with Rob Adler
Complete pedagogical training for people who teach actors. Develop your teaching through study, practice and personal mentorship with Rob Adler.
Great Acting Looks Improvised.
Great Teaching Looks Invisible.
Module A · 30 hours led by Rob AdlerThe first of four planned modules.Beginning the second week of January 2027.Live online sessions + two days in Chicago.
Independent practice is additional.
Applications are open for the first cohort.
Learn to build a course of actor training, guide students’ development, create a learning culture, and assess their progress.
Viola Spolin’s theatre games are at the core of AdlerImprov. Rob Adler advances that foundation for the modern profession and conservatory, bringing together actor development, curriculum design, classroom culture, consent, cultural competence, trauma-informed teaching and access. AdlerImprov connects the actor’s preparation with spontaneous performance on stage and screen.
Develop your teaching judgment.
Learn to see what the work asks of the actors, decide what to change, and recognize when to let them work.
Learn to choose and adapt games, connect them into lessons, and build a sequence that develops actors’ skills.
Study what rules, focus and challenge make possible. Use observation and evaluation to decide when to repeat, extend or change the work.
Examine how authority, approval and disapproval, culture, consent and access shape the learning space.
Practice giving clear instructions, supporting actor agency and adjusting the work for the people in the room.
The pathway begins with Module A, a 30-hour practicum led by Rob Adler, and continues through Modules B–D. The subjects below come together in lessons through games, observation, teaching practice and reflection. Earlier skills return as the work becomes more complex.
Personal mentorship with Rob Adler ↓
A lesson on the spiral: The Assist returns as actors develop partnering, work with scripts, and collaborate with camera and crew.
Study the choices. Not just the exercises.
Before you teach a game, play it. Then learn how to choose and shape the work, where to put your attention, and how to decide what comes next.
Bring your current classroom practices into the work. Receive feedback and mentorship from Rob Adler on the teaching you’re already doing.
You’ll plan a short lesson and teach it to fellow participants in the cohort. With feedback from Rob Adler, you’ll revise and teach again. Together, you’ll examine how your instructions and sidecoaching affected the actors’ work.
Evaluate the work through the game’s focus. Learn to describe what you observed, ask useful questions, and help actors recognize what they’ve learned.
Rob Adler founded AdlerImprov and has taught at DePaul University, USC and CalArts. His production coaching includes work with Disney, Lionsgate, FOX, NBC and ABC.
More about Rob Adler ↗Rob Adler’s teaching philosophy, expressed visually.
Rob Adler’s work applied to a professional rehearsal of Clybourne Park.
Practical, accessible examples of how Rob Adler helps actors work.
Admission by application
For experienced acting teachers, directors, coaches, and actors moving seriously into teaching.
Admission will be by application, with attention to your acting education, your preparation for teaching and your experience with Spolin’s theatre games—including who you studied with and how much training you completed.
Plan to join regular live online sessions, travel for in-person training, and complete assignments through your own work teaching, directing or coaching adult actors.
Applicants without suitable prior study in Spolin’s theatre games will likely need 90 hours of separate games preparation before Module A.
You may apply before completing this preparation. Rob Adler will review your prior training and identify what you need to complete before starting Module A.
Start with Module A
All 30 hours of Module A are led by Rob Adler: 21 hours of live online instruction and mentorship, plus nine hours together in Chicago. Independent practice and teaching assignments are additional. The cohort is limited to eight participants.
The first cohort is planned to begin in the second week of January 2027, with the detailed schedule arranged around the cohort’s needs. Applications are open for the first cohort. Completing Module A does not confer certification.
Module A tuition: $4,000. Includes live online and Chicago instruction, course materials, mentorship and feedback. Travel, lodging, meals and any prerequisite games training are separate.
Payment schedule: $1,000 after acceptance and confirmation of the schedule; the remaining $3,000 is due two weeks before training begins. Tuition and payment details.
Initial teaching practice is with fellow cohort participants: plan a short lesson, teach it, receive feedback from Rob Adler, revise and teach again. Asynchronous assignments involve your own work teaching, directing or coaching adult actors. Bring your current classroom practices into the work for feedback and mentorship.
Modules B–D extend the foundations into course design, stage and screen work, and supervised teaching. Continued study, mentoring, reflection and assessment support that planned progression.
Prior experience with Spolin’s theatre games matters. Applicants without suitable prior study will likely need 90 hours of separate games preparation before Module A. Read about prior study and possible preparation.
Read all frequently asked questions →Schedule, travel, participation, tuition and certification.
Explore the application questions about your training, teaching experience and what you hope to develop with Rob Adler.
Apply for the first cohort →Questions? Contact Rob Adler ↗