Shake it up!

Based on one audience suggestion (a title for a play that has yet to be written) The Improvised Shakespeare Co. creates a fully improvised play in Elizabethan style. Each of the players has brushed up on his "thee's" and "thou's" to bring you a show filled with off-the-cuff comedy using the language and themes of William Shakespeare. Any performance could be filled with power struggles, star-crossed lovers, sprites, kings, queens, princesses, sword-play, rhyming couplets, asides, insults, persons in disguise and all that we've come to expect from the pen of the Great Bard. The performance could reveal a tragedy, comedy, or history. Nothing is planned-out, rehearsed, or written. Each play is completely improvised, so each play is entirely new!

The goal of the SHAKE IT UP! performance is to make Shakespeare feel exciting, accessible, and relevant to the young reader. Utilizing improvisation and comedy, the ISC has developed a unique and interactive approach to deepening students' understanding of Shakespeare's texts.
Show History

The Improvised Shakespeare Company was founded in 2005. After a short run on the Donny's Skybox Stage at The Second City, The ISC began its open run in the Del Close Theatre at iO Chicago. In 2006 The Improvised Shakespeare Touring Company was created to take The ISC's unique brand of comedy beyond the borders of Chicago. The ISC has performed at colleges, theatre venues, and festivals throughout the world. They continue to perform for audiences from 8 years old to 98 and teach workshops encouraging participants to enjoy improvising in the style of the Bard. The ISC has been featured at the Piccolo Spoleto Fringe Festival, the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival, and the prestigious Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. It has been named Chicago's best improv group by both the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Examiner and recently received a New York Nightlife Award for "Best Comedic Performance by a Group".