INSTRUCTOR BIOS:

Rick and Laura met in Chicago in The Second City National Touring Company, and continue to write, teach and perform, both separately and together. Rick & Laura teach music improv workshops at colleges, comedy clubs, festivals and theaters around the world, bringing a unique dual perspective as an improvising actor and musician.
 

Laura Hall is best known as the improvisational pianist and Musical Director on all 20 seasons of the hit TV show, “Whose Line is it Anyway”, with both Drew Carey and Aisha Tyler hosting. Laura has toured extensively with “Drew Carey and the Improv All Stars” and performed with “Whose Line Live” at the Adelphi, the Palladium, and Royal Albert Hall in London.

While at The Second City, Laura was Musical Director and Composer for the Jeff Award winning E.T.C. revue, “Channel This!” She composed original musicals with The Annoyance Theater and Theater-A-Go-Go, including “Patty, Patty, Bang! Bang!” which won an L.A. Weekly award for Best New Musical. Laura has played with countless improv groups, including iO Chicago,
iO West, Theatresports, The Groundlings, Unexpected Productions (Seattle), ImprovBoston, Curious Comedy (Portland), “Opening Night: The Improvised Musical!” (L.A.), and “Hyprov” with Colin Mochrie and Asad Mecci.

Laura has composed scores and songs for several indie films, including; “Slice of Pie”, written by Rick Hall; “The Long Isolation”, recorded entirely remotely during the pandemic lockdown; two award winning holocaust documentaries, “Swimming in Auschwitz” and “After Auschwitz”; a romantic comedy, “Anatomy of a Breakup” written by Judy Minor; and “The Wheels on the Bus” children’s video series, starring Roger Daltrey as an 8 ft dragon.

Laura has recorded “Improv Karaoke”, fully produced tracks to help improvisers learn music improv. She’s created an in-depth online video course, “A Musician’s Guide to Improv Comedy” and a book, “The Improv Comedy Musician: The Ultimate Guide to Playing Music with an Improv Group” which both teach musicians the specialized skill of playing for improv.
 

Jessica Joy is an alum of the Second City, etc stage and the National Touring Company. She is a regular at the iO Theater in Chicago, where she improvises as part of the original cast of Phony Award Winning Musicals.As a film and television actor she has appeared on ModernFamily, Chicago Med, The Playboy Club, and in the new film Screams From the Tower. As well as teaching and directing improv, she teaches driver's ed to teens in Skokie.