Blaine Swen

Blaine Swen is the creator and director of The Improvised Shakespeare Company, an ensemble he founded in Chicago in 2005 that performs fully improvised plays in the style and language of Shakespeare. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Loyola University Chicago, where he was studying when he began developing the company alongside actor Thomas Middleditch. After performing five inaugural shows at Donny's Skybox, The Second City's student theater, he was invited by Charna Halpern to bring the show to iO Chicago in 2006, where it became a long-running fixture. Swen's iO Chicago credits include the two-person ensemble Blessing with Susan Messing, the house team Bullet Lounge, the one-man improvised musical BASH!, The Armando Diaz Experience, The Deltones, and Challenger. Chicago Reader named him Best Improviser in Chicago in 2010. The Improvised Shakespeare Company expanded to Los Angeles and tours nationally, with appearances at the Kennedy Center, Bonnaroo, and the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.

Career

Blaine Swen came to Chicago to pursue graduate studies in philosophy at Loyola University, where he eventually earned a PhD. He had prior exposure to improvisation in high school and college and enrolled in improv classes at The Second City Conservatory while pursuing his doctorate, training in improvisation, comedy, and sketch comedy. He also studied Shakespeare's canon with Loyola professors and read Plato's Republic and Ben Jonson to understand the Elizabethan theatrical context.

At iO Chicago, Swen performed on multiple teams and in multiple formats. His iO credits include Blessing, a two-person ensemble with Susan Messing; Bullet Lounge, a house team; BASH!, a one-man improvised musical; The Armando Diaz Experience, iO's ensemble performing the form its artistic director developed; The Deltones; and Challenger. His additional Chicago stage credits include The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pegasus Players Theatre, The Second City Education Company, and The Backroom Shakespeare Project.

In 2005, while still in graduate school, Swen founded The Improvised Shakespeare Company. He approached fellow Second City Conservatory student Thomas Middleditch about creating a show that performed fully improvised plays in the style, language, and dramatic conventions of William Shakespeare. Middleditch, initially skeptical, agreed to participate. The company performed its inaugural five-show run at Donny's Skybox, The Second City's student theater at 1616 N. Wells Street in Chicago. Middleditch later became known for his Emmy-nominated performance in HBO's Silicon Valley.

In February 2006, Charna Halpern, owner and artistic director of iO Chicago, heard about the show and invited Swen to bring it to iO. The show moved to iO Chicago, where it expanded from one weekly performance to five performances per week and became a long-running resident production. Chicago Reader named Swen Best Improviser in Chicago in 2010. In October 2018, following a thirteen-year all-male casting policy, the company changed its approach to include women performers, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Improvised Shakespeare Company expanded nationally and internationally. The company established a resident company in Los Angeles and tours across the United States. It has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Perelman Theater in Philadelphia, at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, and at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. Swen has performed several shows with actor Patrick Stewart. The Chicago production celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2025.

Swen's television credits include NBC's Crisis and CBS's The Odd Couple. He has appeared on Dropout TV's Game Changer and Um, Actually. He voices the recurring character Arnor the Warrior on the audio comedy Hello from the Magic Tavern, a podcast set in the fictional medieval land of Foon that records new episodes through 2026. He is currently based in Los Angeles, where he continues as founder, director, and performer of The Improvised Shakespeare Company.

Historical Context

Swen's founding of The Improvised Shakespeare Company in 2005 represents a distinct approach to long-form improvisation that departs from the Harold-derived traditions dominant at iO and UCB. By committing the ensemble to fully improvised plays in Elizabethan dramatic conventions and early modern English diction, Swen created a form that places structural and linguistic constraints on performers that differ from the pattern-based game structures of the Chicago long-form tradition. The form requires performers to sustain verse rhythms, iambic meter, dramatic conventions of Shakespearean genre (tragedy, comedy, history), and period-appropriate vocabulary within an improvised context.

Charna Halpern's decision to invite ISC to iO Chicago in 2006 placed the show within iO's institutional home and gave it a weekly production context that allowed for sustained development. The expansion from one to five weekly performances at iO reflects the show's commercial reception and its fit within a training theater that had demonstrated appetite for diverse long-form structures.

The company's residency at the Kennedy Center and participation in Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal mark ISC as one of relatively few improv companies to have achieved sustained performance in venues associated with classical theater and major comedy festivals respectively. The coexistence of these booking contexts reflects the show's dual positioning as both comedy and theatrical novelty.

The Chicago Reader's designation of Swen as Best Improviser in Chicago in 2010 situated him within the broader iO and Chicago comedy ecosystem at a point when ISC had been running for five years and had become a recognizable entity in the city's improv landscape.

Legacy

The Improvised Shakespeare Company, which Swen founded in 2005, has sustained a twenty-year institutional presence across two cities and has become the best-known ensemble specializing in fully improvised Shakespearean drama in American improv. By establishing a long-running residency at iO Chicago and subsequently in Los Angeles, Swen demonstrated that a highly constrained long-form format, one demanding period language and Elizabethan dramatic structure, could sustain a production run comparable to Harold Night teams.

The company's international touring and appearances at the Kennedy Center and the Just for Laughs Festival have extended ISC's presence beyond the improv theater circuit into venues associated with classical performance and mainstream comedy, a crossover accomplished by few improv ensembles. The company's 2025 twentieth anniversary marks it as one of the longer-running improvised theater companies in the United States.

Swen's training at The Second City Conservatory and his iO Chicago performing credits, including work with Susan Messing in Blessing and participation in The Armando Diaz Experience, situate him within the Chicago improv lineage from which ISC emerged, even as the company's format departs substantially from that tradition.

Early Life and Training

Blaine Swen relocated to Chicago to pursue graduate studies in philosophy at Loyola University, where he earned a PhD. He had exposure to improvisation during high school and college before studying formally at The Second City Conservatory in Chicago.