Photo: Courtesy of the Estate of Viola Spolin, violaspolin.org. All Rights Reserved.
Exploring the Roots of Chicago Improvisation Viola Spolin directing the Young Actor’s Company.
A Q & A with Inventing Improv producer Jude Leak by Meredith Francis
W
WTTW: There is a long history of improv in Chicago and a lot to talk about. Why did you choose to focus
hen most people hear the word “improv,” they
on Viola Spolin?
might imagine a group of funny people per-
forming to a roar of laughter coming from an audience
packed into a cabaret-style theater.
Jude Leak: Well, it’s funny because I came to Chicago in the mid ‘90s from Texas and I had an improv troupe down there, and I had no idea. I didn’t even know Viola’s
4
But the origins of improvisation aren’t in comedy. The
story. I was blown away by the roots of improv and how
roots of the art form are actually in social work, specif-
it came about. It was all rooted in the social ethics of
ically at Hull House, the settlement house where the
Hull House and in trying to create a democratic envi-
“Mother of Improv,” Viola Spolin, discovered the bene-
ronment where all voices were welcome. It came from
fits of play for Chicago’s immigrant population. Spolin’s
the idea that you could build on and play off of each
work at Hull House eventually culminated in her cre-
other and create theater on your own without a director,
ation of the theater games that became the foundation
without a writer. It was born out of a need to commu-
of improvisation. Producer Jude Leak shares what she
nicate with a new immigrant population from a wom-
learned about Spolin and the history of improv while
an who loved theater. She always wanted a life in the
creating WTTW’s new documentary, Inventing Improv:
theater. But her work during the Great Depression at
A Chicago Stories Special, which premieres on Friday,
Hull House was for the [Works Progress Administration],
October 22 at 8:00 pm on all platforms.
and she became a theater teacher there, so she got to
OCTOBER
2021
