Link of the Month:

• The September Link of the Month is the Improvisation Top 50, a list of the best improv sites on the web. It's a way to cross promote all of our improv sites and it ranks sites by the number of times people clickthrough to the list from the various member sites. Click here to vote for the IRC and to check out the full list of member sites.
• Back in January of 2001, a new star was born in the world of improv and his name was Bill Byrne. He hit the ground running, kicking ass in improv class after improv class and even landed himself on a Harold team at ImprovOlympic. All along the way, he kept a journal to share his joy and even his pain with the rest of us. Sadly, he has left Chicago and returned to Florida, but he has been so kind to collect his writings in a book. You can download the book (in PDF format) here. It's the August IRC Link of the Month.
• July link of the month is at yesand.com where Asaf has published some excerpts from Whose Improv Is It Anyway? Beyond Second City by Amy Seham. Included is an interview of the author, and portions of three chapters, one on Second City, one on IO (more specifically Jane), and one on the Annoyance.
• May/June link of the month is You've got a Crush on Aaron Bergeron at www.awesomefactory.com. Read slowly.
• Link of the Month for April 2001 - An Interview With Amy Poehler at the newly revamped www.possiblesideeffects.com. Be sure to also take a look at take a look at An Interview With Miles Stroth which is also worth the read. Also, kudos to the designers. It looks like IBM designed the site. Very sharp.
• March 2001 - Ed's Head Ed O'Rourke's on-line journal at Improv411. I've been reading Ed's journal and what I especially like are the stories from his past that he sprinkles in. More stories! More shaman stuff!
• February 2001 - The New Improv Page is a great resource for improvisation. It's got a clean and simple interface, with a very comprehensive set of links to improv groups, classes, festivals, performers, games & web journals.
• January 2001 - Craig Cackowski's Mainstage Notes - A detailed journal from one of the current performers of Second City's Mainstage show about the making of their current show, Slaughterhouse 5, Cattle 0

Theaters & Shows

• Upright Citizens Brigade Theater - Home for long-form improvisation in NYC, also check out www.uprightcitizens.org
• ImprovOlympic - Chicago's premier theater dedicated to long-form.
  Also in LA at IO West.
• Second City - The world's best known sketch comedy theater.
• Annoyance Productions - the infamous comedy/improv theater of the 90's is reborn. Read Mick's Second City's Mainstage Journal about directing Paradigm Lost [note: the link to the next page is always at the bottom of the page]. Also be sure read the January 4th entry which contains Mick's How To Be a Perfect Actor.
• The Playground - Chicago's improv co-op.
• WNEP Theater - WNEP is not a radio station--it's theater from Chicago's hardest working producer/director, Don Hall.
• CageMatch NYC - two teams enter, one team leaves. The improv monster I created is now in 3 cities. See also the original Chicago site - IO Cagematch.

Other Sites

• Chicago Improv Festival - the fourth annual fest will be May 1-6.
• Noah's Ark - Noah Gregoropolous' home page (IO Instructor)
• Argos Agency - Jason Chin's production company
• Yesand.com - an improv site with more of a short form vibe
• ImprovReview.com - reviews of NYC improv shows and a national calendar for improv shows
• ImprovLand.com - similar to the New Improv Page, but with message boards and a monthly chat
• ImprovChicago.com - devoted to the Chicago improv scene. Features links, a calendar and a very active message boards for the locals.

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