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Meet Charna Halpern of iO Theater in Hollywood

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Charna Halpern.

Charna, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am the founder of iO in Chg and iOWEST. I have been in business for 38 years. My partner, Del Close and I created long form improvisation which changed the face of improvisational comedy forever. I have written the books on long form improvisation which are the bible for improvisation-TRUTH IN COMEDY and ART BY COMMITTEE. I have honed the talents of most of the people in the entertainment industry including Tina Fey, David Koechner, Farley,Amy Poehler,(and the original UCB 4), Seth Meyers and his writing staff, Steven Colbert and many of his staff, Jordan Peele, Jordan Klepper of The Opposition and his writing Staff and most of the writers and performers on SNL-past and present, Vince Vaughn, as well as Directors Adam McKay and Jon Favreau…and the list goes on. I work closely with Lorne Michaels and his Producers yearly to bring the best talent when writers and performers are needed. It is well known that the best training is at iO. The casting directors for tv know that our folks bring the tenets of treating each other as if we are geniuses, poets and artists. People tend to want to work with people who will say “yes” to others ideas, honor those ideas and make them work.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The biggest obstacle has been that papers such as THE NEW YORK TIMES don’t do their homework. So if someone gets a tv show, they just say the person was trained at UCB. Its like they know no other theater. They’ve even done a huge story on me but they still don’t get it. Just recently when Jordan Klepper got The OPPOSITION, the paper wrote that he had trained at UCB. He was at iO for 7 years-never trained at UCB. They also said Adam McKay and Horatio Sanz trained at UCB. Adam trained at iO when UCB didn’t even exist. In fact, UCB started at iO in my upstairs theater. The ignorance of New York and sometimes LA papers gets frustrating. Chicago press gets it right.

Please tell us about iO Theater.
iO is a theater and a school that is famous for creating long form improvisation. Our students train and then become performers. In 38 years, many have risen to the top as I have mentioned before. Now we are the place that casting directors come to as we are training the stars of tomorrow. If you want to be the best-you go to iO.

I am most proud of what we teach. We teach a high-level form of collaboration where people take care of each other and make each other look good on stage. When you are truly listening and working together-the work happens to be hilarious and insightful. Because of these tenets, we are also making better people. It is these tenets that people love and carry with them. Tina Fey said these are tenets that made sense to her for life. And this is why people love to work with people from iO. Our people respect and honor the ideas of others and in turn, they are treated the same way. And we are training improvisers to write on their feet which helps in future careers.

Our work and our level of talent set us apart from everyone else.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I might have purchased a place of my own right away instead of getting thrown out of small bars over the years in Chg. I’d like to get a new space now in LA as I’m not thrilled my landlord. If anyone knows of a great theater space with classrooms and a bar-call me.

Pricing:

  • Classes are $300
  • Shows range from $10 to $15 depending on the shows.

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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