Will Gutzman

Born in Pasadena, California, Will Gutzman has been living the spontaneous life since he began improvising in the ComedySportz high school league. In college, he auditioned for and joined the Stanford Improvisors (SImps) his freshman fall. He became co-president of the SImps for four years and led the group to successful performances in the Bay, Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago. The SImps lifeblood courses strongly through the Bayfront Theatre, with multiple SImps serving as BATS performers, staff, and alums. Once a SImp, always a SImp!

At BATS, Will wears many hats. He performs with the company, teaches classes for adults and kids, coaches corporate workshops, and is the School Administrator. He is also a facilitator with On Deck Workshops, a leadership development consultancy that specializes in experiential improv-based teaching. He also teaches through StageWrite, an organization that employs improv and the communal art of theatre to help kids build skills in creative expression, collaboration, critical thinking, and literacy. We gotta spread the improv message far and wide!

Outside of his spontaneous life, Will got his master’s at Stanford studying virtual reality. He is interested in a wide variety of virtual reality applications, including virtual production, storytelling, and empathy generation. For his bachelor’s at Stanford, he studied Science, Technology, and Society through the lens of human communication and media. He plays soccer and the viola, but usually not simultaneously.