S2E2:

Environment of mutual trust: Teaching improv across generations with Bill Hillsman and Emery Whitiker

Host: Mike Garvin

Guests: Bill Hillsman and Emery Whitiker

This episode is part of a series of episodes interviewing leaders of identity-affirming improv workshops as a part of an Unscripted initiative called Changing the Face of Improv Leadership, funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission.

In this episode, Mike Garvin interviews Bill Hillsman and Emery Whitiker about their experience working together to teach improv in the senior community and having a younger improv teacher mentor and teach a generation with more lived experience than himself. The two met and began their improv teaching partnership through an Unscripted improv club at Fifty Forward, a senior community center in the Donelson area of Nashville, Tennessee. Bill was paired with Emery to mentor her on creating a workshop to teach to the senior community at a local library. The two discuss creating an “environment of mutual trust” as part of what it’s like to experience cross-generational improv.

About the Guests:

Bill Hillsman is a Nashville based improviser for the last 14 years. Over the last decade he's immersed himself in the teaching side of improv, directing dozens of groups and writing curriculums for classes and workshops that shape the local scene. What Bill lacks in follow-through, he makes up for.

Emery Whitiker is a Nashville improviser who can be found performing with troupes such as Laugh Lines and Improv Works, and when she's not improving, she's playing some shady character in a murder mystery with the Immersion Theater Group. Emery splits time between performing and teaching others how to use improv as a tool for mental, emotional, and physical health with the help of The Unscripted Leadership Program and Fifty Foward. With much time and growth, Emery is pegged to become a pillar in the improv relm brandishing herself as a "Conductor of Fun who leads from experience and with an open pallet!" While comedy has been a part of her life from childhood, Emery now understands the benefits of laughter stating "I believe life is an adventure and doing things the right way is honorable, but there is much to learn from failing"

Improvised Ad by several Nashville improvisers.

Executive Producers: Christina Ashworth + Emma Supica

Editing: Cammie York

Mixing: Dave Strumfeld

Graphic Design: Cammie York

A project of Unscripted, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Nashville, TN. We heal, empower, and connect our community through equitable and accessible improv programs.