The Del Close & Charna Halpern Roundup

The Apiary's new Chicago branch office, The Bastion has a fascinating interview today with Charna Halpern, improv guru and founder of the Improv Olympic. She helped keep improv super guru Del Close on track in his later years, and helped train artists like Vince Vaughn, Mike Myers, Amy Poehler, and Rachel Dratch. The IO's name recognition can't match that of its Chicago forebearer, The Second City, but it's impact on comedy rivals its more well-known counterpart. Halpern also recently launched a blog of her own, with stories from the early days of Chicago improv and much more.

Meanwhile, in New York, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater is gearing up for the Del Close Marathon, a tribute to Halpern's partner-in-art. Close was the Big Idea Man of improv, and his legacy is celebrated with a weekend of 24-hour-a-day improv. Last year at this time, we talked with Anthony King, the theater's artistic director, and Ian Roberts of the UCB about the festival, and with Jeff Griggs about his fascinating book on Close, "Guru." Here's the MP3 of that show.

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