Jenny Lovell

General Manager | Ensemble Cast | Teacher | Theatresports Challenge Co-Director

Joined Impro Melbourne: 1996

Skills: Actor, Improvisor, Teacher, Director, Producer.

Performance background: 

Jenny has been performing for over 30 years.  Screen roles include Picnic At Hanging Rock, Gallipoli, Prisoner and Blue Heelers. In theatre Jenny has performed at Belvoir Street Theatre and for Bell Shakespeare Company; in Melbourne at the Malthouse, la Mama, Carlton Courthouse and Red Stitch. Jenny has been an improviser since 1987 performing in Sydney, Melbourne, New Zealand, Seattle, Edmonton (Canada), San Francisco, and Hong Kong. Jenny is a founding member of Impro Melbourne

Teaching experience:  

Starting in Sydney in 1990, Jenny now teaches improvisation with Impro Melbourne in both our public workshops and schools programs. She is a teacher of Shakespeare, voice and audition technique with the VCA and teaches and directs in the Diploma of Theatre Arts at Melbourne Polytechnic. She also teaches voice and presentation technique for the corporate sector. Jenny loves to explore genre work and teaches improvisation in the style of Shakespeare, Austen, Poe and Dickens.

Student Testimonials: 

“I really enjoy Jenny's teaching style. She's very encouraging and positive, and also very clear.”

“Enjoyed Jenny's approach and enthusiasm. She really felt connected with us and cared about our development.”

"It was so lovely to be in Jenny's class. I felt at ease and welcomed to make mistakes. Your style and method of teaching worked well for me, bringing everything back to basics despite your incredible and seemingly infinite knowledge of the impro space."

Teaching Credits:

Performance arts schools
Victorian College of the Arts
St Martins Youth Theatre
National Theatre St Kilda
Swinburne
Melbourne Polytechnic

Improvisation Companies
Impro Australia
Soothplayers

Improvisation Festivals
New Zealand Improv Festival
Improvention Canberra

Impro performance credits

International Theatresports Festival: San Francisco, USA
Rapid Fire Theatre: Edmonton, Canada
Unexpected Productions: Seattle, USA
International Festival – Hong Kong. China
NZIF, Wellington New Zealand

TV credits

Prisoner
Blue Heelers
MDA
Country Practice
Sideliners

Film credits

Picnic at Hanging Rock
Gallipoli
Darkness Falls

Radio credit: ABC radio drama recordings

Impro motto or quote: ‘Aim to be obvious’ – Keith Johnstone

Impro Mentor: Rebecca Stockley, San Francisco

Favourite IM show or role: 

working in genre-based formats from Shakespeare to Smells Like A Song

Comic inspirations: Judy Holliday, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

My little secret: 

Try to stop my brain from ‘planning’, give myself a little secret challenge for the evening – like a character type I don’t usually play.