Jonathan Pitts

Jonathan Pitts is an award-winning international improvisational theatre artist, director, performer, producer, teacher, and storyteller living in Chicago. He’s performed and/or taught in 4 continents, 30 countries, and over 110 cities. He’s currently a coach, emcee-host, facilitator, speaker, and workshop leader. He’s worked with corporate clients in Bangalore, India; Chicago, Illinois; and Singapore, Republic of Singapore.

He’s the former Executive Director of Chicago Improv Productions; Co-Founder/Producer of Chicago Improv Festival (20 years); Creator/Producer of College Improv Tournament (13 years); Founder/Producer of Teen Comedy Fest (7 years); and CIP’s various Education Outreach programs (15 years). He also was the theatre/performance curator of Chicago’s Around the Coyote Arts Festival (7 years).

He’s the creator/director of devised improvised theatre productions including Forgetting I Forgot; The Make ‘Em Ups; The Oracle; The Silent Movie; Storybox; Time Piece; Viola Spolin: Woman of Play; and World Tales. He’s created and performed two original one-man storytelling shows, “My Dad, His Chimp, And A Serial Killer” and “Not Quite a Ghost Story”. He’s the former creator/director/producer of Kidz Writes (4 years). He also was a theatre teacher working with children with cognitive and/or physical disabilities for Magic City (3 years).

He’s been a Guest Artist-in-Residence in Auckland, New Zealand; Bangalore, India; Juneau, Alaska; Lisbon, Portugal; Reykjavik, Iceland; Taipei, Taiwan; Vienna, Austria. He taught, coached, and directed at The Second City Training Center (16 years) and is a contributing writer to Anne Libera’s book, “The Second City Improv Almanac”. In 2025, he was listed #24 in Matt Fotis’ book “50 Key Improv Performers”. In 2023 he was a cover story interview for Status, an international online improv magazine, and three times he was selected by New City magazine as one of Chicago’s “Top 50 Theatre Performers”.