FESTIVAL WORKSHOPS - saturday, JANUARY 27
Our Last Word workshops provide festival attendees an opportunity to learn from our headliner guests in small group sessions including instruction, activities, and feedback. Space is limited for all sessions, so sign up today!
JAN 27 - 10:00 AM - 2.5 HOURS - $35
RECOMMENDED 6 MONTHS IMPROV EXPERIENCE
LOCATION: PBK HALL, 601 JAMESTOWN ROAD
SOLD OUT
SUSTAINING A SCENE WITH CRAIG CACKOWSKI
Sure, your scenework's pretty good. But can you do a 10-minute scene? A 20-minute scene? An hour-long scene? Craig Cackowski shares some of the techniques he's learned about long. slow, patient scenework from his years working with such groups as Dasariski and Quartet.
ABOUT CRAIG CACKOWSKI
Craig Cackowski (W&M ’91!) is an actor, improvisor and teacher based in Los Angeles. He was involved with the iO and iO West (RIP) theaters from 1992-2018, and was the three-time winner of the Del Close Award as Teacher of the Year at iO West. He has played numerous improv festivals around the US with his long-running three-man troupe Dasariski (with Bob Dassie and Rich Talarico) and his duo Orange Tuxedo (with his wife Carla!). While in Chicago, he appeared in and co-wrote 5 revues for The Second City, and helped create such improv forms as JTS Brown and Close Quarters. As an actor, he has been seen in recurring roles on such shows as Community, Veep, Drunk History, and Mindy Kaling’s Sex Lives Of College Girls. He may be heard frequently on such podcasts as The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Kevin Pollak’s Alchemy This and his own podcast Craig’s List, in which he makes Carla watch his 100 favorite movies.
JAN 27 - 10:00 AM - 2 HR 15 MIN - $35
LOCATION: PBK HALL, 601 JAMESTOWN ROAD
REGISTER HERE
Comedy character writing WITH moujan zolfaghari
A strong character is the most essential part of any good story! Learn techniques for creating compelling, rich and memorable characters for your sketches, TV pilots and more. This workshop will focus on personality, physicality, relationships and most importantly, specific POVs to expand characters and their worlds. Plus, we will put our brainstorming skills to use with a little bit of improv (but don't worry, no improv experience is required!).
ABOUT MOUJAN ZOLFAGHARI
Moujan Zolfaghari is an Emmy and WGA-award nominated comedy writer, actor and VO artist. She's been on TV (At Home with Amy Sedaris, Last Week Tonight, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, etc), heard on TV (Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Tooning Out The News), written for TV (Tiny Chef, TBS's The Detour, AppleTV's The Helpsters, an upcoming DC/Amazon show, many more!) and is the co-creator and performer on Mission to Zyxx, a sci-fi audiocomedy series on Maximum Fun. She is also a veteran performer of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in both LA and NY.
STRONG WOMEN IN COMEDY WITH MADELYN MURPHY & AUDREY SCHIFFHAUER
JAN 27 - 10:00 AM - 2 HR 15 MIN - $35
LOCATION: PBK HALL, 601 JAMESTOWN ROAD
REGISTER HERE
This women-centered workshop focuses on finding and honing your comedic voice in an often male-dominated room. Here is a chance to experiment with your style and define what you enjoy most onstage and off, in both a scene partner and teammate. This supportive workshop will celebrate what makes you laugh, push you to gain confidence in your own characters, and challenge you to find strength in vulnerability while demanding the same of your teammates.
ABOUT MADELYN MURPHY
Madelyn Murphy (she/her) is a conservatory-trained actor, improviser, and host who splits her time between Chicago and NYC (got 5 minutes? Just ask her about her opinion of who has the best pizza). She has been a regular performer at Chicago's The Second City, The Annoyance Theatre, and iO, and other theatrical credits include: The Twenty-Sided Tavern (Broadway Playhouse Chicago, Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Recent TV/film work includes: Bank of America, Vimeo, and Investigation Discovery. For Big A and Nick. Instagram: @mad.mad.murphy.
ABOUT AUDREY SCHIFFHAUER
Audrey Schiffhauer (she/her) is originally from Buffalo, NY, and has performed improv and sketch comedy in Chicago for nine years, including Second City, iO Theater, and Logan Square Improv. She is currently an understudy for the Second City National Touring Company. Her independent teams of past and present are The Bar, The Teenagers, Boots and Schiff and Giff, and she performs a one woman show for her cat Lily every single day. Lily hates it.
JAN 27 - 10:00 AM - 2 HR 15 MIN - $35
LOCATION: PBK HALL, 601 JAMESTOWN ROAD
SOLD OUT
BOLD STARTS & STRONG MOVES WITH BRUCE PHILLIPS
Starting a scene is half the battle. In this high-energy and extremely active workshop, participants will learn a variety of skills and techniques to get out of their head and start making choices. Perfect for novice and experienced improvisers alike, this popular class features tailored individual notes and critique, focusing on initiating and reacting strongly while making truthful choices that come from a place of strength, not fear.
ABOUT BRUCE PHILLIPS
Bruce Phillips (he/him) is an actor and improviser in Chicago. Previous credits include: The Boy Scout Musical, Ask Your Doctor, DankTank, Burlesque is More, Hitch*Cocktails, Clued In: The Improvised Murder Mystery. (THEATRICAL): Do The Right Thing, No Worries If Not (u/s performed, The Second City), X (Clark/Cole u/s, Sideshow Theatre Company), Münsterspiel (John, The Plagiarists), Anna Karenina (Karenin, Lifeline Theater). Bruce is a Jeff Award winner for his work designing robots for Heddatron at the Steppenwolf Garage. He currently performs with ComedySportz Chicago, LOL Theater, Mission Improvable, and is the primary understudy for Second City’s 111th Mainstage Revue Don’t Quit Your Daydream. He is a faculty member at The Annoyance and directs the long-running Annoyance original improvised form Trigger Happy.
JAN 27 - 1:00 PM - 2.5 HOURS - $35
RECOMMENDED 6 MONTHS IMPROV EXPERIENCE
LOCATION: PBK HALL, 601 JAMESTOWN ROAD
SOLD OUT
SUSTAINING A SCENE WITH CRAIG CACKOWSKI
Sure, your scenework's pretty good. But can you do a 10-minute scene? A 20-minute scene? An hour-long scene? Craig Cackowski shares some of the techniques he's learned about long. slow, patient scenework from his years working with such groups as Dasariski and Quartet.
ABOUT CRAIG CACKOWSKI
Craig Cackowski (W&M ’91!) is an actor, improvisor and teacher based in Los Angeles. He was involved with the iO and iO West (RIP) theaters from 1992-2018, and was the three-time winner of the Del Close Award as Teacher of the Year at iO West. He has played numerous improv festivals around the US with his long-running three-man troupe Dasariski (with Bob Dassie and Rich Talarico) and his duo Orange Tuxedo (with his wife Carla!). While in Chicago, he appeared in and co-wrote 5 revues for The Second City, and helped create such improv forms as JTS Brown and Close Quarters. As an actor, he has been seen in recurring roles on such shows as Community, Veep, Drunk History, and Mindy Kaling’s Sex Lives Of College Girls. He may be heard frequently on such podcasts as The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Kevin Pollak’s Alchemy This and his own podcast Craig’s List, in which he makes Carla watch his 100 favorite movies.
GENRE IMPROVISATION: STYLE, FORM, & PROCESS WITH IMPROVISED JANE AUSTEN
JAN 27 - 1:00 PM - 2.5 HOURS - $35
LOCATION: PBK HALL, 601 JAMESTOWN ROAD
REGISTER HERE
Our troupe focuses on relationship-based storytelling, filtered through the lens of 1800s England etiquette, which often requires a player to make the very opposite choice of a well-trained and seasoned improviser. Much like an actor in a play, plot comes from wants and feelings, stakes in a relationship, and natural reactions to your scene partner. Once the scene is set in Austen’s reality will the audience become joyfully dedicated to coming along for the ride of romance, whimsy, and the utterly ridiculous.
Improvised Jane Austen strives to engage our audience through grounded scene work and authentic reactions. With well-crafted, genre-specific reactions, plot comes without work or overthinking.
This workshop will focus on supporting the genre while being in the moment. Reacting naturally and authentically from within the genre’s world, which will inherently move the plot forward. Making the best choice for the show, and sacrificing jokes for the betterment of the story, which is so much easier said than done. Oh, and wooing, we will absolutely work on wooing and proposing, as it’s SO MUCH FUN.
JAN 27 - 1:00 PM - 2.5 HOURS - $35
RECOMMENDED 6 MONTHS IMPROV EXPERIENCE
LOCATION: PBK HALL, 601 JAMESTOWN ROAD
SOLD OUT
BE YOUR OWN ACTION HERO! WITH CARLA CACKOWSKI
Saying yes isn’t just agreeing to the reality your partner is creating in the scene. It’s also saying yes to actively moving the scene forward. This workshop focuses on making active, fun choices so you can avoid talking about what you’re doing and tackle it instead. If you have been in a rut or recently found yourself with little more to offer than being a talking head, this workshop is for you!
ABOUT CARLA CACKOWSKI
Carla Cackowski is an improviser, writer, and master thrifter. She toured all over Europe, Alaska, and the Caribbean performing comedy with The Second City. She's a member of SAG-AFTRA and has done voiceover work on shows for ABC Family, TBS, and Disney. She wrote and performed five solo shows that were produced in Los Angeles and her comedic monologues were published in anthologies by APPLAUSE BOOKS. Carla hosts Improv Yak, a shop-talk podcast about improv comedy. When they're not touring their two person improv show "Orange Tuxedo," she and her husband Craig Cackowski co-host a podcast called Craig's List. Carla has written on children sketch shows for PBS Kids, Dreamworks TV, and MGA Entertainment and is currently in development on an animated comedy pilot. She taught improvisation and directed sketch shows at The Second City Hollywood for ten years and before the world came to a screeching halt in 2020, she was the Training Center Director and Artistic Director at Mi’s Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica, California.
Bringing your authentic self in improv is difficult when you’re the only player of color and/or when English is not one’s first language. Through this workshop, Luis teaches how to use emotional choices and physicality to become a strong performer who offers powerful gifts rooted in one’s culture. Whether you’re planning to perform a narrative improv show or just a single scene – learn how to harness your heritage, identity, and language to create funny and moving scene work.
ABOUT LUIS CASTELLÓ
Luis Castelló (he/him) is a comedian born and raised in Mexico City. His mission is to make people laugh with stories about abusive Mexican parents, evading la migra and queerness. When Luis is not committing/solving murders with Clued In (@CluedInImprov), he performs with Ratas de Dos Patas (@ratas_de_2_patas), an award-winning Latine comedy collective, and creates improvised telenovelas with Las Tinas (@Las_Tinas_Improv). Luis will be forever thankful to his Chicago family for helping stay true to himself. Follow his journey on Instagram (@lrcastello).
JAN 27 - 1:00 PM - 2 HRS 15 MIN - $35
LOCATION: PBK HALL, 601 JAMESTOWN ROAD
REGISTER HERE
USING HERITAGE, CULTURE, AND IDENTITY IN IMPROV WITH LUIS CASTELLÓ
JAN 27 - 1:00 PM - 2.5 HOURS - $35
LOCATION: LAST WORD THEATER, 401 N BOUNDARY ST
SOLD OUT
MUSICAL IMPROV INTENSIVE WITH KEENAN CAMP
Taught by 10 year musical improv performer and instructor, Keenan Camp (Creator of RIFF: Chicago’s Music Improv Party and Lost Realms: Improvised Musicals from Beyond), this workshop is for any level of improviser, whether you’ve never done musical improv or if you’re an old pro looking to hone your skills. Keenan, along with pianist Sam Scheidler, will focus on creating unique melodies, setting up and paying off rhymes, understanding song structures, and learning a few secret tricks to make your songs seem seamless, catchy, and too good to have made up on the spot.
ABOUT KEENAN CAMP
Keenan Camp (he/him) is an actor, improviser, producer, director, and teacher originally from the great state of Michigan, but has called Chicago his home for almost 20 years. He has been performing, coaching, and teaching musical improv for almost a decade, and is the creator of both RIFF: Chicago’s Music Improv Party (@riffimprov) and Lost Realms: Improvised Musicals From Beyond (@lostrealmsimprov) He is beyond thrilled to be back in Virginia, where he hasn’t been since his grandparents lived here in the 90s, and will most likely ask everyone if they know where Lover’s Leap is.