Barbara Scott Joined Company: 1986 First Improv Class: 1986 (performing improv since 1976) First BATS Class: 1986 with Drew Letchworth BATS Coach: Since 1986 Web Site: www.truefictionmagazine.com Myspace.com: http://www.myspace.com/noscript   Contact: company@improv.org Barbara Scott has been improvising for more than 25 years, and has been a member of the BATS Company and coaching staff since its first year.

She's played Theatresports in many U.S. cities, as well as in Calgary, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and as part of a national touring company in New Zealand.

Barbara is a founding member of True Fiction Magazine improvisational theatre, with whom she's performed internationally. She is also a working actor in film, industrials, trade shows and voiceover (most recently in The Sims).

Barbara teaches at BATS, the American Conservatory Theatre, Full Circle Productions, the San Francisco Opera Center and the SF Conservatory of Music. She has led master improv classes at Stanford University, Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre, the Funny Women Fest in Chicago, and at many international improv festivals.

She also teaches song improvisation (most of the time with Joshua Brody) with BATS, the San Francisco Opera Company, and in many U.S. and European cities. In 2002 she and Joshua taught a series of music classes to improvisers in Tokyo and Osaka.

Q&A With Barbara Scott

First BATS Show: In the audience for the very first public performance by BATS, November 10, 1986, at the New Conservatory Theater.

Favorite Formats: Musicals, genre long-forms, regulation Theatresports

Best Moment on the BATS Stage: A scene where I was lamenting the death of my child, saying I felt him near me. Just then, a baby in the audience began to cry. I said "I hear him!" and walked into the audience. When I got to the child it stopped crying and reached out for me. The father, without hesitation, handed it to me, and I took it onstage to complete the scene.

Improv Advice: Slow down and trust your instincts.

Artistic Influences: Keith Johnstone, Carol Burnett, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Jonathan Winters, Gilda Radner, the Beatles, my parents

Favorite Movies: Singin' in the Rain, West Side Story, Shawshank Redemption, The Natural, Casablanca, Pulp Fiction

Favorite Music: Beatles, Bach, King Sunny Ade, R&B

Favorite Play: Tennessee Williams, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind