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Chicago Improv Festival Productions: Board of Directors President: Ron Waliczek Advisory Board Andrew Alexander, Kirsten Ames, Matt Barbara, Frances Callier*, Dave Gaudet, Charna Halpern, Tim Kazurinsky, Beth Kligerman, Kelly Leonard, Jen McLaughlin, Mick Napier, Sheldon Patinkin, Joyce Piven, Bernie Sahlins, Cheryl Sloane, Claire Sutton (*Chicago Improv Festival Co-Founder) Administration/Staff Executive Director, Co-Founder: Jonathan Pitts 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, Illinois High School Theatre Fest, Improv Playhouse, Lakeshore Theater, Links Hall, Loyola University, Open Student Televison Network, Piven Theatre, Resolution Digital Studios, The University of Chicago’s Theatre Department Artistic Associates Jill Bernard, Joe Bill, Mark Chalfant, R. Kevin Doyle, Deborah Frances-White, Jeff Griggs, Kerry Griffith, Naomi Ikegami, Wade Jackson, Nick Johne, Anthony King, Shaun Landry, Will Luera, Billy Merritt, Susan Messing, Andrew Moskos, Dan O’Connor, Jesse Parent, Dave Razowsky, Ed Reggi, Amy Roeder, Asaf Ronen, Todd Stashwick, Marianne Steinsrud, Zach Ward Grants City Arts Grant
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 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. Staff Bios Jonathan Pitts, Co-Founder & 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. Mark Sutton, Artistic Director, Chicago Improv Festival Mark Sutton is a founding member of The Annoyance Theater and he has been performing, teaching, writing, and directing comedy in Chicago for the past twenty years. For the past six years he is best known for being part of the hit improv duo BASSPROV with CIF Artistic Associate 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 five years headlined on CIF’s Main Stage with special guests Dan Castellaneta, Mo Collins, 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 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. Currently, he teaches and performs for The Second City BizCo. He is also a member of the faculty at The Annoyance, The Second City Training Center, and he has taught at almost every North American improv festival. He is a former director of The Second City National Touring Company, and he directed the Canadian premiere of Co-Ed Prison Sluts for Second City Toronto. A former Associate Producer of the Chicago Improv Festival, he became the festival’s Artistic Director in 2006. Emily Dugan, Artistic Director, Teen Comedy Fest 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. |
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