Join us for a fun night of Viola Spolin's Theater Games performed by Spolin-Ist Players ; Dylan Grunn, Bridget Knapp, Cihangir Duman, Richard Grunn, Aydin Baltaci and sidecoach/director Ege Maltepe. With Pianist Emir Gamsizoglu.

"Viola Spolin changed theater for generations." Alan Alda

Viola Spolin was an actress, educator, director, author, and the creator of theater games, a system of actor training that uses games she devised to organically teach the formal rules of the theater. Her groundbreaking book Improvisation for the Theater transformed American theater and revolutionized the way acting is taught. Originally published in 1963 by Northwestern University Press, it remains an essential theater text. She developed her methods while working as a drama supervisor in Chicago for the WPA, at her Young Actors Company in Hollywood, and as Director of Workshops at The Second City. Her son, director Paul Sills, who is credited with popularizing her work, used her theater games when he co-founded Compass, Playwrights Theatre Club, The Second City, and created Story Theater. The modern improvisational theater movement is a direct outgrowth of Spolin’s methods, discoveries, and writings. Read more about this genius woman and her legacy ; http://www.violaspolin.org/bio

Spolin-Ist is led by Ege Maltepe who is the Turkish translator of Spolin’s seminal book; Improvisation for The Theater. Maltepe started her company SPOLIN-IST in 2009 in Istanbul after her graduation from New Actors Workshop – an acting conservatory in New York founded by Mike Nichols (Oscar award winner director who started his career as an improviser), George Morrison and Paul Sills (Viola Spolin’s son and the co-founder of Second City). Apart from her work with Spolin-Ist classes and shows in New York, Maltepe often travels to her home country, Turkey to lead workshops. www.spolinist.com/newyork

Ege Maltepe is an actress, director and playwright living in New York City. Please check her website for more information about her : http://www.egemaltepe.com