Spirited Improv

Directions Website Contact the school

Spirited Improv Transformational Playspace of the Heart. Improv as Spiritual Practice. Community Playshops to Be the Change. But you've been scared of failing.

It's time to do the purposeful work that satisfies your Soul. Likely you’ve been noticing all kinds of inklings, impulses, and visions urging you to step into a new direction with your work and life. It’s possible that you’ve been suppressing these deeper callings for months or even years. It’s likely that you have wondered if feeling more soul satisfaction and authentic joy will involve pioneering your own path--starting your own business or re-inventing your career. Worried about making a bold new choice and getting it wrong. What if-ing yourself out the whazoo about what others might think of you. Ending up cast as someone Bad instead of Good. And questioning your own abilities, whether you're even good enough to make this vision real. Deep down though you know it's time. Time to come out of hiding. Time to stop pretending or even lying. Time to stop letting shame keep you smaller than you are. You’re ready to break free of the boxes, roles, facades, expectations, and labels that suppress you. You know that the world does not benefit from you limiting your unique talents – as the work you’re being called to do will make such a positive difference for others. It's time to be who you were born to be. Let's make the most of this precious life. I'm here to support you. Let's do the inner work that is needed to usher in your most soul-satisfying chapter yet. It's time to unleash your full power, purpose, and potential. Only then will the world benefit from your greatest contribution. https://www.jessicachiltonspark.com

Healing and transformation here isn't about fixing what's wrong. It's about receiving what's possible.Ruth is a physical...
10/16/2026

Healing and transformation here isn't about fixing what's wrong. It's about receiving what's possible.

Ruth is a physical therapist and bodywork practitioner in Asheville. She came to Spirited Improv as an act of self-care, curious about what it actually was.

What she found surprised her.

"I knew it would be fun," she wrote afterward. "I didn't expect the level of healing and transformation that happened — not just for me, but for our whole group."

She described acting out life struggles and laughing, big revelations alongside genuine silliness, and a quality of gentleness in the room she hadn't anticipated. She left feeling held and seen.

If you're ready to benefit from a space that opens you up, and a spiritual practice that feels very playful, you will naturally expand into what's possible here. You only have to be curious enough to say yes.

SPIRITED IMPROV FALL SERIES PLAYSHOPSThe leaves are letting go, and we're invited to do the same. Our 5 week series gath...
10/13/2026

SPIRITED IMPROV FALL SERIES PLAYSHOPS
The leaves are letting go, and we're invited to do the same. Our 5 week series gathers a circle of open hearts in Asheville for multi-week sacred play. It is the cumulative effect of playing together in such a heart-centered way that naturally brings connection, healing, transformation, joy, and love into your life and our world.

Many participants choose to continue from one series to the next and deepen into the Spirited Improv community over the years. Each group has a mix of newcomers and experienced players. All are welcome in this radically accepting environment.

WHEN:
Wednesday Evening, 5:30 - 7:30 pm, beginning Nov 11th
OR Tuesday afternoons, 12-2pm, beginning Nov 3

COST/CONTRIBUTION:
$180 for the full series
“Try it out” One playshop. No commitment. Just come see for yourself. $40
Work Trade options available: details on our website

REGISTRATION:
Visit our website. Link in bio.

MORE INFO:
Curious to feel the energy first? Join us for a performance on October 28 or December 15, where you can enjoy the show from the audience or step on stage.

Join our email list for news of upcoming playshops and performances.

LED BY:
Jessica Chilton, creator of Spirited Improv, brings together 20 years of improvisational performing arts and 16 years as an expressive arts therapist and coach, all rooted in her lifelong spiritual journey. Participants describe her circles as the most radically loving and powerfully liberating way to experience improv.

Would you like to practice more trust in your life? Join us for a playshop series. New day and night series begin the en...
10/10/2026

Would you like to practice more trust in your life? Join us for a playshop series. New day and night series begin the end of October in WNC.

More details on our website. Link in profile.

There's no script waiting for us when the circle opens. No outline, no plan, no idea of what's coming.Just twenty or so ...
10/07/2026

There's no script waiting for us when the circle opens. No outline, no plan, no idea of what's coming.

Just twenty or so humans, willing to trust that something worth creating will emerge from nothing but presence and each other.

We think of it as improv, or surrender, or simply faith in the unknown made physical.

Every Playshop invites us to release control a little more, and every time, we feel lighter on the other side.

What would you create if you trusted the unknown a little more?

10/05/2026

Silly is welcome here. So is quiet.

One of our participants heard "improv" and braced to be funny on command.

Then they found our playshop in WNC, a space where every expression lands softly and you go at your own pace.

Whatever shows up in you is welcome in the circle.

What's something playful you've been quietly wanting to try?

The good news? That shift doesn't take long. Sometimes all it takes is one genuine laugh with a stranger.
10/01/2026

The good news? That shift doesn't take long. Sometimes all it takes is one genuine laugh with a stranger.

We've all got one. That thing we've been circling for months. Maybe years.That's the conversation we haven't had, the cl...
09/28/2026

We've all got one. That thing we've been circling for months. Maybe years.

That's the conversation we haven't had, the class we haven't signed up for, the version of ourselves we haven't let anyone meet yet.

And we keep waiting until we feel ready.

Here's what we've learned:

Courage comes first, before ready ever does.

A past participant who walked through exactly that kind of fear said:

"The fact that I showed up and signed up for this kind of experience gave me confidence that has created a momentum in other things happening in my life."

One decision. One step past the fear. And suddenly, the momentum you didn't know was possible.

What's the one thing you've been circling that might be waiting for you on the other side?

The U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health epidemic: a formal, official finding.The research shows tha...
09/25/2026

The U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health epidemic: a formal, official finding.

The research shows that chronic loneliness carries health risks comparable to smoking 15 ci******es a day. It affects our immune system, our cognition, our lifespan.

And yet we treat it like a personal failing instead of a collective one.

Here's what we believe:

The antidote to loneliness isn't a follower count, another app, or optimized networking.

It's a room. Real humans. Shared vulnerability. Laughter that catches you off guard.

It's the moment someone truly sees you and doesn't look away.

This is what we've watched happen inside Spirited Improv, over and over again, in Asheville.

People arrive as strangers. They leave as something that doesn't have a word yet: somewhere between friends and family and fellow travelers.

We were never meant to do this alone.

Have you felt the weight of loneliness more in recent years? You're not alone in that.

A lot of modern life trains us into "me." My stress. My schedule. My phone. The bubble. Spirited Improv quietly shifts p...
09/22/2026

A lot of modern life trains us into "me." My stress. My schedule. My phone. The bubble. Spirited Improv quietly shifts people back toward "we." Gently. Humanly. You laugh together. You witness each other. You take small risks and realize you're not alone.

And something powerful happens when "we" becomes real again. People feel less isolated. More supported. More willing to show up for their community outside the room.

This is how a better world grows. More people choosing connection over disconnection, one room at a time.

WNC, where do you want more "we" in your life? What's one way you could practice community this week?

One evening in a recent series, Jessica offered an invitation that made more than a few people quietly laugh.Walk backwa...
09/19/2026

One evening in a recent series, Jessica offered an invitation that made more than a few people quietly laugh.

Walk backward very slowly, eyes closed, she said. Until you sense someone.
Twenty people inched carefully across the room in reverse, arms slightly out, trying not to bump into each other, stifling laughter. It was, for many, a little awkward and ridiculous.

And then: one person sensed another coming close. These two people became partners without seeing who the other was. Standing back to back with a little space between.

Once everyone was standing back to back with a partner, the invitation was simple. No words. Just sensing that person behind you with your heart. And then letting your heart share a message with their heart. And receiving a message back from their heart to yours.

Afterwards, one participant described that as she relaxed into the experience, her heart felt open, warm, alive, full, and completely at ease.

When Jessica invited everyone to turn around and face their partner this same participant was surprised to see her partner was the person she previously judged as someone she didn't connect easily with.

And yet, now, she felt she knew her. Some invisible distance was simply gone and she felt deeply connected.

This is what Spirited Improv is. Silly enough to make you laugh out loud. Sacred enough to quietly dissolve a wall between two strangers before either of them realized it was happening.

Address

Asheville, NC

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 5:30pm
Friday 10am - 2pm

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Spirited Improv posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Spirited Improv:

Shortcuts

Share