Norwegian Cruise Lines. With writing partner Charlie McCrackin, she wrote and directed the sitcom pilot Ditched starring Greg Holliman from the TV show Strangers with Candy. She also played Deborah in the independent film American Legacy. She was included in "Best Of Chicago's Stand-Up" at The Lincoln Lodge and listed as New City's 2009 "Top 50 People Who Perform". Jet received her M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College and is an instructor at Columbia's Comedy Studies Program. She is a faculty member of The Second City Conservatory and the iO Theater. She has been involved with the Chicago Improv Festival for the last four years as a performer, instructor, and artistic associate. Emily Dugan, Artistic Director/Producer - Teen Comedy Fest
Emily's association with CIF Productions began by her being a CIF emcee for several years. In 2006, she stepped up to help produce CIF's High School Fest. Emily is now entering into her 3rd year as Teen Comedy Fest's Artistic Director. Emily Dugan first discovered improv at the age of 14. After performing regularly for years with both her high-school drama club, and her college team, ImprovInAthens, Emily moved to Chicago to pursue improv at its birthplace. A graduate of The Second City Conservatory and an alumnus of the ComedySportz Training Center, Emily approaches both long-form and short-form improvisation with equal enthusiasm and energy. Professionally, she has been in The Beatbox; Cinema 2.0; and The Improv Challenge. As an educator she has coached student improvisors from ages 8 to adult as far north as Libertyville (for Improv Playhouse), as far south as Beverly (where she is the Education Director of the Beverly Arts Center), as far west as Elmhurst, and as far downstate as Champaign (where she taught at Illinois High School Theatre Fest). Emily teachs the teen workshops at the annual Chicago Improv Festival, where she also takes the stage as a high-energy host/emcee on the CIF Showcase stage. CIF Productions' Administration/Staff Alumni: Sinead Aylward: Assistant Producer, Venue Manager
(*Co-Founder of Chicago Improv Festival) |
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