Engineer by day Spotlight on fun with Kory McKiou!

“There is an unlimited creative freedom on the stage, and you don’t get that with most hobbies.”

Reminiscing about how easy it was in college to join new hobbies, Kory McKiou our January spotlight shares that improv was the first place for him that allowed a much needed creative space.

Kory is an engineer by day, and less than a year ago, someone without any theatre experience. Now he is a member of our graduate team and many indie teams.

In His Words

I’m in level six here at Finest City, so I’m taking classes here for just about a year. The skills that you developed in improv really translate to everything else. It made my workflow a lot easier, running media is a lot easier. I was a lot less anxious in general in the day-to-day and really just finding a lot more fun and enjoyment. I really thought I’d be the odd duck out.

My background is in engineering, that’s what I do day-to-day basis. I have zero theater performance, anything background like that, and what I found actually is I have never come across a more complete and diverse cross section of people in classes or in shows here. I do have unlimited creative freedom on the stage there. It’s something that you really don’t get with a lot of other hobbies.

Doing something like improv, it’s you already know how to do it, you just need to learn the tools to make it easier on yourself. And from there, there’s really no limitation to how creative you can be, or what your creative outlet is.

One really cool thing about taking classes here at Finest City is it affords you a lot of opportunity beyond classes. Well, I’m in level six right now, so I’ll be graduating in a few weeks and I know a few people may have anxiety about that. “Oh, what do I do now?” But really, that’s the beginning and that’s when the fun really begins, and you get to really be creative and just do whatever wacky stuff you want to.

My improv motto is really simple: have fun.

Fun is contagious, and everybody’s there to see you have fun. When you’re doing what you want to onstage and you’re really enjoying it, it shows, and everybody in the room is going to have a great time.


Learn how improv can help in your life and try a free class!


This article is part of the Community Spotlight Series highlighting our amazing students, teachers, and performers.

Are you an FCI student or graduate that has a great story to share? We’d love to feature you! Let us know.



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