ImproVIBE is the first and only Improv Comedy Theater training center in Greece, based in Athens.
ImproVIBE is the first and only Improv Comedy Theater training center in Greece, based in Athens.
Founder and artistic director is Menelaos Prokos. During the number of years he spent in Austin, Texas of the USA, he got heavily involved with the art of Improv Comedy Theater. Having traveled around the world for more than 13 years, in 2012 he decided to move back to Greece. He searched for Improv, yet he found no Improv. He desired Improv, so he decided to teach Improv.
IN FALL OF 2012 IMPROVIBE WAS BORN AND HAS BEEN ROCKING THE HOUSE WITH CLASSES AND SHOWS EVER SINCE.
The methodology behind Improv is based on thinking less and trying less. Instead, it’s all about reacting naturally to the piece of information you have just received. By default, it transcends the boundaries of a theater stage and affects the way we handle everything in life.
Improv is not just theater. It becomes a way of life.
We teach the art of putting Play back in your life and enjoying much more anything that you do. We teach how to take risks and celebrate the occasional failure. We teach how to let go of control and allow yourself to be affected and be changed. The tools we use to entertain audiences, to create theater on the spot and to make the obvious seem like a stroke of genius is exactly what we will teach you in order to be able to operate in a more fun and effective way.
IMPROVISATION IS SPONTANEOUS ENTERTAINMENT, CREATIVITY, FUN AND FREEDOM! WE INVITE YOU TO DISCOVER IT!
AND YOU SHALL BE TREATED COOKIES FROM SMIRNI
IMPROVISATION IS SPONTANEOUS ENTERTAINMENT, CREATIVITY, FUN AND FREEDOM! WE INVITE YOU TO DISCOVER IT!
AND YOU SHALL BE TREATED COOKIES FROM SMIRNI
MENELAOS PROKOS
Menelaos Prokos is a theatrical improviser, instructor, photographer and life-long traveller. During the 13 years he spent traveling around the world, he settled in Austin, Texas for three years, during which he got neck-deep in improvised theater. He trained with three different theaters and took part in many Improv Theater productions there. He was amazed by how passionate this art form is and the way it broadens one’s imagination and gets them laughing like little kids for hours.
It was the logical (but utterly unexpected) next step to move back to Greece and found ImproVIBE, the first Improv Theater school in Athens and the whole of Greece. He is also the producer of Mt Olymprov, Greece’s International improv Festival, that has been running successfully and growing since 2016.
Many years ago he obtained a degree and an MSc in a field that he detests, has worked as anything from translator for a large international financial group to sushi chef at a super market (and everything in between), has lived in 5 different countries on 4 continents, and has ended up in the hospital a number of times.
He is heavily involved in applied improvisation, working with companies from all around the world. Outside of Greece, he has taught/performed all over Europe, as well as USA and Colombia. He is able to teach in Greek, English, Spanish and French.
His teaching primarily focuses on acting natural, adding fun and realism that comes directly from the heart, and pushing the students towards enjoying everything they do on stage. He strongly believes in creating emotional improv with a purpose that goes beyond the quick joke and has impact, not just for the audience but for the performers as well.
When not swimming the improv seas, he spends most of his free time cycling, playing escape room games, learning how to play the violin and cleaning up the mess his dog makes.
LILA BARMPA
Lila had her first meet with Improv in 2015, the year she finished school, and from the first moment she felt like home in it. Her love for theatre and her interest in looking for new ways for being on stage drove her to discover Improv. When she was a kid her family called her “Harlequin” because she loved having shortly shows for them.
The same time with her Improv education she had her first year at the university. She is studying Theatre at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She took acting workshops and she had different actors as instructors/teachers. She used to be part of theatre plays for kids as an actress and she teaches theatre to kids.
She has finished her education at ImproVIBE, but she totally thinks that learning about Improv never stops, so she is always open to learn something new and find inspiration. She started travelling around the world, having workshops and performing as an improviser.
Lila is one of the most experienced and dynamic improv instructors in Greece and, if you are lucky, she will be teaching your class.
ANASTASIA KALOGERAKI
Anastasia was born and raised in Heraklion, Crete. Her love for theater started a long time ago, when she used to put on whole shows in her childhood room and continued during her school and university years in amateur drama groups.
The road of life brought her to Improvibe, or to be more specific, her good friend Panos, with whom they have created the improv duo DEN TA HOUME, meaning “We are not a couple!”. You may have seen them host together the Athens Improv Jams and Improve nights.
Her need to express through Improv female’s experience led her to the creation of the group ImproVWomen, of which she is a proud member.
He strongly believes that there is always room for another Improv project as long as there is will and an excel file to get you organized.
She is known for her laugh (if you’ve been to an Athens Improv Jam you’ll definitely know) but also for Kyveli, the happiest and most obsessed with pine cones dog in the world.
Do you want to make her happy? Give her food, things with polka dot pattern, Disney movies and themed parties!
Do you want to make her cringe? Ask her to write her bio in the third singular face.
NIKI BRISKOLA
Niki Briskola first came across an improv show entirely by chance in 2019, when she won a ticket through a radio station. She had no idea what to expect, and neither did Improv know what to expect from her. At some point during the show, she was called on stage, and without thinking much, she started making some weird sounds with her mouth. As she walked out of the theater, she decisively declared: “Okay, this is what I want to do with my life.”
The only problem? She had already said the same thing about practicing law. Niki, you see, is living proof that when it comes to making decisions, she doesn’t choose, she wants it all. So, she arrived at the only logical conclusion: to do it all. Since then, she has attended improvisation workshops, participated in performances, graduated from ImproVIBE, and found herself enjoying a life full of silliness – always on stage, of course (or maybe off-stage too).
Today, she balances between improv stages and legal cases, between spontaneity and seriousness. If there’s one thing that defines her more than anything, it’s her love for puns.
And so, she has found a way to combine two seemingly unrelated worlds, proving that when life challenges you with tough choices, you can always do them all.
KONSTANTINA SKOURTI
Konstantina Skourti is a young woman who gives her own struggle not to face with procrastination anything that asks her to describe herself.
She was born in Athens and after the age of six she lived in the distant and exotic Corinth from where she left for her studies in Ioannina. She received a degree in Greek literature, tsipouro and the cheapphilosophies that come with it.
Returned to Athens in 2015, where she studies and creatively works with children, while she voluntarily offers Greek lessons to those whose Greek is not their mother tongue.
Met theatrical improvisation and ImproVIBE in 2017. She started out of sheer curiosity but soon found herself loving it and completing, without realizing, all seven levels of school. Loves Musical Improv and music in general. She is a member of the improvised group Improvates, a team that acrobatizes between the next bite and the next show. Whatever comes first!
She returns to ImproVIBE in another position this year, where she will be welcoming the new students of the school and recognizing the joy of the unknown in their faces. Saying that, she just felt the need to quote a phrase from the movie Dead Poets Society:
I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way
ZOGRAFIA MENTESIDOU
Zografia firmly believes that we are what we eat, so we would probably say that she’s a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.
She loves cats and dogs and she is a proud mamma of three ( 2 cats, one dog).
She likes listening to almost all kinds of music, she likes dancing and she is a big fan of boring indie films.
She is an actress, trying to find her way into the world of theater. She was also studying photography and audiovisual arts in UNIWA, rather unsuccessfully, so she just gave that up and joined a theatrology course.
She is very happy about her new job as she loves welcoming new students and making them feel like home.
She’s never been trained in Improv Theater so she is looking forward to hear your own experiences and thoughts.
KIMON FIORETOS
Γεννήθηκε στο Λούντ Σουηδίας το 1978. Σπούδασε ως ηθοποιός στο ιστορικό Θέατρο Τέχνης Κάρολος Κουν. Αμέσως μετά την αποφοίτησή του εμπλούτισε τις σπουδές του στο εργαστήριο «Σκηνοθετών και Ηθοποιών» της πειραματικής σκηνής του εθνικού θεάτρου. Στα 20 χρόνια του ως επαγγελματίας έχει συνεργαστεί με μεγάλα ονόματά του ελληνικού θεάτρου, κινηματογράφου και τηλεόρασης. Από το 2008 ως και σήμερα συνεχίζει την εκπαίδευσή του ως ηθοποιός και δάσκαλος. Σπούδασε δίπλα από μεγάλα ονόματά της υποκριτικής διδασκαλίας στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες της Αμερικής, ενώ την τελευταία δεκαετία επικεντρώθηκε πάνω στην τεχνική Meisner. Πιστοποιήθηκε ως καθηγητής της τεχνικής από τον Master Τeacher Larry Silverberg.
Ως Δάσκαλος Υποκριτικής:
Δίδαξε από το 2010 έως και το 2022 το μάθημα της υποκριτικής στην Σχολή του Θεάτρου Τέχνης Καρόλου Κουν.
Αναγνωρισμένος δάσκαλος της τεχνικής του Μίλτον Κατσέλα BHP (Beverly hills playhouse), έχει υπάρξει συνεργάτης του iWa (international workshop for actors) που διατηρεί τα δικαιώματα του BHP στην Ελλάδα.
Πιστοποιημένος δάσκαλος της τεχνικής Meisner όπου διδάχτηκε την τεχνική και την διδασκαλία της, από μια από τις παγκοσμίως αναγνωρισμένες αυθεντίες της τεχνικής τον Λάρρυ Σίλβερμπεργκ.
Συνέβαλε το 2019 ως συγγραφέας με τα δοκίμιά του στο βιβλίο “Michael Chekhov and Sanford Meisner: Collisions and Convergence in Actor Training” εκδοτικός οίκος Routledge.
Διδάσκει την τεχνική Meisner σε Ελλάδα και Κύπρο και είναι εισηγητής όλων των σεμιναρίων Meisner που διδάσκονται στην ImproVIBE.
NOISE
Noise is ImproVIBE’s mascot. They are both of roughly the same age and are both a little bit crazy.
He always makes sure to let us know if someone he does not know is approaching our front door. He also acts as a welcoming committee, since the very first thing you’ll see once you enter the door is this snout. Nowadays, he has a friend called Roomie, Zografia’s four-legged daughter.
He’s the best dog in the world. If we could, we’d get him to teach improv.