iO Theater

KP joins to talk about origins and dramatic sudden closure of iO theater. How can you make a sustainable business off of adults playing pretend? Turns out it’s pretty hard. This episode has everything: improv comedy, wage theft allegations, desecration of human remains. Twists and turns everywhere! Follow KP's incredible project @they.call.us everywhere!!! Footnotes:  Behind the Laughs: Community and Inequality in Comedy, Michael P. Jeffries The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legend of Del Close, Kim “Howard” Johnson Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History, Margaret Hicks Skullduggery, Tad Friend, The New Yorker Comedy Guru Charna Halpern Carries On, Achy Obejas, Chicago Tribune The First Comedy Strike, Richard Zoglin, Time Magazine This Unsung Comic Guru Turned Her Passion For Improv Into a Profitable Business INC Magazine, 2016 iO Co-Founder's Controversial Sexual Harassment Comments Spark Debate, Mae Rice, Chicagoist iO Chicago’s move is more than a new address, Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune iO makes a big move into founder Charna Halpern’s ‘dream theater’, Brianna Wellen, Chicago Reader What We Can Learn From Improv Theaters' PPP Loans, Seth Simons, Paste Magazine The Death of an Improv Theater: Mismanagement and Neglect at iO West, Seth Simons, Paste Magazine