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Education Feature By Bret Love|Setting Roots for aMalleable FormCharna HalpernCharna leads CERN scientists in an improv exercise.Charna Halpern continues to transform the face of improv.Aside from being some of the most successful comedicactors in the world, what do Mike Myers, Chris Farley,Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey have incommon? At one point or another, they all studied underlegendary improv guru Charna Halpern.Halpern originally got involved in Chicago’s burgeoningimprov scene back in 1980 when Second City was the only gamein town. But her career really took off after she founded theimprovOlympic theatre (now known simply as iO), joined forceswith the Second City co-founder Del Close and created a longerform of improvisation known as the Harold, whose frameworkwas loosely based on the structure of Wagner’s Ring Cycle.Teaching a philosophy known simply as “yes and” becauseit encourages accepting your scene partner’s ideas and addingyour own to them, Close and Halpern revolutionized the faceof improv, emphasizing strong characters and organic relationshipsrather than pimping others out in the quest for a laugh. Intheir influential book Truth In Comedy, the co-authors introducedconcepts such as callbacks, patterns and unconditional support.The impact of their legacy can be felt today in TV shows such asCurb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, in the largely improvised filmsof Judd Apatow and Sacha Baron Cohen and especially in thesketch comedy of Saturday Night Live and MADtv.Though Close passed away in 1999, Halpern continues toserve as a leading light on the improv scene, operating iOtraining centers in Chicago and Los Angeles, authoring thebook Art By Committee and teaching workshops everywherefrom improv festivals to the corporate world. We recentlyspoke with Halpern as she returned from Switzerland, whereshe’d led a workshop for scientists at CERN.Stage Directions: What was your theatre backgroundbefore you started teaching?Charna Halpern: When I was in college I was a minor intheatre. They made me do a few plays, and my plays alwaysturned into comedies. I was in an Ionesco play called No Exit,in which these people realize at the end that it’s their hell tobe together forever in this room. To prove that the girl is lying,I’m supposed to pick up this knife and stab her, but the propfell apart. So, I had to improvise and strangled her, and I guessI had a funny reaction on my face because the whole audiencewas in hysterics. That was my first foray into comedy.How did you and Del Close get connected?I’d heard through the grapevine that Del hated me becauseI’d started improvOlympic, which had been created in Canadaby David Shepard, who Del had worked with at the CompassTheatre in St. Louis (which also featured Mike Nichols andElaine May). Del thought David was a jerk, and didn’t realizeI felt the same way. I was growing bored with the same oldstuff at iO, so I needed to learn more if I was gonna take mytheatre further. I ran into Del at a coffee shop, and he wasa big stoner at the time, so I asked him, “How’d you like tomake $200 and some pot?” He asked what he’d have to doand I told him he’d teach a class. He said, “Can I do anything Iwant?” I said sure, so he taught the class and it was fantastic.We went out for coffee afterwards and decided to start workingtogether to change the face of improvisation, and that’swhat we did for the next 19 years. We had so many differentrelationships — mentor-student, mother-son, father-daughter,best friends — it was like we were family.“It teaches you not to rely on characters with funny glasses, a fake wigand a hat, but instead to fully embody a character honestly.”— Charna Halpern20 December 2008 • www.stage-directions.com