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ECRS ECRS (Eastern Cooperative Recreation School) is a group that started out roughly 70 years ago, with a proud history of promoting fun, friendship and learning through various recreational activities, including theatre games of several kinds. Amongst the founders and philosophical "parents" of ECRS were at least one person instrumental in the development of "improv" as we know it today, namely Neva Boyd, who in many ways may also be considered the "great-grandmother" of theatrical improv as it is know today.
Specifically, much of the present-day fundamentals of improv trace their origins to Viola Spolin, regarded by many as the "grandmother" of modern improv. Spolin's son, Paul Sills, was in fact one of the co-founders, in the late '50s, of the Second City improv troupe.
Second City is famous today as one of the main "seed-beds" of comic talents such as Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and many others made famous by Saturday Night Live and other exploits, as well as a core of Second City actors (Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, and others) responsible for such improv based "mockumentaries" as This Is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman, and many more individual roles and achievements on stage and in film.
Getting back to the roots, though, Spolin herself trained originally as a settlement worker, first studying with Neva Boyd at the Group Work School in Chicago. Neva Boyd's innovative work in group leadership, recreation and the use of games as a way of reaching out to, encouraging and empowering the population of largely immigrant and poor children with whom the settlement school movement was chiefly concerned at that time.
Spolin went on to serve as drama supervisor for the Chicago branch of the WPA's Recreational Project from 1939 to 1941, where she developed and adapted a variety of theatre games intended to bridge cultural and ethnic barriers among those served by the Project. More information on Spolin's methods, games and related material may be found at The Spolin Center's website. A lengthy set of excerpts concerning her theory of play, taken from Neva Boyd's writings, may serve to illustrate the debt Ms. Spolin gratefully acknowledged to her mentor, Ms. Boyd.
If you are interested in ECRS, please feel free to request membership on the ECRS Yahoo group by using the handy request box below. If you are not already an ECRS member, please specify your interest (and that you were referred by this page) so one of our moderators will know to approve your request.
Astronomy
Sourland Mountain Astronomical Clock of the day (click on links in image to explore further dates and details).
