Rebecca Stockley Joined Company: 1989 First Improv Class: 1972 at the University of Washington First BATS Class: Rebecca TAUGHT the first BATS class in 1986; First class as a student was Improvised Singing with Barbara Scott and Joshua Raoul Brody in1989 BATS Coach: Since 1986 Other BATS Service: Head Coach, 1991; International Tournament Producer, 1991-92; Dean of School; 1992-2003; Board Member, 1994-2003 Web Site: www.improvlady.com Myspace.com: http://www.myspace.com/rebeccastockley Contact: company@improv.org

A co-founder of BATS Improv, Rebecca was the Dean of the BATS School of Improv from 1992 to 2003. Rebecca has been designing and teaching improvisation workshops since 1984.

She has created and implemented improvisational theatre workshops and programs for several theatre training programs including: the American Conservatory Theatre Advanced Training Program; the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and Stanford University.

Rebecca's first improv group was The Grey Family Players in 1972. She has performed with The Other Cafe Players, Seattle Theatresports, Out of the Blue, Out of Line, Pulp Playhouse, True Fiction Magazine, Eat the Apple, and Fratelli Bologna. Rebecca has played Theatresports in over 20 cities on 4 continents. She has performed in and taught Keith Johnstone's Gorilla Theatre, Lifegame, Micetro, and has been instrumental in starting Theatresports leagues in four cities.

Rebecca's book, Improvisation Through Theatresports™, is a curriculum for teaching improvisation to young people and is out of print.

Rebecca is a pioneer in bringing improvisational theatre to the world of business. Clients include: Apple Computers, The Museum of Science Boston, and Washington Mutual Bank. Rebecca teaches improv and acting for animators at Pixar Animation Studios, Dreamworks, and Electronic Arts.

Q&A With Rebecca Stockley

First BATS Show: I was in the first BATS show ever, November 10, 1986, at the New Conservatory Theater. Seattle vs. San Francisco... I was on the Seattle team. We lost!

Favorite Formats: Theatresports and Gorilla Theatre

Funniest Moment on the BATS Stage: In a BATS vs. Stanford match (at 450 Geary in 1991) we played the THE AMAZING KRESKIN challenge--it is the scene where an audience member secretly guesses the score (before the scene), records it and places it in an envelope which is sealed. Then the scene is played and the judges score. Unless the audience guess and the actual score are the same number... the team gets zero.

At the point where we challenged Stanford to the technical zero, BATS was beating Stanford (and feeling guilty) and neither team was particularly inspired. So we challenged Stanford to a 'technical zero' scene and started the round with The Amazing Kreskin challenge.

The scene was great. It was definitely the best scene so far that night. The players were connected, nutty, bold and dynamic. The audience was laughing like crazy. The scene was scored with 4s and 5s. Our total score was 13. When we opened the envelope containing the score of the audience member... the number was 8 (a reasonable guess based on the scores we had seen so far that night). Because our score was 13 and the audience guess was 8 we got zero points on the scene. We lost the match... Stanford took home the chicken and the BATS team celebrated mightily.

Improv Advice: The more improv there is, the more improv there is. Give improv away and more will come back to you.

Artistic Influences: ee cummings, Shakespeare, Picasso, Origami, Keith Johnstone

Favorite Movies: A Mighty Wind, Groundhog Day, Toy Story, Toy Story II

Favorite Music: The Beatles

Favorite Theatre: William Shakespeare is my favorite playwright. I LOVE the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.