Joe Bill and Jill Bernard performed improv in Sofia, Bulgaria
Bulgaria’s premiere longform improv company ShiZi Pro was proud to host the renowned improv performers Joe Bill and Jill Bernard in Sofia during the First International Improv Festival - October 2016.
Bill and Jill performed their signature longform show SCRAM! three times during their stay, and conducted a number of workshops, including a 4-day intensive. SCRAM! features three disparate two-person scenes that happen simultaneously.
They also led a number of workshops:
YOUR POWER IMPROV TOOLKIT with Joe Bill
BEING A DREAM PARTNER with Jill Bernard
THE INNER GAME OF CHARACTER with Joe Bill
THE OTHER CONFLICTS with Jill Bernard
INTENSIVE LONGFORM (5 hours a day/4 days) with Jill Bernard
We are looking forward to having them again next year.
Stay tuned!
Joe Bill
Joe is widely regarded as one of the best Teachers of Scenic and Comedic Improvisation in America today. He first encountered Improvisation in 1977 in Indianapolis.
He studied with Del Close at Improv Olympic, and with Martin DeMaat, Michael Gellman, Bernie Sahlins and others before graduating from The Second City Training Centre and Co-Founding the Annoyance Theatre (all in Chicago), and making his living as a Nationally Touring Stand Up Comedian.
It was also 1990 when his passion for teaching Improvisation kicked into high gear, and a unique approach to Improvised Scene and Character began to be articulated by a number of teachers at Chicago’s Annoyance Theatre, lead by the visionary Artistic Director of Annoyance, Mick Napier.
Since then Joe and Mark Sutton (his partner in the Nationally Touring Improvised Production, BASSPROV), have evolved the Annoyance approach into POWER IMPROV, which they both have been teaching all over the U.S., Canada and Europe, at Festivals, Theaters and Universities since 2000.
He has performed, coached, directed and innovated Improv Structure with a vast number of successful groups and co-developed the longform format The Bat,
Joe has taught and or performed at every major Improv Festival in The United States.
Joe currently teaches and does corporate training at iO Chicago, is an Artistic Associate for The Chicago Improv Festival, and acts as an Artistic Adviser for a number of Improvisation and Comedy Theaters all over the U.S. and Canada.
Jill Bernard
Jill Bernard has been performing with ComedySportz-Twin Cities since 1993, and is a founding member of HUGE Theater in Uptown Minneapolis.
Her one-woman improv piece, Drum Machine, has been featured in over forty improv festivals. She has taught and performed improv in Norway, Australia, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany and over thirty-five of the United States; and also on an episode of MTV “Made.”
She is one-half of the duo SCRAM with Joe Bill of the Annoyance Theater. An Artistic Associate of the Chicago Improv Festival, she has studied at the Annoyance Theater, Improv Olympic, the Brave New Workshop and other organizations; and is the recipient of the 2005 Chicago Improv Festival Avery Schreiber Ambassador of Improv Award, and the 2007 Miami Improv Festival award for Best Solo Show. She was also the winner, in January 2000, of the Executive Vice President Award for outstanding contribution to Human Resources, the highest award in the American Express Human Resources function.
She's also the voice of God, the Holy Ghost, the Virgin Mary and Ruby in videos for Sparkhouse.
Drum Machine is Jill Bernard's one-person sweepingly epic unscripted musical featuring multiple characters in scenes, monologues and songs accompanied by electronic drum beats or in collaboration with a musician. The show opens with a brief interview of an audience member, then Bernard creates a musical that weaves details of their life into a historical period suggested by the audience.
