Erica & Blaine

Erica Elam & Blaine Swen are back! Come watch these two stage veterans create a fully improvised musical based on your suggestion.

Special guests: Grand Rapids 7

Erica has performed at The Kennedy Center, Nashville Rep, The Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, and The Second City, among others. She’s traveled the world teaching and performing improv since 2005 in places like Chicago, Los Angeles, Alaska, Hawaii, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Australia, and the Seychelles. Erica has facilitated groundbreaking corporate training and education sessions for Google, Facebook, DeLoitte, etc. and served as adjunct faculty at The Theatre School at DePaul and visiting faculty at Princeton University. Erica is a company member with the critically-acclaimed musical improv group, Baby Wants Candy, and was the first woman to join the company of The Improvised Shakespeare Company. TV/Film credits include Chicago Fire (NBC), Chicago Med (NBC), and The Merry Gentleman directed by and starring Michael Keaton. You can hear her as “The Singing Sword” on the podcast Hello, from the Magic Tavern. She has a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from The University of Pennsylvania and now lives in Nashville with her husband and two monsters…er, toddlers.

Blaine is a Nashville-based writer/actor. He is the creator and director of The Improvised Shakespeare Company® and tours widely with The ISC performing at places like The Kennedy Center, The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Just For Laughs, Bonnaroo, 92Y and the Soho Theatre in London. Blaine has performed for many years in Chicago where the Chicago Reader named him the "Best Improviser in Chicago." His iO Chicago credits include the two-person group Blessing with Susan Messing, The Armando Diaz Experience, and the one-person improvised musical BASH! Additional Chicago stage credits include The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pegasus Players Theatre, The Backroom Shakespeare Project, and The Second City. Television credits include Game Changer (DropOutTV), Crisis (NBC), and The Odd Couple (CBS). He has developed original pilots with NBC, Universal Cable Productions, and Pop TV. You can hear him as Arnor the Warrior and Barnor the Lawyer on the podcast Hello, from the Magic Tavern. Blaine also has a PhD in philosophy from Loyola University, Chicago.