© 2026
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Fifty-One Percent
51%

Kat Koppett on 'Training to Imagine'

By Jesse King,
Madeleine Reynolds
Published January 22, 2026 at 8:00 PM EST
Routledge publishers/Kat Koppett

On this week’s 51%, we speak with Kat Koppett, co-director of The Mopco Improv Theatre in Schenectady, New York and founder of Koppett, a consultancy company that uses improv to help businesses improve their workplace culture and collaboration. Koppett says the tools used in improvisational theater can apply to many aspects of our lives, including business. Koppett recently released a new edition of her 2001 book, Training to Imagine, with updated guidance and exercises for the modern workplace. Our associate producer, Madeleine Reynolds, also speaks with actress and singer Lea Salonga about her tour, “Stage Screen & Everything in Between.”  

Guests: Kat Koppett, co-director of The Mopco Improv Theatre and founder of Koppett, author of Training to Imagine: Improvisational Techniques for Leaders and Educators to Enhance Creativity, Teamwork, and Learning; Lea Salonga, actress and singer

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 
 
————

Tags
51% improvtheatremopcoLea Salongaeducation
Jesse King
Jesse King is the host of WAMC's national program on women's issues, "51%," and the station's former Hudson Valley bureau chief. She has also produced episodes of the WAMC podcast "A New York Minute In History."
See stories by Jesse King
Madeleine Reynolds
See stories by Madeleine Reynolds
Related Content
  • Fifty-One Percent
    Dr. Frank Putnam on how child abuse impacts girls and crosses generations
    Jesse King
    On this week's 51%, we speak with Dr. Frank Putnam, professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, about the Female Growth and Development Study (FGDS), which he co-founded with the late Dr. Penelope Trickett in 1987. The FGDS, which is still running today, has followed the lives of more than 100 girls to assess the impacts of child sex abuse on female development, and how trauma crosses generations. Putnam says child abuse can affect a survivor's physical and mental health in a way that accelerates their biological aging, putting them at an increased risk for early puberty, obesity, premature births, mental illness, cognitive decline and more. Putnam compiles more than 35 years' worth of papers from the FGDS — and outlines ways to better prevent child abuse — in his new book Old Before Their Time.
  • Olivia Dreizen Howell is the co-founder and CEO of Fresh Starts Registry, a registry service for the newly single.
    51 % The Women's Perspective
    Olivia Dreizen Howell on fresh starts
    Jesse King
    On this week's 51%, we speak with the founder and CEO of Fresh Starts Registry, a registry and education network for those navigating divorce, difficult breakups, and other major life changes. Olivia Dreizen Howell founded Fresh Starts Registry with her sister, Jenny, after her own divorce left her feeling isolated and scrambling for basic items in 2019. What started as an online gift registry has expanded into a global education network with more than 100 divorce experts, support groups, and how-to guides.
  • Fifty-One Percent
    The best of 2025
    Jesse King
    On this week's 51%, we look back on some of our favorite conversations from 2025: Dr. Heather Hirsch discusses the FDA’s decision to remove “black box” warning labels from hormonal therapies used to treat symptoms of menopause; Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson explains how President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” blocks Medicaid funding for its clinics; and former CIA intelligence officer Christina Hillsberg makes the case for why women make better spies.
  • Fifty-One Percent
    Quiara Alegría Hudes on "The White Hot"
    Jesse King, Sarah LaDuke
    On this week's 51%, we speak with author and playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes about her debut novel, The White Hot. Hudes is the Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright of Water by the Spoonful and the musical In the Heights, which she also adapted for the screen. The White Hot takes the form of a letter written by a mom to her 18-year-old daughter, explaining — but not apologizing for — why she suddenly abandoned her nearly a decade prior. WAMC’s Sarah LaDuke speaks with Hudes about why she decided to write the tale, an unflinching exploration of one mom’s rage and journey toward self-discovery.