Bobbi Block

Block's founding of ComedySportz Philadelphia in 1991 established a long-form and competitive improv presence in Philadelphia at a time when the city had no significant institutional improv infrastructure, predating the regional expansion of iO, UCB, and Second City training programs that occurred through the late 1990s and 2000s. Her simultaneous development of LunchLady Doris as a long-form company placed her at the creation of Philadelphia's first dedicated long-form improv ensemble, building an institutional foundation in a market that lacked Chicago's iO-centered training culture or New York's UCB Harold Night system.

Her training across three major institutions, iO Chicago, The Annoyance Theatre, and UCB New York, gave her access to the foundational pedagogical traditions of Chicago-style long-form and UCB game-based improv during the period when both were crystallizing as formal training systems. The breadth of her institutional exposure distinguished her from practitioners whose training was confined to a single institutional lineage.

Her sustained work in applied improvisation through the Ariel Group for more than twenty years, alongside her academic appointments at Temple University, Drexel University, and Wharton Executive Education, reflects the parallel professional track that many improv-trained performers developed during the 2000s and 2010s as applied improvisation gained traction in corporate and organizational training contexts. Her client list, which spans financial services, consumer goods, defense, and healthcare, represents the range of industries that adopted improv-based facilitation during that period.

Block teaches improvisational theater at Temple University's School of Theater, Film and Media Arts and at Drexel University, where she also applies improv techniques to engineering leadership training. Her facilitation work through the Ariel Group and at Wharton Executive Education translates the ensemble principles of improv into organizational development contexts for corporate clients, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies. She holds certification as an Applied Improvisation Practitioner from the International Applied Improvisation Network, situating her practice within the formal standards of the applied improv field. Her approach emphasizes communal creation and collective connection as the organizing principles of improv-based learning, a philosophy she has applied across both theatrical and non-theatrical settings over more than two decades of facilitation.

Block's co-founding of ComedySportz Philadelphia in 1991 produced the city's longest-running comedy show and established an institutional improv presence in Philadelphia that preceded the regional expansion of Chicago and New York training programs. Her co-founding of LunchLady Doris created Philadelphia's first long-form improv company, which operated for twelve years and introduced long-form Harold-derived structures to a Philadelphia improv scene that had not previously hosted them. Her founding of Tongue and Groove Spontaneous Theater in 2007 provided the city with a producing company oriented toward communal and emotionally resonant unscripted theater, sustaining a distinct production identity over at least ten years.

Her sustained applied improv facilitation through the Ariel Group for more than twenty years and her academic appointments at Temple University, Drexel University, and Wharton Executive Education extend her influence into corporate, organizational, and academic contexts beyond the improv theater community. Her international teaching in New Zealand and Australia places her work within the global dissemination of applied improv pedagogy. The Philadelphia City Paper's 2008 recognition and her Fringe Festival profile at its 20th anniversary mark her as one of the recognized figures of Philadelphia's improv and unscripted theater community.

Bobbi Block holds two bachelor's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, in English and in Development Through Creative Expression, and an M.A. in Theater from Villanova University. Her background combines literary studies, theater, and improvisational training from iO Chicago, The Annoyance Theatre, and UCB New York.