19th : Sunday : 6:00 to 8:00 pm : Spolin Games : Wisdom Curators.
Viola Spolin (https://www.violaspolin.org) invented the games that taught the world to improvise, and we're bringing them to you. Whether you're brand new or a seasoned yes-ander, these games will stretch your listening, shake loose your assumptions, and remind you why play matters. No experience needed. Just show up ready to go.
Ankur Sardana, your coach for this workshop, has trained in Spolin’s work with Gary Shwatrz (Viola’s student & an authority in Viola’s work) & Aretha Sills (Viola’s granddaughter who’s carrying on her legacy through workshops and writing).
Untitled - 27 June 2026 at 18.53.26.mp4
To Register:
UPI (1500 INR) on 8285187018 and share the screenshot on the same number.
FAQs
Q. Who was Viola Spolin?
A. Viola Spolin (1906–1994) was an American theatre educator who is widely credited as the mother of improvisational theatre. Working with immigrant children in 1930s Chicago, she discovered that structured games, rather than instruction, were the most powerful way to unlock spontaneous, present-moment creativity in anyone.
She codified this into hundreds of "theatre games" and published them in her landmark book Improvisation for the Theater (1963), which remains the foundational text of improv pedagogy. Her son Paul Sills used her games to co-found The Second City in 1959, a lineage that runs directly to SNL and modern comedy but Spolin's own vision was always bigger than entertainment: she believed that everyone can improvise, and that the right game, played with the right focus, could unlock that in anybody.
Q. Why is her work relevant to today’s improv?
A. Her games train the fundamentals that never age: real listening, physical presence, ensemble awareness, and staying in the moment, not as theory but as lived experience through play.