Improvisation in Illinois
Cities
Historical Moments
Marx Brothers Move to Chicago and Learn Chicago-Style Improvisation
Minnie Marx moved her four sons from New York to Chicago in 1910 to exploit the city's position as hub of the national vaudeville booking circuit. In Chicago, the brothers transformed from a singing act into a comedy troupe. Chicago Comedy records that the Marx Brothers were not much for script or plot, learning to improvise during their shows and sometimes wandering out into the audience. Minnie moved them to New York in 1920, taking Chicago's improvisational approach to Broadway.
Charlie Chaplin at Essanay Studios, Chicago: "His Improvisation Skills Were Unparalleled"
Charlie Chaplin joined the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company in Chicago in 1914, producing films at two to five per week, a pace that required constant improvisation. Chicago Comedy records that most of these movies were improvised, with no time to rehearse while filming so frequently. The same source states that Chaplin's improvisation skills were unparalleled, and he was a comedian like no one had ever seen. Chaplin left Essanay in 1915 having codified a physical improvisational vocabulary for mass audiences.
Neva Boyd Establishes Hull House Game Program
Sociologist and educator Neva Boyd establishes a game and recreation program at Hull House, the Chicago settlement house co-founded by Jane Addams. Boyd uses games and group activities as tools for community development and social integration among immigrant populations. Her approach, which emphasizes spontaneous play and ensemble cooperation, directly influences a young social worker named Viola Spolin, who studies with Boyd and absorbs her philosophy of learning through play.
Viola Spolin Develops Her Theater Games System
Working at the Recreation Training School in Chicago, Viola Spolin begins developing the system of theater exercises and games she will later codify into her influential textbook. Drawing on Neva Boyd's use of play as a pedagogical tool, Spolin designs games that teach theater fundamentals through intuition and immediate experience rather than analysis or imitation. Her games emphasize point of concentration, side-coaching, and the principle that all people are capable of improvising when given the right conditions.
Playwrights Theatre Club Founded at the University of Chicago
Paul Sills, David Shepherd, and Eugene Troobnick founded the Playwrights Theatre Club at the University of Chicago on June 23, 1953. The company operated as a classical repertory theatre in the Reynolds Club Theatre on campus, presenting European drama including Brecht, Molière, and Shakespeare to an audience of students and faculty. In two seasons it presented approximately thirty productions and assembled the ensemble that would go on to found the Compass Players in 1955.
Playwrights Theatre Club Closes Following Building-Code Violations
The Playwrights Theatre Club was shut down in 1955 following building-code violations after two seasons of classical repertory work at the University of Chicago. The closure brought the company's programme to an abrupt end, but the ensemble it had assembled immediately reorganized around David Shepherd's plan for an improvisational company. The Compass Players opened weeks later, in July 1955, at 1152 E. 55th Street in Hyde Park.
Compass Players Founded in Chicago, Becoming the First Professional Improvisational Theatre in the United States
David Shepherd and Paul Sills founded the Compass Players in July 1955 at the Compass Tavern at 1152 E. 55th Street in Chicago's Hyde Park neighbourhood. The company was the first professional improvisational theatre in the United States, developing the scenario format and audience-suggestion methods that became the foundation of American improv. Its opening ensemble included Roger Bowen, Andrew Duncan, Elaine May, and Barbara Harris, with Mike Nichols and Shelley Berman joining shortly after.
Mike Nichols and Elaine May Join the Compass Players
Mike Nichols and Elaine May begin performing together with the Compass Players, developing the improvisational partnership that makes them one of the most celebrated comedy duos of the twentieth century. Their scenes demonstrate a new level of psychological sophistication in improvised performance, drawing on character, subtext, and the unspoken tensions between people. Their work with the Compass sets the standard for character-based improv comedy.
The Compass Players Conclude Their Final Season and Close in Chicago
The Compass Players close after a brief but transformative run. The company's dissolution scatters its alumni across the country, particularly to New York, where they carry the practices and spirit of ensemble improvisation into new contexts. The Compass's approach to character-based, narrative improvisation becomes the template from which The Second City and dozens of subsequent companies take their cue.
Compass Players Dissolves, Its Ensemble Dispersing to Found The Second City and Nichols and May
The Compass Players ceased operations by 1958, ending approximately three years of improvisational performance in Chicago and St. Louis. Mike Nichols and Elaine May formed their duo and moved to New York City, performing material developed during their Compass years. Paul Sills, Bernie Sahlins, and Howard Alk founded The Second City in Chicago in December 1959, carrying the Compass's improvisational methods into a durable institutional form.
The Second City Opens Its Doors at 1340 North Wells Street in Chicago
On December 16, The Second City opened at 1340 North Wells Street in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood, founded by Paul Sills, Howard Alk, and Bernie Sahlins. Named after a pair of New Yorker magazine articles satirizing Chicago, the theater staged a revue format alternating scripted sketch material with improvised scenes driven by audience suggestion. The Second City established the model of ensemble comedy built on improvisation that would define American comedy for decades.
The Second City Moves to 1616 North Wells Street, Its Permanent Chicago Home
In 1967, The Second City moved from its previous Wells Street addresses to 1616 North Wells Street in Chicago's Old Town neighbourhood, the facility it has occupied ever since. The 1616 Wells Street building expanded the company's capacity and gave it a permanent institutional home. The same year, Del Close joined the company as director, beginning a teaching relationship with Second City ensembles that would define the rehearsal culture of Chicago comedy for the following three decades.
Del Close Joins The Second City as Director
Del Close begins his tenure as director and teacher at The Second City, where he develops a more experimental and ensemble-focused approach to improvisational theater. Close becomes one of the most influential teachers in improv history, working with performers who go on to become foundational figures in American comedy. His emphasis on commitment, truth, and the power of the ensemble over individual stardom shapes an entire generation of improvisers.
Josephine Forsberg Founds the Players Workshop, Chicago's First Independent Improv School
Josephine Forsberg founded the Players Workshop in 1971, establishing the first independent school of improvisational theatre in Chicago. Forsberg had been a student of Viola Spolin and a teacher at The Second City since 1959, and the Players Workshop carried Spolin's theatre games methods into a formal curriculum designed to prepare students for Second City auditions. The school operated in close proximity to The Second City and was commonly referred to as the Players Workshop of the Second City.
Chicago City Limits Founded by Second City Alumni in Chicago
A group of performers who had trained under Del Close at Second City's workshop programme founded Chicago City Limits in Chicago in 1977. The founding company included George Todisco, Linda Gelman, Bill McLaughlin, Carol Schindler, Paul Zuckerman, Rick Crom, and Christopher Oyen. The company relocated to New York City in 1979 and went on to become one of the city's longest-running improv companies.
Charna Halpern and Del Close Co-Found ImprovOlympic as a Long-Form Venue in Chicago
Charna Halpern and Del Close found ImprovOlympic in Chicago, creating the institution that develops and champions long-form improvisational theater. The company becomes the home of the Harold, a long-form structure Del Close develops as an alternative to the short scene-based improv of The Second City. ImprovOlympic's training program, emphasizing group mind, ensemble commitment, and narrative coherence over individual performance, trains thousands of improvisers who shape comedy in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and beyond.
The Second City e.t.c. Stage Opens in Chicago
In September 1982, The Second City opened the e.t.c. Theatre adjacent to its Mainstage at 1616 North Wells Street. The 196-seat second stage gave the company a dedicated venue for developing new ensembles between the Training Center and the Mainstage, deepening the institutional pipeline for talent development. The e.t.c. has produced continuous revue programming since its opening and has been recognized independently by Chicago theatre critics.
ComedySportz Chicago Opens as One of the First Franchises Outside Milwaukee
ComedySportz Chicago opened in 1987 as part of the national expansion of Dick Chudnow's ComedySportz franchise network, which had been founded in Milwaukee in 1984. The Chicago franchise brought the family-friendly competitive short-form format to a city already home to The Second City and ImprovOlympic, establishing a distinct short-form presence in the market.
Mick Napier Founds Metraform, the Company That Becomes The Annoyance Theatre
Mick Napier founded Metraform in Chicago on October 10, 1987, with the premiere of Splatter Theatre at the Cabaret Metro. The company renamed itself The Annoyance in 1989 upon renting its first dedicated space in the Ann Sather dining hall on Belmont, establishing Chicago's first improvisational theatre devoted to creating original full-length plays and musicals.
The Upright Citizens Brigade Troupe Forms in Chicago
The Upright Citizens Brigade troupe formed in Chicago around 1990, when Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh began working together after training at ImprovOlympic under Del Close and Charna Halpern. Adam McKay, Horatio Sanz, and Neil Flynn also worked with the group in its early years. The four founding members developed a distinct anarchic performance style rooted in long-form improv that distinguished them from their contemporaries in the Chicago scene.
WNEP Theater Founded in Chicago as Experimental Fringe Company
Don Hall, Joe Janes, and Jeff Hoover, all graduates of the Second City Training Center, founded WNEP Theater in Chicago in 1992. The name stood for 'Works No One Else Produces,' and the founding company, Level 6, launched simultaneously with an improv show at Shay's Bar and a scripted production. WNEP went on to operate as one of Chicago's most experimental fringe companies, mixing improvisation, sketch, one-acts, game shows, musicals, and performance art.
Charna Halpern and Del Close Publish "Truth in Comedy"
In 1994, Charna Halpern, Del Close, and Kim “Howard” Johnson published “Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation,” the first book to systematically document the Harold long-form structure and the teaching principles underlying iO Theater. The book articulated the Harold’s architecture, the concept of group mind, and the principle of total acceptance through agreement, making the form accessible to practitioners and teachers outside iO for the first time.
ImprovOlympic Moves to Its First Permanent Chicago Home on Clark Street
In 1995, ImprovOlympic moved to its first permanent Chicago home at 3541 North Clark Street in Wrigleyville, ending more than a decade of renting performance space at changing addresses. The Clark Street building housed two performance spaces, the downstairs Cabaret and the upstairs theatre later named the Del Close Theater after his death in 1999, and gave the organisation institutional stability to expand its house team system and training programme.
The Playground Theater Founded in Chicago as a Non-Profit Improv Co-Op
A collective of Chicago improvisers founded the Playground Theater in 1997 as a non-profit co-operative governed by its member ensembles. Distinct from The Second City and iO in its governance model, the Playground gave performing companies collective control over programming and institutional decisions. The theatre operated itinerantly for its first two years before establishing a permanent space on Lincoln Avenue in 1999.
Del Close Dies in Chicago, Leaving a Transformed Improvisational Art Form
Del Close died on March 4 in Chicago, leaving behind a legacy that defined an era of American improvisational theater. Close trained hundreds of performers who went on to careers in comedy, television, and film, and his development of the Harold as a long-form structure transformed the practice of improvised performance. He is remembered for his uncompromising commitment to improvisation as a serious art form and for everything he built at ImprovOlympic.
WNEP Theater Closes After Illinois Revenue Department Shutdown and Lease Loss
In 2003, the Illinois Department of Revenue shut down WNEP Theater in a licensing violation sweep. The company simultaneously lost its 3209 N. Halsted Street lease following a dispute with board members and landlords, ending WNEP's eleven-year run as a venue-holding organisation in Chicago.
The Players Workshop Closes After Thirty-Two Years as Chicago's Primary Improv Training School
The Players Workshop closed in the early 2000s as Josephine Forsberg retired and competition from The Second City Training Center and iO Theater's school grew to a scale the independent school could not match. The closure ended more than three decades of training that had prepared the majority of Second City performers from the late 1960s through the mid-1980s, including Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Castellaneta, and Bob Odenkirk.
CIC Theater Established in Chicago as Long-Form Improv Non-Profit
CIC Theater was established in 2003 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit comedy theater and training centre at 1422 W. Irving Park Road in Chicago, dedicated to the long-form improvisation tradition. The theatre provided a training curriculum and performance programme outside the institutional systems of iO and The Second City.
The Second City Begins Its Norwegian Cruise Line Partnership
In 2005, The Second City expanded its reach onto Norwegian Cruise Line ships, taking revue comedy, improv shows, and passenger workshops onto the high seas. The partnership became a notable offstage employment pipeline for performers and a visible example of improv comedy being adapted for cruise entertainment.
ImprovOlympic Changes Its Name to iO Theatre Following a Trademark Dispute
After years of operating under the ImprovOlympic name, the theater officially becomes iO Theatre following a dispute with the International Olympic Committee over the use of "Olympic" in the name. The renaming marks a transition in the theater's identity as it continues to evolve as Chicago's premier long-form improv institution. Despite the name change, iO maintains the tradition and pedagogical approach that Del Close and Charna Halpern established at its founding.
iO Theater Relocates to Purpose-Built Kingsbury Street Venue
In August 2014, Charna Halpern purchased a building in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighbourhood and relocated iO Theater to 1501 North Kingsbury Street, a purpose-built multi-stage venue designed specifically for improv performance and training. The Kingsbury Street facility was the most significant capital investment in the theatre's history, providing dedicated performance spaces, rehearsal rooms, and a bar. It served as iO's home from 2014 until the pandemic closure announced in June 2020.
The Revival Opens in Chicago's Hyde Park Near the Compass Players' Original Stage
John Stoops founded The Revival in 2015 at 1160 E. 55th Street in Chicago's Hyde Park neighbourhood, siting the theatre near the corner of 55th Street and University Avenue where the Compass Players had performed in 1955. The location was chosen to connect the new venue to the birthplace of American long-form improvisation and to bring improv performance and training to Chicago's South Side.
Logan Square Improv Opens in Chicago's Logan Square Neighbourhood
Alex Prichodko and Andrew Lemna co-founded Logan Square Improv in November 2018, opening a non-profit improv venue in Chicago's Logan Square neighbourhood. Built on an accessibility model: no formal auditions, rotating independent ensembles, shows priced between free and five dollars, the theatre was named Best New Theater Company by the Chicago Reader in 2019 and became one of the city's most active independent improv venues.
iO Chicago Announces Permanent Closure Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
iO Chicago announced it would close permanently, citing financial devastation from the COVID-19 pandemic. The theater, which opened as ImprovOlympic in 1981 and trained thousands of performers across nearly four decades, could not sustain itself through the extended closure required by public health mandates. The closure of iO Chicago marked the end of one of the most significant institutions in improv history and prompted widespread reflection about the fragility of live performance venues.
The Second City Closes Its Stages and Andrew Alexander Resigns as CEO
In June 2020, The Second City closed its Chicago and Toronto stages and co-founder Andrew Alexander resigned as CEO following both the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown and a public reckoning over systemic barriers faced by Black performers and alumni. An open letter signed by hundreds of alumni documented discriminatory treatment within the company across decades. The dual crisis of pandemic closure and institutional reckoning precipitated the most significant leadership and ownership change in the company's history.
The Second City Is Sold to ZMC
After the pandemic devastated live performance revenue and pushed the company into a sale process, The Second City was acquired in February 2021 by the private equity firm ZMC. The sale marked a major ownership change for the institution during a period of financial and organizational upheaval.
Charna Halpern Sells the iO Brand and Building
In 2021, after iO had closed during the pandemic, Charna Halpern sold the theater building and the iO brand to new owners who intended to reopen the institution. The sale marked the end of Halpern’s direct ownership after decades of shaping iO’s role in long-form improv.
The Bit Theater Opens in Aurora, Illinois
Michael and Kelsey Bradt opened The Bit Theater in September 2021 in Aurora, Illinois, in the former Comedy Shrine space at Fox Valley Center Drive, establishing a multi-genre comedy venue with an equity-access class policy.
The Second City Reopens Its Chicago Stage Under ZMC Ownership
The Second City reopened its Chicago and Toronto stages in 2022 under new ZMC ownership, returning to live performance after more than two years of pandemic closure and institutional restructuring. Ed Wells was named CEO in September 2022 to lead the reconstituted organisation. The reopening included programming and operational changes intended to address the equity concerns raised by alumni during the June 2020 reckoning.
Home Comedy Theater Established in Chicago's East Lakeview
Cesar Jaime, a twenty-year iO Theater veteran, signed a lease for the Home Comedy Theater at 2843 N. Halsted Street in Chicago's East Lakeview neighbourhood in July 2023, establishing the venue with a founding circle that included Liz Allen, Peter Gwinn, and Susan Messing. The 80-seat theatre with bar and restaurant, oriented around the Harold and the Del Close long-form tradition, began operations in the 2024–2025 season.
The Revival Opens 150-Seat Theatre in Chicago's South Loop Film Row
On 9 May 2024, The Revival opened at 906 S. Wabash Avenue in Chicago's South Loop, a building historically associated with Chicago's 'Film Row,' which once housed distribution offices for MGM, Paramount, and Warner Bros. The new 150-seat theatre was approximately 50 per cent larger than the Hyde Park venue, marking the end of the Revival's nine-year presence at 55th and University.
Includes moments from child regions. View full timeline →
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Illinois. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/locales/north-america/united-states/illinois
The Improv Archive. "Illinois." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/locales/north-america/united-states/illinois.
The Improv Archive. "Illinois." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/locales/north-america/united-states/illinois. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.