Biography
Caspar Schjelbred
Caspar Schjelbred (b. 1979, Denmark) grew up in Sweden and moved to Paris in 1999, beginning a path that would shape more than twenty years of work in improvisation, physical acting and performer training.
Early years and beginnings
He began improvising in 2001 with The Improfessionals, Paris’s English-language improv company, where he later served as artistic director (2008–2014). During those years he taught extensively, co-directed Impro Academy Paris, and developed a teaching approach centred on clarity, presence and physical awareness.
Alongside his artistic work, Caspar completed a Master’s degree in History of Science at the Sorbonne, specialising in late-19th-century theories of emotion — research that continues to inform his precise, perceptual approach to creative work and expression.
Training and artistic turning point
A decisive turning point came in 2008, when Caspar began training with Ira Seidenstein, whose method of physical acting and clown became a central influence in his development. The work introduced a level of clarity, discipline and embodied intelligence that reshaped his artistic direction. Caspar later wrote the forewords to Seidenstein’s books Clown Secret and Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare.
In 2010, he founded Impro Supreme as the home for his independent teaching and performing — not as a constructed brand, but as the natural outcome of years spent refining a physical, attentive and imaginative approach to improvisation.
Performance work
Caspar is known for PLAN C, his improvised solo show created in 2012 and performed more than 70 times across Europe, Australasia and North America, including at the International Mime Festival in Colombia (2023). The show became a long-term laboratory for his method: a place to test, refine and embody the principles he teaches.
His artistic work also includes directing the physical comedy piece AVANT-GARDE with HaHaHa Impro Theatre in Sofia (2018), performing in a Samuel Beckett production in Luxembourg (2016–2017), and appearing in various movement-based and visual projects. His work draws from clown, mime and dance traditions without belonging strictly to any one of them.
Teaching focus
Since 2020, Caspar’s primary focus has been teaching and coaching — helping actors, improvisers, dancers and creative professionals develop an embodied, perceptive and honest stage presence. His approach brings together physical clarity, creative intelligence and perceptual awareness — the foundation of what Impro Supreme has become today.
He continues to teach internationally, offering training based on the Impro Supreme method.
Caspar currently lives in Copenhagen.