Jason Sarna

Originally from Chicago, Jason Sarna has studied sketch writing at world famous improv theaters including The Annoyance, IO and Second City (“Isn’t that where a lot of SNL folks came from?” you ask. “Yup!” God answers.). Currently, Jason teaches Level II, coaches improv team, Sensitive People, and most recently finished up a year long course teaching SKETCH comedy, all at Reno Improv!!

Welcome to this very, dare we say, sketchy episode (we dared indeed) of For The Love Of Improv! In epidsode 7, we talk about different types of sketch, building characters that write your sketch for you, the five point story structure, favorite sketch shows, how sketch overlaps with improv and much, much more!!! Before you get too sketched out (yes, we did it again!), we will put an end this blurb so you can get to listening. Enjoy!

Courtney Ropp

Courtney has been performing improv and theater on and off since high school. She was a Combat Photographer & Videographer in the US Army for 6.5yrs. Currently, she works freelance on film and photo sets and is the Media Director at Good Luck Macbeth.  Courtney is in preproduction for a feature film she wrote with previous guest, Taylor Riedeman. 

In this episode we ask the question: what does a scene need? Courtney offers some tools and tricks to use on  stage when a scene falls flat, gets stuck in negotiation or is just plain boring.  We also discuss how to know when to add something or when it’s a good idea to just leave a scene alone. When one of us royally messes up an improv game (what? there are no mistakes in improv, I say!), we talk about the very fundamental improv concept of “listen and respond” and turn the clock back to 1974 when John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd became a strong improv duo.   We hope you can join us on our 6th episode of “For The Love Of Improv”!

Aurora Boles

Aurora Boles is a Co-founder, player, and Level 1 teacher at Reno Improv. As a graphic designer and stop motion artist, she is the creative mastermind behind most of Reno Improv’s branding and digital marketing.  Aurora performs regularly  at Reno Improv on her team, ‘Sensitive People.’  You can also find her most Saturday nights at Reno Improv hosting the Playground and helping out with weekly shows. 

In this podcast, we talk to Aurora about short form.  After teaching the Level 1 class at Reno Improv for many years, she is well versed in short form, warmups and games that teach beginning students the fundamentals of improv.  Not only do they learn how to “yes, and,” Aurora shows them the importance of listening, heightening, supporting your scene partner, and much more.

You’ll hear us talk to Aurora about the difference between short form and long form. We will hit on topics like the Harold (not a dude, but rather another improv form), organic transformation (not a science experiment, but an improv warm up,) and eggs (not a typo, but… well, just listen to the podcast).  Hope you can join us on this 5th episode of For The Love Of Improv!

Tim Mahoney

Tim Mahoney is an improv coach and teacher at Reno Improv. He would rather be doing improv than almost anything else (who wouldn’t?), so you’ll see that beautiful, bearded face consistently around the improv scene, at conventions, or anything improv-related.  

In this episode we talk narrative improv, secondary characters, Theatre Sports, and much, much, much, much, much more. (Let’s just say, Tim is never at a loss for words and that’s why we love having him on our podcast!).

We also experiment with the 8-step narrative format on which he bases his newest improv group, Ghost’s performance that looks something like this.

 Justin Kavanagh

This episode is dedicated to the late, great, and hilarious Brad Vance. Dear Brad, although your play has ended, your spirit will continue to grace our stage and our hearts for now and always. 

Join us for a very special episode of “For the Love of Improv: Remembering Brad Vance”  As we grieve for the loss of our very dear and funny friend, we thought it appropriate to discuss improv as a tool for processing grief and trauma.  With whom (love it when I have to use “whom”) better to discuss it than Justin Kavanagh.  Justin loves to use improv as a tool for self-discovery and strongly believes that the same principles that make us better improvisers also make us better people.  As an improv teacher and coach, Justin emphasizes this philosophy and encourages the application of improv skills off-stage as well as on-stage.

Can improv games work off-stage as well as on-stage?  How can improv help us to be more engaged listeners and better at being empathetic humans?   And what is up with intermittent fasting and why is everyone and their dog doing it?! Answers to these burning questions (except maybe that last one) and more when you listen to this next episode of For The Love of Improv!

 Taylor Riedeman

On August 9th, we discuss character building. We delve deep into things like building a platform and how to use emotion and physicality to create a character. Listen as our guest, Taylor Riedeman, demonstrates some of her quirky and out-of-the-box characters and explains how she conceptualizes them. Our history segment presents the story of the birth of Saturday Night Live (yup, improvisers started that sh*t!).  Finally, we have a special improv game in store for you that might be a tad naughty (how’s that for a teaser?!).

Taylor Riedeman is a writer, improviser, and comedian living in Reno, Nevada. Acting has always been part of her life, but she found her true performance community in improv 4 years ago. Taylor is an active member of Reno Improv Theater, where she performs weekly with her teams We Digress and Ghost. Improv is both an artistic and spiritual endeavor for her, and she has recently found a love for teaching improv as well. She does have a life outside of improv, though (sort of). She’s addicted to 30-day challenges and her weakness is bestselling books with flashy titles. She’s also newly disappointed that Friends will no longer be available on Netflix.

Chris Thigpen

In this episode, we go deep talking about our community and the value of having a strong one. We talk about why loving the people you play with is so important, even if they are not your favorite folks to begin with. Learn about the place of competition in improv, how you can support your fellow players, and how that affects us all on-stage. Nerd out on a bit of history with us, introducing you to Viola Spolin, the fore-mother of improv in the US. We will talk about beats and how to recognize them as well as what it means to be a good player off-stage. 

Our guest, Chris Thigpen, is an amazing improviser who plays on two house teams at the Reno Improv, Ghost Team and All Things Reconsidered. As a natural creative, Chris uses improv as a place to express his talents as an actor and writer. As a businessman, Chris owns his own successful marketing agency, Ace Studios. He is also a filmmaker, photographer, and screenwriter.