Patti Stiles
Patti is an actor, improviser, director, instructor and playwright whose been working professionally in theatre since 1983. She served her theatre apprenticeship at the world renowned Loose Moose Theatre and was trained by Keith Johnstone. She has an infectious enthusiasm for improvisation. Mix this with her insightful improvisation technique, strong narrative skill and her spirit of play, and it is no wonder she is responsible for inspiring many hundreds of people to improvise. Her understanding of Johnstone’s work and philosophy, combined with her own discoveries and her wealth of experience on the world impro stage, has made her a “must have” teacher for performers and companies wishing to create spontaneous theatre with fine skill, strong narrative, heart and elegant style. Patti is a member of the ITI Artistic Committee (CA), a founding member of the award winning Die Nasty – improvised soap opera (CA) and former Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre (CA) and Impro Melbourne (AU). Her tutelage was a spark of inspiration for the birth of London’s Spontaneity Shop and groups such as Smoking Sofa (FR). Patti is a regular guest director with B.L.U.E – the musical (IT) and the award winning Austentacious (UK). Her mentorship has strongly influenced many improvisors and improvisation companies all over the world. Patti has been featured on the cover of the Spanish impro magazine Status; she is a contributor to the book Art of Mistakes and has been interviewed for the books Something Like A Drug and The Improv Handbook (which is dedicated to Patti in recognition of her mentorship.) She has been interviewed for numerous podcasts and University papers and her blog has been translated into French, Italian, German and Portuguese. Adding to her list of credits are three nominations for an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award, plus she holds the unofficial record for being the first female to improvise for 53 hours in a row in the famous Die Nasty soap a thon. The Canadian press has given her the titles “Impro Doyen” and “Queen of Improvisation”. Patti has taught and performed in North and South America, Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, UAE and the Oceania region for numerous improvisation companies, festivals, and theatre schools and in the corporate arena.