Improv Legend Susan Messing Spends a few days with Unscripted

Susan Messing was in Nashville May 20–24. Three sold-out workshops, a podcast recording, and a sold-out headline show at EastSide Bowl.

Messing is in her 40th year as an improviser and comedian. She's an alumna of iO Theatre and Chicago's Second City Mainstage, and a founding member of Chicago's Annoyance Theatre. She's taught her curriculum at iO, iO West, The Annoyance, The Second City, and around the world, and has been an adjunct instructor at Loyola University, DePaul University's Theatre School, and The School at Steppenwolf; she currently teaches at the University of Chicago. Her television and film credits include Comedy Central's Premium Blend and NBC's Late Friday, and Blessing, her duo show with Blaine Swen, has run for years at iO. When someone with that résumé agrees to spend a few days in Nashville, it's an opportunity to bring a caliber of training and performance our community doesn't often get access to.

The Blessing Show

The week opened with a sold-out show at EastSide Bowl: Blessing, the long-running two-person show Messing and Blaine Swen have performed together at iO for years. Local TikTok star Andi Marie Tillman and improviser Kelsie Craig opened the night.

The Workshops

Messing taught three public workshops, and all three sold out: Characters, Ensemble, and one called Kaleidoscope, focused on movement and whimsy. Three different entry points into improv, three full rooms of Nashville's improv community, hungry for this level of instruction.

The Podcast

While she was here, Messing sat down with Mike Garvin to record an episode of Improv Saves! World Agrees., Unscripted's podcast. It's a chance to get her perspective on the stage and on tape so she can keep teaching people well after her visit ended.

Why It Matters

Bringing in an artist like Susan Messing costs money and coordination, and it's a deliberate investment. It raises the level of instruction available here, gives local performers and teaching artists a chance to train and open for someone at the top of the field, and it draws attention that helps make the case that Nashville can support this art form at a high level. That's the same idea behind everything Unscripted does: improv shouldn't be limited to a few cities or a few people who can already afford access to it.

This project was funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission.

TúPOC + John Gebratatose

Investing in Ensemble: Behind TuPOC's For The People Show

A lot of the most important work Unscripted does never happens on stage. It happens in a rehearsal or classroom, with intentional teaching and facilitation.

This year, that room belonged to TuPOC, Nashville’s BIPOC Improv Ensemble Unscripted supported in 2026, and visiting artist John Gebratatose, of Good Camel Comedy in Minneapolis, who came to Nashville in late February 2026 to help build For The People, a show made by and for the community.

The Workshops

Then, the weekend of the show in late February, John arrived in Nashville and packed in three workshops, opening the work to the wider community: one for our community partners and participants, a public workshop on character work, and Hard Topics, built for teachers navigating tough moments in an improv classroom.

The Rehearsals

Rehearsals started January 2026: 10 sessions, coached remotely by John, in the Unscripted Studio where TuPOC gathered in person to do the work. Over those months, TúPOC built the trust, timing, and shared instinct that turns a group of improvisers into an empowered ensemble.

The Show

For The People was the payoff: an ensemble performing at full strength, in front of a community that asked for more at the end of the show. A sold out audience that took time for a dance party at the end. TúPOC asked that the show proceeds should be donated to mutual aid in Minneapolis, in solidarity with John’s home community. After artists were paid, Unscripted rounded up all ticket sales and donations sent a $2000 to our neighbors up north.

The Investment

Here's what it took to make it happen:

Direct investment in TuPOC's rehearsals and show totaled $3,257.31: coaching, ensemble and artist fees, flights and lodging, and rehearsal space. Add in $1,000 for John's community workshops and $2,000 in donated ticket sales (including $1,000 in venue rental generously donated by Shannon at The Darkhorse Theater) and the total project investment reaches $6,257.31.

Every dollar of that is an investment in the same idea: that people deserve access to art that heals, empowers, and connects them, and that the artists and ensembles doing that work deserve to be paid.

That's what it looks like to build a show For the People, human by human.

This project was funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission.