Our Story
Speakeasy strives to be a place of play and growth for every person who has a desire for creative collaboration.
Speakeasy started in August of 2020 at a little house in Candler, North Carolina. A group of friends got together to practice the art of improv. Practice would take place outside, around campfires, or anyplace we could make everyone feel comfortable. After a few months Tim had the idea to create a larger school that would use improv as a tool for self-help as well as a tool for the performing arts. In January of 2021 Speakeasy Improv began offering classes and shows in Asheville, NC.
Speakeasy currently resides at Story Parlor.
Tim Hearn began his career performing with Noun Improv at Appalachian State, graduating with a bachelor’s in Theatre Education and began teaching in the Asheville area shortly after. Tim developed summer programs for Flatrock Playhouse’s Studio 52 and instructed adult workshops and classes at Asheville Improv Collective all while teaching middle school theatre at Valley Springs Middle. He currently performs with the troupe, Now Are the Foxes, in Charlotte NC, the improv duo, Brothers Grimmprov, with his brother, and in his own one-man show, One-Sided.
Tim’s approach to both the arts as well as the craft of teaching prioritizes the process of play over the final result. He implements the rules of improv as a philosophy for living and as an indispensable tool for performance.
