Liz is an expert improv coach with a nationally recognized reputation for turning any group into an ensemble.Since 1996, Liz has taught hundreds of improv workshops around the globe, from small entities to Fortune 100 companies.From performers to corporate professionals, she helps groups achieve their goals using improv in surprising ways.
"what liz teaches is heartfelt and from the gut." -mike birbiglia, comedian
"liz allen is a legend in the improv world. she is such a shining sun of support and brilliant insight." -david escobedo, the improv boost
"i never thought of this through all of my higher education." -dr. eliot heher, kidney transplant specialist
"liz is a national treasure!" -chris hall, imposters theater
clients
wherever you have a group of people
trying to accomplish something,improv can help.
- liz allen
contact liz
about liz allen
"what liz teaches is something that's really from your gut and heartfelt."
-mike birbiglia
"eliminate the panic of
what should i do next"
-liz allen
For the past 3 decades, Liz has coached, directed and performed improv. In 1995, her improv troupe performed the first-ever improv show at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. For 3 years, Liz was iO’s Training Center Director. She has coached many teams, including Valhalla, Judgement Free Tailor Shop, and Mission Improvable, founders of the Westside Comedy Theater in Los Angeles.In 1999, 2000 & 2001 Liz won iO Theater’s Coach of the Year Award, renamed the Liz Allen Excellence in Teaching Award.In 2004, Liz directed a main stage revue for The Second City at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The Vegas Theater Hub awarded Liz as Guest Speaker of the Year and Best Workshop of the Year 2015.Liz was honored to coach The Commune, the improv ensemble in Mike Birbiglia’s 2016 feature film Don’t Think Twice.Before discovering improv, Liz worked for ten years as a consulting engineer. After receiving a BS Mechanical Engineering from NC State, Liz worked with United Engineers-Raytheon. In 1990, after moving to Chicago for a pharmaceutical construction project with Abbott Laboratories, Liz attended a show at The Second City, got bit by improv, eventually shifted careers.She can be seen performing live in her highly acclaimed scripted show Tonight I Am My Mother all over the country.
media
Liz has been interviewed about Don't Think Twice and improvisation by NPR Weekend Edition's Elizabeth Blair.UK Improviser David Escobedo did a great interview with Liz about all things improv.Jay Sukow spent 10 Minutes with Liz Allen.Compass Interview Series talked ensemble with Liz.Liz appeared on "If This Is True What Else Is" with Chris HallA tip to improvise more freely--take off the social mask.
improv for corporate types
liz offers workshops for a variety of topics, and levels, from c-suite to the mail room, in house or remote.
customized workshops available
fix your group
How a group behaves is directly realted to a company's performance. If something on your bottom line isn't working, go upstream and fix your group dynamics.What ails your team? Ego? Everyone talks over each other? Nobody talks? Ideas are forgotten or over-belabored?Liz has spent years transferring the tenets of improv to the skills of group dynamics in corporate settings.Fix your group, even if you don't think it's broken.
plan for the unplanned
If you don't have a plan for the unknown, then you're not prepared...but, there's no way you can prepare for everything.Improv builds the muscle of nimbleness to eliminate panic and judgement when things don't unfold the way you thought they would.There's another set of skills you need that they don't teach in school. Those skills are not freaking out when the unknown is at your feet.People are wildcards. Improv is here to help.
strengthen presentations
There is an ensemble inside of you, which is your gut and your intellect. This is the group you depend upon as solo speakers. Liz uses group theory, but applied to an individual.By studying improv, you practice connecting your guts to your intellects and become accustomed to relying on both parts of yourself when speaking. You can plan your talk and presentation, but things will occur to you in the moment. Improv help you manage spontaneous ideas and not feel disrupted or overwhelmed.
decide faster
Stop belaboring whatever you're doing. Improvisers don't have the luxury of pouring over decisions. Improvisers don't get to leave the stage and chat about what to do next.Decisions are made instantly in front of an audience. Those decisions are trusted and followed. If a group backs themselves into a corner, they re-decide on the fly.Imagine how quickly you could make a decision if you weren't afraid of a calamity. Improvisers avoid calamity by strengthening nimble decision making skills.
Need a recharge? A break from your day? Or a chance to get to know your coworkers in a new setting? Take the 45 minutes of lunch and douse it with improv.In a short amount of time, improv lets you laugh at the absurd, forget your to do list, and take a hangover-free escape.Liz will bring in a light hearted vacation over lunch. Give yourself something new to discuss over slack.
improv for fun
Forget all of the theories, improv is an opportunity to laugh with your coworkers. Have lighthearted fun, and get to know each other on a totally different level.
virtual or in person coaching
Liz loves to coach in person, online, or wherever works best for your company.
improv for performers
master the harold, slay the living room, or learn liz's silent silverado. with over 30 years experience in the world of improv comedy, she knows the ins and outs of longform.
your visiting coach awaits
harness group mind
Group work relies on harnessing the power of group mind. After all these years, Liz believes this is the key to collaboration. If you want to be a strong team, work to harness your group mind. Liz can help.
expand your techniques
When bony finger beckons, there are a million ways to translate your instincts into a move within a scene or from the back line. Liz reviews standard techniques and some of the more specialty moves lost through the march of improv time.Who can forget the power of a swinging door runner with a walk-off sweep?Get a reminder and a refresh on all the possibilities that await in a longform.
grow yourself inside a group
Liz believes you can't grow as an individual unless you're in a safe group. Find your people. Or make these people your people and begin to trust yourself.Improv is a decision. You decide to show up, participate fully and offer as much of yourself as you can. You also decide to understand what others are offering and elevate them. Group is a choice, growing yourself is a choice.The decision to truly improvise takes courage.
virtual or in person coaching
Liz in specializes in single, drop in workshops for you and your group.Hire Liz on a one-time basis for your team, either in person or virtually. (Liz doesn't hate online improv, and finds it better than no improv.)
don't think twice
liz was honored to bring her ensemble-first coaching to The Commune, the improv group at the heart of Don’t Think Twice.
"A smart, winsome comedy"
- The Atlantic
"Exhilirating! This summer's funniest movie. The best, most revealing film about comedy people and, more broadly, about artistic collaboration." - The Village Voice
"One of the best films of the year. Genuinely sharp, funny, and bracingly honest."
- The Chicago Tribune
Funny, insightful and honest, DON’T THINK TWICE looks at a common experience that’s an uncommon subject for a film: failure. Mike Birbiglia captures universal human experiences that happen in the lives of professional funny people. From the creator of THIS AMERICAN LIFE and with a top-flight ensemble of comic actors including Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Chris Gethard, Tami Sagher and Birbiglia, DON’T THINK TWICE tells a nuanced story of friendship, aspiration and the pain and promise of change.
"Don’t Think Twice ... plays with the ideas and realities of improv theatre, both on and offstage from a place that is not only informed, but inviting. It welcomes audiences into the artform with a love and respect that never gets in the way of new audiences discovering it. They even got Liz Allen to coach the fictional improv troupe in the film, which goes a long way towards bringing their performances an authenticity." - the improv network
WEEKEND EDITION - DON'T THINK TWICE
liz's thoughts on ensemble
Liz believes that group mind is.It exists.Liz feels it's a creative force, and it’s a benefit to improvisers to connect with this creative force called "group mind" while creating collaborative art in an ensemble. Liz believes that group mind sends a bony finger to improvisers and taps them on the shoulder with quiet, clear information. Improvisers can feel and hear the beckoning of the bony finger, if they choose.This might sound like a load of hippie talk, but it works, in Liz’s opinion. Allowing the bony finger to affect improv choices removes unhealthy ego from the process, eliminates the panic of what should I do next?, and makes room for the group voice to prevail.Fulfilling improv doesn’t have to happen by accident; fulfilling improv can become the norm, and Liz believes incorporating the bony finger is key.
liz's approach to improv:
THE GROUP, THE GROUP, THE GROUP
Improv is a constant exercise of wrestling one's ego to the ground and learning to sense the group, rely on the group and serve the group.To coach and to improvise is to ask yourself:
what does
this group
have to say on
this day?
See these theories put to work in Mike Birbiglia's Don't Think Twice.
"what liz teaches is heartfelt and from the gut." mike birbiglia
!["liz allen is a legend in the improv world. she is such a shining sun of support and brilliant insight." david escobedo, the improv boost]()
"liz allen is a legend in the improv world. she is such a shining sun of support and brilliant insight." david escobedo, the improv boost
"i never thought of this through all of my higher education." dr. eliot heher, kidney transplant specialist
"liz is a national treasure!" chris hall, imposters theater
the ensemble whisperer
Total risk, total togetherness--aka the perfect ensemble.All that would be possible if it weren't for that one person. Or the place where you have to rehearse. Or the time of year. Or if your name were different. Or if all of us had fundamentally different personalities.Have you said any of these things? Thought them privately? Well then, turns out you're normal.We all know what a good ensemble is in theory, but how to really, practically make it happen? How to go from where you are now to effortless flow? How to even know what you're missing?I've helped hundreds of groups of all ages and backgrounds figure out how to become a team.
Trust, connection, what it takes for you to believe that whoever you're with actually has your back. But how do you build that? How do you take a bunch of random individuals and turn them into a group that can build scenes anywhere, any time, and know they will be taken care of? Liz has the answer.
Talk to her about what you need and how she can help you get there. You perform for the joy of it, and your teammates should too.
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