Chicago's only bilingual improv school
“eso es lo que faltaba… los latinos” Dani Cruz, BIS Student
Quotes from our students in the Chicago Tribune and Columbia Chronicle.
If you want to get better at improv, you want to get better at your Spanish, or just get out of the house. Anybody should come.
Cuando llegó el primer día de esta clase dije, ‘Oh, eso es lo que faltaba... los latinos'
[Everyone is] super supportive of whatever it is that you say, even if you’re not sure
Esta clase me está haciendo recordar cosas de cuando yo era pequeño, de las que me alejé un poco…
Portraits by Rye Oakwynn
Plus 2 Student Showcases!
¡2 presentaciones de alumnos!
Starts Tue, Sept 29
Empieza el lunes 28 de septiembre
Starts Sun, Sept 27
Not ready for 8 weeks? Our $20 two-hour intro class returns soon. · ¿Aún no listo? Nuestra clase de prueba de dos horas vuelve pronto.
Tell me when · Avísame →Not sure which level? Email rudy@bilingualimprovschool.com and we'll point you the right way.
One-time sessions — no experience necessary, all fluency levels welcome · Sesiones únicas — no se necesita experiencia.
Ven a reírte con nosotros.
More shows coming soon · Más funciones muy pronto
See the full calendar · Ver el calendario →Walk up before or after the show — no booking needed. · Sin cita, antes o después del show.
In the press · En la prensa
"Comedia en Spanglish gana popularidad en Chicago" — a national segment on how BIS helps people reconnect with language and culture through laughter.
New bilingual improv school is inundated with students
To open up improvisation to everyone is … just lovely and wonderful, and the true intention of improvisational theater.Aretha Sills, granddaughter of Viola Spolin, who created modern improv training
It hits different when it’s your culture represented on stage. It hits different when it’s in a language that you grew up hearing.Rudy Mendoza, founder
Bilingual improv workshops and experiences for teams that work across languages and cultures — facilitated by professional bilingual teaching artists, in English, Spanish, or Spanglish. No one needs improv experience (or perfect Spanish) to take part.
Trusted by Laughing Together, Embarc, City of Chicago (DCASE) & Chicago Latino Theater Alliance, Enlace Chicago, and Lewis University — 1,100+ people reached to date.
Bilingual Improv School (BIS) is Chicago's only improv school built for bilingual students, where people practice their Spanish (or English)... sin pena. To our knowledge, it is also the only improv school in the country whose entire curriculum is built around bilingual, Spanish-language improv. Founded by Rudy Mendoza in March 2025, BIS offers classes, student showcases, premium live shows, and workshops for companies, non-profits, and schools — all designed to welcome newcomers into improv regardless of language fluency or stage experience.
Rudy Mendoza is the founder of Bilingual Improv School, the only improv school in Chicago offering classes in Spanish. Rudy is an understudy for The Second City, performing in the etc theater's "Improv Supernova," 49th revue "Chaos Theory of Everything," and 48th revue "Best Kept Secret: Tell Everyone." He is a teaching artist with Laughing Together, a non-profit bringing improvisation to school-based mental-health programming, and serves as Facility Coordinator at Collaboraction Theatre in Humboldt Park.
"In a class of fifteen students, I was the only Latino. I knew we had to do something. My goal is to bring new people into improv with a welcoming environment that prioritizes play — and to give Latino voices a stage."
Rudy, who is of Cuban and Panamanian descent, is also the founder of Antojitos Improv, La Hora de Antojitos, and Antojitos Fest — Chicago's only bilingual improv festival.