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can arguably be called the first real school of
Improvisation, with a class structure, syllabus, and graduation requirement, pre-dating loosely organized workshops created in the mid-1970s by Dudley Riggs (Minneapolis, MN USA) and Keith Johnstone (Calgary, AB, Canada). It soon grew to the largest
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in 1959 as the female understudy and Spolin's teaching assistant. She became an expert in improvisational techniques for the theater, and by the mid 1960s she had taken over most of Spolin's and Sills's classes, as well as Spolin's children's theater company. From that point on most of the young
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and her daughter Linnea
Forsberg to teach alongside her. In terms of accepting students who were not necessarily Second City actors learning the art of improvisation, but also including students from all walks of life and professional disciplines
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improv, in the hopes of giving them an edge. At 86 years old she did just that. It was the first time that she had taught anyone in years. That year they won the Super Bowl. She returned to teach the
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and helped to bring the Improv
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to develop a competitive improv game which was later called The Improv
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closed its doors. However, in 2007, she was approached by her old friend and student
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78:(January 28, 1921 – October 3, 2011) was an American comedian, teacher and author.
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which was growing in leaps and bounds, offering a tremendous competition to
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In 1971, Forsberg opened up an official school of improvisation called
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stage studied with
Forsberg for at least a year. These included
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stage through a six term (12 month) course. In 1980, her son
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school of improv in the country, training people for the
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281:"Players Workshop of the Second City Documentary"
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242:Forsberg died on October 3, 2011 at age 90.
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350:. Articles.chicagotribune.com. 2011-10-03
184:transformed the Improv Olympiad into the
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103:performers that wanted to go onto the
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232:Improvisation for Speech and Theater
164:as a director, where he worked with
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234:(Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2010).
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372:Article on Josephine Forsberg
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199:to her daughter. Her nephew,
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205:Second City Training Center
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302:"Improvisation in Chicago"
431:American women comedians
421:American women writers
416:Comedians from Chicago
283:. YouTube. 2006-09-21
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260:"50 Years of Funny"
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304:. Improvcomedy.org
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121:Shelley Long
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53:(2011-10-03)
411:2011 deaths
406:1921 births
217:Bill Murray
154:Second City
129:David Mamet
109:Bill Murray
105:Second City
100:Second City
58:Chicago, IL
400:Categories
354:2012-02-09
333:2012-02-09
308:2012-02-09
287:2012-02-09
266:2012-02-09
246:References
211:. In 2003
92:Paul Sills
64:Occupation
35:1921-01-28
190:long form
182:Del Close
82:Biography
68:Educator
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238:Death
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