One Group Mind originated from the collegiate organization The Titanic Players.  Established at Northwestern University in 1994, Titanic expanded in 2007 to include groups across state and university boundaries.  Recognized as the largest and most advanced collegiate improvisation organization in the country, the Titanic Players took home the first place trophy in 2007 and 2009 for the nationally televised College Improv Tournament. 

After several years of trial and error, The Titanic Players developed a system that could ensure that members of the existing group did not need to "relearn improv" when new members were added every year.  Instead, Titanic now auditions for a new group every year and the group stays together for 4 years. 

Rarely, in the professional improvisation industry do groups last that long with no additions or changes to their cast.  What was discovered, was that the team, the time, and the teacher is what allowed everyone to be good improvisers and every group to be impressive in performance.  At this stage of the industry, individual talent was not a prerequisite.  Commitment by the organization, and the team to itself, was.  As a result of the 4 year program developed by One Group Mind, The Titanic Players currently enjoy the highest success rate in the industry with members performing on the Second City Main and etc Stages along with their touring companies in addition to coaching at iO in Chicago and the Magnet Theater in NY.  Click here to learn more about The Titanic Players.

In 2001, One Group Mind was officially born to service the needs of the alumnae of The Titanic Players as well as improvisers in the professional industry. 

Operating out of Frankie J's in Chicago (now known as the Spot), One Group Mind was the first theater organization that performed in the space.  Growing to 12 teams and over 100 performers by 2003, One Group Mind teams had no coach turnover, less than 5% performer turnover, and each team had the same performance and rehearsal time every week.  Several members, some of which had their first performance with One Group Mind, continued successful careers as iO teachers, iO House team performers, and Second City Main Stage performers.  One Group Mind would like to give a shout out to the members of Under Oath, the first team to begin performing regularly and pave the way for us to follow.

In 2003, One Group Mind, the teams Teenage Carthrobs, coached by Piero Procaccini, and Dewitt, coached by Mike Abdelsayed, produced the acclaimed long form show, Helix, at ImprovOlympic.  As promoted:

"Helix alters the genetic makeup of the ImprovOlympic’s signature “Harold,” created by improv-gurus Del Close and Charna Halpern. Helix explores and expands a single audience suggestion performed by two unique ensembles. Each group creates an act based from the suggestion.  The third act brings together both ensembles to connect characters, weave stories, explore environments and build on themes established in the first two acts. Helix ultimately results in three pieces created by two teams with one group mind."

In 2004, One Group Mind produced the acclaimed two person, long form improvised show Moe, with ImprovBoston teacher and iO alum, Joe Kendall, and Second City performer and ImprovOlympic coach, Mike Abdelsayed.  Contrasting the slower approach to most two person shows, Mike and Joe played as if they were a cast of 8, introducing techniques of multiple characters within a scene not seen before in the industry.

In 2005, One Group Mind began developing The Expansion Tree.  First identified and explored on the Northwestern University campus, the Expansion Tree became the fundamental process for training long form improvisers.  It became a "string theory" that could be used to perceive all long form pieces. 

In 2007, Tricky Mickey, a One Group Mind Resident Team composed of OGM's best performers, performed an advanced Expansion Tree for two packed houses at the Del Close Marathon in New York. 

In 2007, One Group Mind was happy to announce that their collegiate organization, The Titanic Players, represented by Resident Team, Old Tom Jar, won the 2007 CIF College Comedy Championships.  Televised nationally, Old Tom Jar successfully maneuvered through 4 rounds of single round elimination to bring back the first trophy of the Championships!

Also in 2007, The Titanic Players, our collegiate organization expanded to the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  They would continue their expansion from this point forward to include groups at the University of Illinois, University of Minnesota, and hopefully, many more!

In 2009, we were happy to announce, for the second time in the first 3 years of the national competition, The Titanic Players took home the CIF College Improv Tournament trophy!  Northwestern's fourth year team, Daddy Mags, successfully maneuvered through 7 regional competitions and a nationally-broadcast Finals competition in a 72-team field to bring home the trophy. 

In 2010, One Group Mind formed 3 professional teams coached by leaders in the industry.  Opening at the Playground for a weekly open run, the goal was to present to the improviser public its progression for studying the art with anticipation of having a theater and training center by 2011. 

In 2011, One Group Mind partnered with the Mayne Stage for regular weekly performances to showcase our talent and provide a home for our performers.  We hope that through our mission of providing training, team, and time we can be here for many years to come!

The rest of our history has yet to be written, so stay tuned!