Ed Reggi makes people happy. Whether he’s acting on stage, telling stories over Chinese food or hamming it up for a photo shoot, the guy has charisma. One of the most active and prolific forces on the local and regional improvisational theater scene, this Fontbonne alum shares his joy of creativity – as an actor, writer, director and teacher.

For Reggi, improv is the people’s theater. It’s where the truly organic, unscripted scenes  emerge on stage moment by moment, creating art that is oftentimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, but always original.

“With improv, you don’t need permission from anyone to do it. You don’t need rights to a play or a set designer or a director. It empowers people to express themselves in each moment,” Reggi explains.

It’s this freedom and unpredictability that is so appealing to Reggi, who first discovered the art of unscripted theater back in his Brooklyn, N.Y., grade school. Given the job of stage manager, he had forgotten to put autumn leaves on the floor before the scene began. So, as the curtains opened, he sprinkled the burnt orange leaves over the perplexed actress in plain sight of the audience and told her to simply tell them it was autumn. She did and the audience roared with laughter. “That was the day I got the bug,” he remembers.

Many facets of Reggi’s childhood reinforced his propensity for theater, including speech-language therapy sessions. “In kindergarten I stuttered and talked too fast. I worked with teachers after school and just read words over and over again. I was basically performing and reciting and becoming an extroverted person who didn’t mind reading out loud,” he recalls.

Reggi pursued acting in high school and graduated from the nationally acclaimed Edward R. Murrow School of television and communications, located next door to the NBC studios in New York. Before attending Fontbonne, Reggi studied at the City University of New York, Brooklyn College and worked with numerous theater directors, playwrights and actors.     

Upon the recommendation of his mentors, Reggi auditioned for and received a Fontbonne theater scholarship in 1990 and ultimately graduated with a degree in fine arts.

“Fontbonne gave me a vocabulary to explain what I do. Understanding lines, shapes, and texture provided a backdrop that helped me shape what I had to portray in theater,” says Reggi. “I also learned discipline by observing other artists. A painter must prepare their canvas, paint, brushes much like an actor must prepare for a role.”

After earning his bachelor’s in fine arts in 1994, Reggi left St. Louis to pursue a variety of theater-related ventures throughout the country. He toured with regional theater companies, worked as an animal wrangler (working with animals in commercials for companies such as Ralston Purina and Microsoft) in the entertainment industry and eventually studied at the world-renowned Second City in Chicago, where stars like John Candy, Dan Ackroyd and numerous comedians got their start. It was during this time that Reggi studied the improv philosophy of Viola Spolin, who is credited with pioneering improvisational theater.

Reggi returned to St. Louis in 2001 and brought his passion and enthusiasm with him. He  started the Paper Slip Theatre as a method to build dialogue, teach communication and bring art to the community through children’s theater, motivational workshops, corporate training and educational programming.

Combining his love of spontaneous theater and education, Reggi teaches children how to discover the magic of improv on stage and in their own lives. He teaches at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) as well as with the Young Audiences of St. Louis, an artist-in-residence program that puts him in classrooms throughout the state.  “Education framed my career and now I get to teach,” Reggi says.

Working with so many different personalities can be challenging — not everyone is a born actor, but Reggi allows his students to create their own characters with fabric or clothing from different countries such as India or the Philipines. Four yards of silk can turn even the shyest child into an Indian princess or Thai monk. “They learn and see where their character is from on the map and go from there. They can create whatever they want through pantomime or improvisation,” Reggi says.

Reggi has found that improv transcends cultures. While studying in Chicago, Reggi was introduced to Gabe Mercado, the Jay Leno of the Philippines and Southeast Asia, who invited him to the Philipines in 2004 as an artist-in-residence and worked with fifth and sixth graders as well as adults at the first ever Philipino Improv Festival.

“It was an eye-opener. It’s a third world country and there are people living in shanties,” Reggi explains. “But even kids who have very little can create spontaneous theater if given the chance. They were open and trusted me enough to show scenes from their everyday experiences – everything from getting robbed at the market to singing Whitney Houston perfectly. It was so beautiful."

Reggi says that the lessons of theater, and improv in particular, span far beyond the classroom and into our daily lives. “These lessons teach teamwork and critical thinking. They help students learn to understand another person’s way of thinking,” says Reggi, who credits Fontbonne for teaching him these skills.

On Reggi’s personal Web site, he posts this quote of Bill Cosby’s: “The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now. Improv, like life, is a series of moments. And for Reggi, there’s nothing more meaningful.