This workshop will serve as a fun, fear-free exploration of improvising through song and dance. Musical structure and approaches will be introduced for total beginners and improvisers with experience in musical shows will get a chance to refine or improve their skills. Improv and/or musical theater experience is welcome, but the only thing required is enthusiasm! Piano accompaniment by Yuki Desouza.

CHRIS GRACE is a comedian and actor you may know from Superstore, This Is Us, PEN15, Broad City, and more. Grace performed his one-man show Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johannson to effusive reviews and sold out crowds at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He's bringing his new show, Sardines, to headline Austin Sketch Fest on Memorial Day Weekend.

This project has been financed in whole or in part by the City of Austin’s Elevate Grant Program. Austin Creative Alliance is a fiscal sponsor of Austin Sketch Fest.

This workshop will cover best practices and exercises for collaborative writing, whether you’re a sketch duo, trio, team, or trying to break into a writer’s room for TV and film. With their experience leading sketch writing meetings, directing sketches, as well as their collective time spent writing for television, Joan and Raft will walk you through how to pitch, how to collaborate, and how to cook up magic in a writers room setting. Bring some of your sketches for feedback or develop new ideas together in real time!

JOAN & RAFT is a comedy duo featuring LA's two hottest trans best friends Joan Haley Ford and Raft. You may have enjoyed their writing on shows on Netflix, HBO Max, Cartoon Network, and Comedy Central. They're a consistent Austin Sketch Fest producer and fan favorite!

This project has been financed in whole or in part by the City of Austin’s Elevate Grant Program. Austin Creative Alliance is a fiscal sponsor of Austin Sketch Fest. 

Characters, baby! Spending a lot of time onstage playing yourself? Feeling stiff and uninspired? This workshop is designed to give you tools for fast, energetic play. We will explore the power of making big character choices right away through genre, high fidelity matching, and point of view. A surefire way to inject more fun into your scenes!

WOODY FU (he/him) is a creator based in Los Angeles. Before appearing on many of your favorite TV shows, Woody trained in New York where he performed on UCB’s Maude Night and Betty Nights. He was also in Baby Wants Candy (Edinburgh Fringe), Boom Chicago (Amsterdam), and Just For Laughs: New Faces: Characters. 

This project has been financed in whole or in part by the City of Austin’s Elevate Grant Program. Austin Creative Alliance is a fiscal sponsor of Austin Sketch Fest.

Prerequisite: This class is best suited for intermediate improvisers and above.

NOTE: This is a 6-week class that skips June 26.

Reconnecting with the basics of improv is necessary in order to progress as an actor. This class will help you to revive that inner spirit that you may have forgotten. You will practice making stronger connections and making stronger choices. With a diagnostic overhaul, you will be primed to evolve to the next level of improvisational acting "and build The Perfect 6-Minute Scene."

ESTEVAN J. (CHUY) ZARATE is an actor/director/coach/corporate trainer from San Antonio TX that has been improvising in front of audiences for 34 years. He is a member of The Big Bash at The Hideout Theatre, The Known Wizards (Merlinworks faculty troupe), Stool Pigeon at ColdTowne and more duos than he can count. He teaches all styles and formats being that he has a very eclectic tool belt to reach into. If there is a scenario to be performed in, he has probably performed it. With specialties in improv singing and grounded/character-driven scenework, Chuy has coached hundreds of kids, teens, students and adults for years to multiple successes.

Prerequisite: Level 2 or higher.

This class will focus on making scenes that can sustain.  We will work on scenic structure and emotion to heighten, and Jaime will side-coach your scene to its fullest potential.Let's figure out how to avoid scenic bargaining and plot driven improvisation. This class will help us work on just yes and the fun that can come from following the follower.

JAIME MOYER is an alum of The Second City-Detroit, currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, and is a member of the acting unions SAG-AFTRA and AEA. She recently voiced a character on Fox's The Great North, and also appeared in The Bob's Burger's Movie. Jaime has had recurring roles on AP BIO, The new Night Court, The Great North, Modern Family, KC Undercover, Future Man, Bob's Burgers and more. Other favorite credits include Parks and Recreation, 2 Broke Girls, Detroiters, and Jennifer Falls. Jaime appeared onstage in "Twist Your Dickens" at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at The Portland Center Stage, in Portland, OR and at The Kirk Douglas in L.A. She has taught improvisation and performed all over the country, including workshops at The Washington Improv Theater, Go! Comedy, Dosage Improv Workshops, Unscrewed Theater, The Blue Brick Theater, Dallas Comedy House, Asheville Improv Collective, The Arcade Theater, The Siren Theater, Planet Ant, Camp Improv Utopia, Angel Comedy in the UK, ICC Theater in Denmark, and others. Jaime was awarded the sole prize of Maestro at The Out of Bounds Comedy Festival in Austin, Texas in 2011. She can be seen performing improv at Westside Comedy, The Glendale Room, The Lyric Hyperion and elsewhere in and around Los Angeles. Follow Jaime on Twitter @Jaime_Moyer.