About Our School

Lots of people want more out of life. We’re an improv school that trains and inspires people so they build the confidence they need to evolve.

We do this through our improv classes, personal development courses, and shows.

Our school is founded on the conviction that IMPROV IS FOR EVERYONE. And the benefits extend from the stage to living a fulfilling life.

OUR PHILOSOPHY

At Improvolution, we know that you want to be fulfilled, inspired and energized.
We know from our 20+ year experience that improv can help you reach your full potential - in your career and life, even if that simply means adding more fun and laughter to it.
Like so many people, you know there’s more to life than you’re experiencing right now, which makes you feel unsatisfied, disappointed, unmotivated, and maybe even bored. We believe you ought to learn and use improv skills to have a more impactful, vibrant life.
Improv is more than “just” an entertaining performance style. It is a game changer. That’s why we shout from the mountain tops (or wherever we get the chance to shout) that IMPROV IS FOR EVERYONE!

FEMALE-FOUNDED, OWNED & RUN

Rebecca Stuard brings over 25 years of improvisation experience to Improvolution, joining as the Creative Director and co-owner in 2014 and elevating to Executive Director in 2020.
In her first career she spent 9 years touring Europe and the US in musicals.
She was a quadruple threat. Actor/Singer/Dancer/Musician.
Her favorite role was Helga in Sam Mendes'/Rob Marshall's Cabaret. She was the tenor sax player In the orchestra.
On top of her wide range of performing and teaching experience, she has been a Lead Facilitator for manager module training programs: corporate leadership, team building and effective brainstorming for her clients which include Bank of America, GE, Citi Bank, Amex, Toyota, Bloomberg Deloitte, NBA.
She also has a yearly assignment with Yale School of Management and Yale Law School.
She teaches all levels of Improv at Improvolution. (Level 1 is her favorite) and is often performing in shows at Improvolution
She is also an adjunct professor in the Theater Department at Pace University.
And finally she has been performing as a background player and rehearsal actor(stand-in) on Saturday Night Live for 19 years and counting.
"I love to laugh! That’s why I do what I do!"
As a professional Freelance Creative (i.e., actor, improviser, musician, director & producer), Improvolution became a natural home for Mallory upon starting as a student back in January 2014.
With a long history of performing, creating, and coordinating, Mallory had the pleasure of producing and performing in the "Smart and Lovely Show" at The Triple Crown Underground (2017-2020) and Improvolution shows (2018-2022), and now has the honor of supporting the Improvolution community as the Education Managing Director.
Although she looks back fondly on the years spent hustling and performing in Off-Broadway/Off-Off Broadway shows (The Adding Machine, She Has a Name, Deathbed, Hopeless/Irresistible; Cineplay Award Winner for Best Actress, Strawberry One Act Festival Best Actress Nominee), feature/short films (Slate Yourself, In Transit, Christmas Dinner, Possessed by Love, Saving Rigby, Heaven and Earth), and a handful of commercials, Mallory can be found nowadays on stage making up songs in the extraordinary, award-winning Improvised Musical Comedy "Broadway's Next Hit Musical." She's also a Teaching Artist all around NYC and Westchester (Improvolution, The Museum of the City of New York, CASA Program, Broadway Training Center, CC & Mallory).
Mallory enjoys producing media with her friends and letting her inner goblins shine on stage. @yesandmallory

OUR INFLUENCES

We aspire to carry on many of the ideas and the heart of Neva Boyd and Viola Spolin’s work — “the mothers of improvisation”.
Like any art form, everyone who dedicates themselves to it changes it, develops it and helps it evolve and diversify.
However, we are aware of the two women who birthed the spirit and intention behind what we currently refer to as “improv”. They were sociologists, teachers and change-makers along with being artists. They were committed to equality, access to education, allowing people to express themselves freely, and inspiring everyone to let the best parts of themselves out to co-create with others for the betterment of the whole.
If you’re an “improv-nerd-in-the-making’ we encourage you to learn more about these remarkable innovators and geniuses!
We teach improvisation with a character lens. We don’t teach “a format” like other schools do – our preference is the basics of improvisation first, format later. We also emphasize that improv is a team sport and foster that spirit in every class, as it’s paramount to improv itself. It’s never about being the funniest, fastest or most clever. “Improv is for everyone” isn’t just a nice idea, it’s the philosophy that runs the school.
Underneath it all, all the instructors at Improvolution feel and try to convey the deeper lessons that improv has taught them…what saying “yes, and” really means, how to truly listen, to embrace the unknown not fear it, and that positivity and inclusion always wins.

OUR COMMITMENT

1. Creating a school and community that embodies the motto we have had since we first started teaching in 2002: IMPROV IS FOR EVERYONE.
2. Fostering a culture built on diversity, respect, inclusion, care, support, and opportunity — from the classroom to the stage to the people behind the scenes and who make our decisions.
3. Improvolution is the collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, self-expression, unique capabilities and talents. We ALL benefit from the successes of everyone in our community.
4. We embrace and encourage differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make our community unique.
WE STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT.
IMPROVOLUTION denounces white supremacy and unequivocally supports Black Lives Matter.
Immediately following the murder of George Floyd, we made a public commitment to stand in support of Black Lives and be a part of the long-term solution in response to systemic racism, state-sanctioned violence, and white supremacy. For us, it was important not just to make a statement, we also committed to putting meaningful and sustained action behind those words.
We stand in solidarity with all who are fighting against systemic racism, racial injustice, police brutality, white supremacy, hate, and hate crimes. We support protests, including artistic expression, to inform meaningful change, action, understanding, healing, and unity to drive our community forward.
We share in the sorrow over human destruction and oppression and the visible and invisible trauma that it manifests in the people and places we love.
We acknowledge as the owners and leaders of IMPROVOLUTION that we must do more to support social change, anti-racism, and the fight against the ongoing struggles of BIPOC people for equality on a local and national level; this work is unfinished and ongoing.
We commit to furthering racial equality and equity. We know art is a powerful instrument in the fight for and creation of a just, equal and diverse world.
We commit to examining and diversifying our curriculum, teaching body and student resources beyond the traditional European and white American canon, inclusive of Black voices, with sensitivity to appropriation. At the core of our work is our responsibility to represent, celebrate and amplify these diverse voices.
We commit to create a space that is welcoming, supportive, and respectful of all of our student’s voices, talents and experiences. And to create transparent pathways to maintain and improve this space on goingly.
We commit to diversifying our company, becoming an even stronger and vibrant example of an inclusive, respectful, and diverse community.
As leaders of this school and community, we commit to educating ourselves and our staff about our complicity and internalized white supremacy, and reflect on our own privilege and bias. We continue our anti-racist work and will continue in our pledge to becoming true allies to the Black Lives Matter movement. We have and will continue to consult with our BIPOC students and staff, hold space to listen, take effort to protest, and reflect on the accountability and actions we need to take now on a determined path to anti-racism.

Location

115 Macdougal Street
New York, NY, 10012

near 6th Avenue & W 3rd Street

Our school is located in the iconic Greenwich Village of Manhattan, surrounded by landmark cafes, restaurants and music venues. Classes take place in our studios here unless noted in the class description.