Landry & Summers: Improv Legends

Improv Legends Shaun Landry & Hans Summers Return to the San Francisco Bay Area for Two Nights

They will be at Oakland’s Pan Theater for two nights only: September 18 & 19

OAKLAND, CA — August 21, 2026 — Pan Theater will host improv legends Shaun Landry and Hans Summers for two performances on Friday, September 18, and Saturday, September 19, at 8:00 p.m. Landry will also lead her award-winning workshop, The Art of the Improvised Monologue, on Saturday, September 19, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Second City alums have been performing together since 1986.

Landry and Summers founded Oui Be Negroes, America’s first almost all Black improv troupe, and trained during Chicago’s early improv renaissance under Del Close and other pioneers of the art form. Both have taught and performed at iO, iO West, The Second City, and other leading institutions, and their work is documented in Amy E. Seham’s acclaimed improv history, Whose Improv Is It Anyway?: Beyond Second City.

“Their work reminds us of what improvisational theater can be. It shows us the power improv has to make audiences think, to transform people,” said Pan Theater founder David Alger. “For Bay Area performers and audiences, getting to see Shaun and Hans is a remarkable experience. They introduced me to long-form improv back in 2003 in the Mission. It’s a real pleasure to host their return.”

The Oakland performances follow Landry and Summers’ successful run at the Dramatic Improv Festival.

Shaun Landry

Shaun Landry, an alumna of The Second City Chicago Touring Company, is an internationally recognized actor, director, and improv pioneer.

Landry has performed alongside Robin Williams, Woody Harrelson, and Danny Glover, co-starred with Sean Penn in the Oscar-winning film Milk, and appeared with Glover again in Read You Like a Book. Her Bay Area contributions include co-founding the San Francisco Improv Festival and the West Coast Improv Alliance.

Hans Summers

Hans Summers has been performing theatre since 1975.  He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Broadcasting and Psychology.  He has performed in numerous theatrical productions (From The Man Who Came to Dinner to Emperor Norton).

Hans found Improvisational theatre through a recommendation of Joel Murray (aka “Bill Murrays little brother’) to talk to Joyce Sloan, who in turn sent him to Josephine Forsberg. He trained at The Second City Chicago and was in the Children’s Company with the show Swashbucklers and The Gems of Chaos.

His over forty-year journey doing improvisation, starting with his own ensemble Fooglewoogle and The Underground Theatre Conspiracy, led to meeting his wife Shaun Landry in 1986 and creating the first almost all African American Sketch Comedy and improv ensemble Oui Be Negroes.

He has been performing with Shaun ever since 1986.  Married in 1991 and became the duo ensemble Landry & Summers since 1992

Landry & Summers at the Manchester Improv Festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHVopTTaCVQ&t=19s

Shaun Landry with Danny Glover in Read You Like a Book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gQdcg2AySg

Shaun Landry IMDB
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1776140/Hans Summers IMDB
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2512931/

Show & Ticket Information

About Pan Theater:

Founded in 2002, Pan Theater is Oakland’s oldest improv theater. Pan Theater explores the intersection of Meisner Technique and Viola Spolin’s improv theatre games. Pan helps improvisers bring more truth and emotion to their acting. Pan is just 30 seconds from BART in Frank Ogawa Plaza, in the southernmost theater of Oakland’s Theatre District.

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Venue: Pan Theater

Address: 120 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland