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Charna Halpern
American comedian (born 1952) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Charna Halpern (born June 1, 1952) is an American comedian who cofounded iO theater with Del Close.
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In 2020, the company closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a targeted racial justice protests.
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Early life
Halpern graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1974 with a major in English and Speech.[1] Following graduation, worked for a juvenile delinquency school.[1]
Career
Halpern moved home to Dixon, Illinois following university, where she worked for a McDonalds owned by her father and interviewed locals to promote the franchise leading to a job on a radio show.[2]
Halpern met Del Close in 1981 and they later held competitive improv tournaments under the iO brand and adapted a long-form improvisational style that Close had been creating over the years called the Harold.[3] In 1995, Close and Halpern decided to acquire a more permanent location in 1995 by Wrigley field.[4] iO West opened in 1997 in Los Angeles.[3] Following Close's death, the theater lost one of their largest assets.[5][6] By the Covid-19 pandemic, iQ was drowning debt including a $100,000 property tax.[7]
Halpern and iO also came under criticism after a student in California reported harassment by a director.[4] Others who had interacted with the theater, historically, had claimed instances of racism by the theater as an institution and individual racism by Halpern.[8] In 2020, Halpern listed the theater's building for sale.[9]
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References
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