Fratelli Bologna (Fra-TELL-y  Bow-LOAN-ya)

Fratelli Bologna includes some of the top improvisers, actors, writer and facilitators in the US and Canada. As founding members of BATS Improv, we have been teaching and performing improvisation since 1986. Our work is based on the work of Keith Johnstone, author of "Impro" and "Impro for Storytellers." In recent years our focus has increasingly been on bringing the skills and mindset of improvisers to business environments.

In 1979 a group of ten men and women got together to perform the Italian masked comedies of the Commedia Dell'Arte on the main stage of the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Novato California. La Famiglia Bologna (the Bologna Family) performed together for two years.

In 1982 five men from the original troupe gathered to continue the Bologna tradition with a new troupe called I Fratelli Bologna (the Bologna Brothers). These five were joined by two of the founding Bolognas and were cast as the Permanent Press Corps in Philip Kaufman's film based on Tom Wolfe's book "The Right Stuff."

In 1985 the four surviving members of I Fratelli Bologna decided to drop the "I" (the plural of "the" in Italian) and became Fratelli Bologna. However, while Fratelli Bologna is a perfect name for performing Commedia Dell'Arte, over the years, we have come to realize that some people find it confusing outside of that context. William Hall is the last remaining "OB" (original brother).

I Fratelli Bologna as the Permanent Press Corps in Philip Kaufman's "The Right Stuff"
Left to right: Drew Letchworth, Ed Holmes, Richard Dupell, William Hall, Jack Tate,
John X. Heart, Chris Beale