Yes But Why Podcast

This week on Yes But Why Podcast, I talk to improviser and academic, David Escobedo.David Escobedo has been coaching and performing improv since 1995, starting his career in San Diego and Los Angeles. He has his BA and MA in Drama; and, David is currently pursuing his PhD in Drama with a focus on improv at the University of Chester in the UK. His Masters thesis paper was on how an improviser’s voice (background/experience) is the most valuable element to an improv team and show. David loves improv so much he wrote a book about it called “This Improv Book.” In our conversation, David teaches me a lot about the beginnings of improv and a few important details and people that the history of improv does not often talk about. David tells me the story of how Neva Boyd and her “theory of play” inspired Viola Spolin to create improv games as a means of building community in Chicago. We talk about how the culture of improv institutions has become more about selling a package and less about building a community. We dis