No prerequisite, all experience levels welcome.

When you hear the terms Musical, Hip Hop, Freestyle and or Improvised Rapping, do you get excited? Nervous? Intimidated? If you do, don’t worry, so did I! But after freestyling at Boom Chicago in Amsterdam with Baby Wants Candy and on Broadway with Freestyle Love Supreme, I have some simple techniques that made the practice fun, easy and accessible to everyone. Join me to learn the very basics of Freestyle and Hip Hop and discover the joy of participating in a cypher at the end of the course!

TARIK RASHAAN DAVIS has been acting, improvising, and writing for over 25 years. He strives to cross-pollinate performance styles and audiences in all his work. Tarik recently appeared on all episodes of the three seasons of The Amber Ruffin Show on Peacock TV. His past experience includes Boom Chicago in Amsterdam and The Second City in Chicago as well as appearances on Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Undoing (HBO), Last Week with John Oliver, in commercials and other television and web series. In 2021, Tarik was a core cast member in the Tony Award winning Freestyle Love Supreme on Broadway. He performed at The Brooklyn Museum in David Levine's Some of the People All of the Time, selected as the New York Times Best Art of 2018. Tarik was a member of The PIT’s longest running improv team, The Baldwins and performed with Baby Wants Candy at UCB Hells Kitchen. As a writer, Tarik makes films, web comics, sketches, and has published critical essays. Tarik’s latest short film, DOC: Race, Revolution, Relativity & The Confessions of a Time Traveling Terrorist (2023) is currently in the final stage of production and is premiering at ColdTowne Theater in August 2024.  In the height of the Covid-19 shutdown, Tarik created a horror play, set on Zoom, linking labor rights, capitalism and A.I. The Tank presented this project, Host Invite, on Halloween in 2020. Tarik also teaches improv and theater to people of all ages. He has a journalism degree from Rutgers University and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Prerequisite: must have completed at least a Beginners level improv course.

Do you consider yourself an improviser? Great! How about an actor? Not sure? Here’s the answer…Yes and! When we learn improv we’re taught the rules of “game”,  pattern recognition and heightening. But how about learning how to use Improv as a tool for approaching scene work, auditions and character study? How can improv make you a better actor? This workshop helps answer these questions and is designed to build confidence and skills so that whether you are performing in an improv show, classical theatre, in a TV show or a film, you have a reliable set of tools to keep you prepared for whatever role you take on next.

TARIK RASHAAN DAVIS has been acting, improvising, and writing for over 25 years. He strives to cross-pollinate performance styles and audiences in all his work. Tarik recently appeared on all episodes of the three seasons of The Amber Ruffin Show on Peacock TV. His past experience includes Boom Chicago in Amsterdam and The Second City in Chicago as well as appearances on Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Undoing (HBO), Last Week with John Oliver, in commercials and other television and web series. In 2021, Tarik was a core cast member in the Tony Award winning Freestyle Love Supreme on Broadway. He performed at The Brooklyn Museum in David Levine's Some of the People All of the Time, selected as the New York Times Best Art of 2018. Tarik was a member of The PIT’s longest running improv team, The Baldwins and performed with Baby Wants Candy at UCB Hells Kitchen. As a writer, Tarik makes films, web comics, sketches, and has published critical essays. Tarik’s latest short film, DOC: Race, Revolution, Relativity & The Confessions of a Time Traveling Terrorist (2023) is currently in the final stage of production and is premiering at ColdTowne Theater in August 2024.  In the height of the Covid-19 shutdown, Tarik created a horror play, set on Zoom, linking labor rights, capitalism and A.I. The Tank presented this project, Host Invite, on Halloween in 2020. Tarik also teaches improv and theater to people of all ages. He has a journalism degree from Rutgers University and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Prerequisite: The ability to do a Harold on Week 1.

This workshop is for those with a basic grasp of Harold who want to take their knowledge to the next level. We will work on the identification and continuation of themes in our Harolds, creating organic openings based on our suggestions, new versions of Harold including the McMannus Harold and the Evente Harold and more. All this in addition to tightening up the skills we are already familiar with and working in service to the piece.

CHRIS MCKEEVER has been performing improv for 20 years and teaching for 15. Trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater, Chris has a strong affinity and understanding of game based scene work and Harold like play. He performs weekly on Mondays at Fallout Theater with Fuck This Week. 

No lesson plans. Just a steady stream of scenework to help you pinpoint your individual tendencies. Find out what your strengths are and where you could explore further. Working in a non-stop series of improv reps, you'll learn what your patterns are and how to break them through personalized challenges. Great for intermediates who want to develop new skills and for professionals who want to keep fresh.

ASAF RONEN is the author of Directing Improv: Show the Way By Getting Out of the Way. He regularly performs, teaches and produces in Austin, was Education Director at The Institution Theater for eight years and is currently the Conservatory Director at ColdTowne Theater. He is also a Producer and Education Director of Austin’s annual Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. He has taught and performed improvisation in Canada, Great Britain, Norway and in twenty-eight of these United States with such groups as the B. Iden Payne Award winning Confidence Men (improvised plays in the style of David Mamet) and imp (mostly silent improv). He was also producer on TRUST US, THIS IS ALL MADE UP, a documentary on legendary improvisers TJ & Dave that premiered at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival in 2009 and helped develop the improvised film Days of Delusion with director Scott Myers. In 1999, Asaf founded the improv website, YESand.com of which he is Editor-in-Chief.

Prerequisite: Level 3 or higher in an established improv program.

Create believable characters that exist under the imaginary circumstances created by the scene. Practice supporting a base reality by accepting the gifts that the moment has already provided. Improve your group scenes by discovering what your imagination can find between the lines of dialogue.

CLIFTON HIGHFIELD has been teaching and performing in Austin for over a decade. He has studied comedy at Second City, ImprovOlympic, iO West, and UCB in Detroit, Chicago, and LA. Clifton has taught scores of comedy classes at various theaters, festivals, comedy clubs, schools, and workplaces across the US and is currently a faculty instructor at The Fallout Theater. Clifton has performed in over a thousand shows across the United States and currently performs in The Sunday Harold with Candy Necklace at Coldtowne Theater.