Sommer was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa. She holds a BA in Theatre from The University of Iowa, an MFA degree in Acting from The University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is an alum of the improv and comedy writing programs at iO Chicago (formerly Improv Olympic). She is also a certified Instructor of the Meisner Approach to Acting as trained by Larry Silverberg. In addition to co-founding Green Shirt Studio, Sommer is a founding member of two non-profit companies–Chicago Ladies in Comedy (aka CLiC) and The Agency Theater Collective, where she serves as Co-Artistic Director. When not teaching, Sommer can be found doing stand-up comedy at open mics throughout Chicago, most notably Jills at Jack’s (an open mic that she helps produce via CLiC), the first Wednesday of every month at Jack’s on Halsted. She also produces, emcees and does performance art at No Shame Theatre, every Saturday night via The Agency Theatre Collective. Sommer can be seen performing regularly as an improviser with the team The CEO of Everything at The Playground Theater in Chicago.

View Sommer’s LinkedIn profile.