Created in 1971 by

Josephine Forsberg Josephine Forsberg (January 28, 1921 – October 3, 2011) was an American comedian, teacher and author. Biography Josephine Forsberg, ex-wife of film director Rolf Forsberg, was hired by Paul Sills and Viola Spolin to join the original Second Ci ...

, The Players Workshop was Chicago's only official school of

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

for over a decade. Although it was never officially a part of

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre op ...

cabaret theater, The Players Workshop was often referred to as Players Workshop Of The Second City, due to the school's close affiliation with the famous sketch comedy stage. From 1971 through the mid-1990s, performers flocked to The Players Workshop to study improv with

, Linnea Forsberg,

Martin de Maat Martin de Maat (January 12, 1949 – February 15, 2001) was a teacher and artistic director at The Second City in Chicago. He also taught at Columbia College and Players Workshop. He studied under Viola Spolin. De Maat and Del Close were the two ...

, or one of the school's many other instructors, in the hopes of eventually getting onto

mainstage. Players Workshop was also one of Chicago's largest family entertainment production companies, producing original plays and musicals for The Children's Theater of The Second City for over 30 years. Its production of the one-act musical ''

Knat Scatt Private Eye ''Knat Scatt Private Eye'' is a two-act, 1930s-style film noir musical, which played for an extended run at The Theater Building in Chicago in 1986, featuring a young Steve Carell. It was based on a one-act musical with the same title which was ...

'' later went on to be expanded into a full Broadway-style two-act musical which was mounted at The Theater Building and featured an up-and-coming actor named

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott (The Office), Michael Scott in ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the The Office (B ...

. The production arm of Players Workshop also produced shows for The Body Politic, Candlelight Dinner Theater,

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amu ...

, Bristol Renaissance Faire and

Taste of Chicago The Taste of Chicago (also known locally as The Taste) is the world's largest food festival, held for five days in July in Chicago, Illinois in Grant Park. The event is also the largest festival in Chicago. Non-food-related events include live m ...

. In 1981

hired David Shepherd to teach select students at The Players Workshop his new method of improv competition games. He called his new format "The Improvisational Olympiad"". This was later to grow into the Improv Olympic, better known as the I.O. The Improvisational Olympiad continued to be performed at The Players Workshop for over a year before PW alum,

Charna Halpern Charna Halpern (born June 1, 1952) is an American comedian who is co-founder of the ImprovOlympic, now known as iO. Upon iO's founding, in 1983, with partner Del Close, she began teaching Harold to many students in the Chicago theater community ...

moved it to its own space in 1983. The Players Workshop closed its doors in the early 2000s, as

retired, and the improv classes at

The Second City Training Center The Second City Training Center was founded in the mid-1980s to facilitate the growing demand for workshops and instruction from the world famous The Second City theatre. Training Centers are located in Chicago, Toronto and Los Angeles. Satelli ...

and the

Improv Olympic iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic") is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles, called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater taught and hosted p ...

grew too large to compete with.

Directors and Instructors

Doug Voegtle
Lee Houghton

Linnea Forsberg
Ben Hollis
Geoffrey Baer

Eric Forsberg Eric Forsberg (born December 16, 1959) is an American writer. He wrote and directed the feature film '' Mega Piranha'', as well as the writer of the feature film '' Snakes on a Train'', one of the first mockbusters produced and released by The ...

Judy Morgan
David Murphy
Charlie Silliman
Debbie Jett
Tony Alcantar
Jim Schipp
Mary Beth Carewicz
Meagan Moore Burns
George Badecker
Marc Blumberg
David Brian Stuart
Stephen Roath

Famous alumni

Leo Benvenuti
Will Clinger

Doug Dale Douglas Dale (born in Barrington, Illinois) is an American actor and comedian, best known for hosting the Comedy Central series '' TV Funhouse'' which was written and Directed by Robert Smigel. He originally met Robert Smigel when they were roomm ...

Doug Dvorak

Joe Flaherty Joseph Flaherty (born June 21, 1941) is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy '' SCTV'' from 1976 to 1984 (on which he also served as a writer), and as Harold Weir on ''Freaks and G ...

Neil Giuntoli Neil Giuntoli (born December 20, 1959) is an American actor active since 1987, whose most famous role was in '' Child's Play'' (1988). Giuntoli is also the author and lead actor of the play ''Hizzoner'', a fictional account of former Chicago mayo ...

Greg Hollimon Greg Hollimon (born May 2, 1956) is an American actor best known for his work on Comedy Central's ''Strangers with Candy''. Hollimon grew up in the Chicago housing projects of Cabrini–Green, growing up alongside Ozone from ''Breakin. In 198 ...

Mark Howell

Tim Kazurinsky Timothy James Kazurinsky (born March 3, 1950) is an American actor and screenwriter best known as a cast member and writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' and for his role as Carl Sweetchuck in the '' Police Academy'' films. Early life Kazurinsky wa ...

Shelley Long Shelley Lee Long (born August 23, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and comedian. Long portrayed Diane Chambers on the hit sitcom ''Cheers'' and received five Emmy nominations, winning in 1983 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Serie ...

Jeff Michalski

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on ''Saturday Nigh ...

Brian Doyle-Murray Brian Murray (born October 31, 1945), known professionally by his stage name as Brian Doyle-Murray, is an American actor, voice-actor and screenwriter. He has appeared with his younger brother, actor/comedian Bill Murray, in several movies, i ...

Bob Odenkirk Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker best known for his role as Saul Goodman on ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022). For the latter, he has re ...

Bobby Max Oehme

Danny Pudi Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor. His roles include Abed Nadir on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in ...

Harold Ramis Harold Allen Ramis (; November 21, 1944 – February 24, 2014) was an American actor, comedian, director and writer. His best-known film acting roles were as Egon Spengler in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984) and '' Ghostbusters II'' (1989), and as Russel ...

Steve Rudnick

Amy Sedaris Amy Louise Sedaris (; born March 29, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Most recently, she has appeared in both ''The Mandalorian'' (2019–2020) and ''The Book of Boba Fett'' (2022) as Peli Motto. She played Jerri Blank in the ...

Robert Smigel Robert Smigel (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, producer, and puppeteer, known for his ''Saturday Night Live'' " TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic D ...

Richard L. Tenace

Betty Thomas Betty Thomas (born Betty Lucille Nienhauser; July 21, 1948) is an American actress, director, and producer. She is known for her Emmy Award-winning role as Sergeant Lucy Bates on the television series ''Hill Street Blues''. As of March 2018, Tho ...

Robert Townsend

George Wendt George Robert Wendt Jr. (born October 17, 1948) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Norm Peterson on the television sitcom ''Cheers'' (1982–1993), which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy ...

David Koechner David Michael Koechner ( ; born August 24, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing roles such as Champ Kind in the ''Anchorman'' films and Todd Packer on NBC's ''The Office''. Koechner first became involved in perf ...

Matt Walsh

References

External links

Documentary Film about Players Workshop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Players Workshop American comedy troupes The Second City Sketch comedy troupes Education in Chicago Improvisation Performing groups established in 1971 1970s in comedy 1980s in comedy 1990s in comedy