The Marvelous Michelle J. Gilliam
Michelle Gilliam is a beautiful person-inside and out! We have been friends for several years and I was delighted to have her as a guest.
Michelle grew up in Milwaukee in a loving and supportive family. During one family gathering, at age 4, she got her first big laugh and knew what her path would be!
She saw a Comedy Sportz show when she was 14 and was hooked! She was inspired to learn this art form and she did! She met Dick Chudnow, founder of Comedy Sportz Milwaukee, the first CS theatre in this country, he let her volunteer until she was old enough to work there! She did tasks like writing 300 name tags, with the benefit of watching lots of shows. A great way to learn and eventually teach!
She was so inspired by Comedy Sportz, she created an improv team in high school, held auditions and created a team she loved to play with.
We talked about her experience being a black woman in the improv world and how that affected her Growth as a person and coach.
Today her improv career takes her all over the country and the world.
Michelle is now based in Los Angeles, CA and works as an improviser, actor, host, voice actor, and the Owner and Artistic Director of Improv MKE, an improv comedy school and theater based online, currently serving the world.
She also teaches at The World’s Greatest Improv School, with Will Hines, and guest teaches at various theaters online and in person around the country and world.
Michelle headlined the Festivus Festival in Richmond, the 2022 Edinburgh Scotland Improv Festival and taught two-weekend intensives in Chester and Nottingham in the UK in March of 2022.
Enjoy getting to know the marvelous Miss Michelle!
You can connect with Michelle at:
https://www.improvmke.com
linkedin.com/in/michelle-gilliam-b9ab87193
twitter @missyglilqt

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Margot Escott LCSW

After working as a clinical social worker for over 30 years, I discovered the joy of Improvisational Theatre Games. Before that I presented classes and workshops on "The Healing Power of Laughter and Play" throughout the US and abroad. Since the 1970's I was trained as a New Games Referee from the New Games Foundation. But when I had my first class in improv I realized how therapeutic it is and began using improv in my clinical practice and special groups such as Improv for Anxiety and Improv for people with Parkinson's disease. In addition, I created class for several National Association for Social Workers (NASW) conference such as Fl. NASW, NJ NASW, OK NASW and corporations. There is viable research showing that improv helps with cognitive functioning, memory, decrease of anxiety and socialization. I'm delighted to teach folks of all ages this wonderful way to chase the blues away!