“Through spontaneity we are re-formed into ourselves.” -Viola Spolin

Explore the transformational theater games of Viola Spolin to enhance your training as an actor, improviser, educator, director, or to experience more play in your daily life. Viola Spolin’s Theater Games launched the modern American improvisational theater movement and changed the way acting is taught. Her work has influenced generations of actors and educators. In the workshop, we’ll play some of the most important group warm-up games found in Spolin’s groundbreaking text Improvisation for the Theater to help players enter into the present time, quiet the mind to allow for intuitive leaps, enhance physical expression, increase awareness of self and others, and explore the theatrical possibilities of space work. Participants can use these warm ups in their own rehearsals or classrooms to create a strong sense of ensemble and to enrich and enliven on-stage play. This workshop is open to beginners and experienced players.

Aretha Sills is the Associate Director of Sills/Spolin Theater Works. She studied Viola Spolin’s theater games for many years with her father, director Paul Sills (creator of The Second City and Story Theater), and has conducted workshops at Paul Sills’ Wisconsin Theater Game Center, Bard College, Northwestern University, and around the country. Aretha was recently nominated for an INNY Award for Best Improvisation Instructor and was the keynote speaker at the California Educational Theatre Association conference. She’s a writer who also teaches creative writing and improvisation for writers. She lives in Los Angeles, where she offers workshops and works with theater companies.