Improv

Olivia has been teaching, coaching, and performing improvisation, and practicing applied improvisation, since 2010. She trained at the UCB, PIT, and Magnet theaters in New York City, and she is a former member of Castillo Theater’s off-Broadway musical improv team, The Proverbial Loons. Olivia has served as a featured improv trainer at New York University, Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Pittsburgh, Marshall University, Pace University, and the national nonprofit All Stars Project. She has also been a guest lecturer of applied improvisation and applied theatre at Point Park University and Connect-Us. Olivia uses the principles of improvisation as the core pedagogy and methodology in all of her work, and improv is the key focus of her dissertation: A Phenomenological Exploration of Theatrical Improvisation and Its Potential to Operate as a Cultural Therapeutics.

One of her proudest accomplishments is having taught and coached St. John's University's hilarious student improv team, the Bad Astronauts, from 2013-2018. The Bad Astronauts produced (and still produce) 3-4 shows per year on campus and performed at improv theatres and festivals all over New York City. Olivia also brought the team to NYU for an intercollegiate workshop on using improv as a tool for conflict resolution.