Charna Halpern

Charna Halpern
Born (1952-06-01) June 1, 1952 (age 72)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation(s)Improvisation teacher, writer
Years active1980–present

Charna Halpern (born June 1, 1952) is an American comedian who is co-founder of the ImprovOlympic, now known as iO. Upon iO's founding, in 1983, with partner Del Close, she began teaching Harold to many students in the Chicago theater community. Many prominent comedians performed at iO, from Neil Flynn (The Middle) to Jack McBrayer (30 Rock). Also appearing were up and coming comedic minds such as Craig Cackowski (Drunk History).

Halpern opened the iO West located in Hollywood, California, in the early 2000s. In February 2018, she made the decision to close the theater citing the reasons as the neighboring nightclub and lack of attendance.[1][2][3]

She and Close co-authored the book Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation with editor Kim "Howard" Johnson in 1994.[4] She published Group Improvisation in 2003 and Art by Committee in 2006.[5][6]

The remaining theater in Chicago, originally located in the Wrigleyville neighborhood was forced to relocate due to neighborhood development. In 2017, the theater reopened in the Clyborn North Area across from a Whole Foods flagship store, and next to VIPs strip club.

In 2020 during a forced shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a targeted racial justice outcry, she closed the only remaining Chicago location.

  1. ^ "iO West Is Shutting Down Next Week". 13 February 2018. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  2. ^ Obejas, Achy (2001-04-03). "Comedy Guru Charna Halpern Carries On". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
  3. ^ Hicks, Margaret (2011). "10 Truth in Comedy". Chicago Comedy: A fairly Serious History. The History Press. ISBN 9781609492113. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Truth was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Group was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Art was invoked but never defined (see the help page).