Level 1: Intro To Improv

SKIPPING CLASS ON NOVEMBER 27.

Spontaneity. Playfulness. Listening. Trust. Honesty.

Learn the basic fundamentals of improv comedy and meet cool new people in the process! Our courses are designed to help students unlock their inner creativity in a fun and supportive environment. Whether you want to learn more about the comedic process to become a better writer/actor/performer, or you just want to loosen up and improve your communication skills while becoming more comfortable in your own skin, the lessons of improv we teach work to build your confidence both on-stage and off. This class will teach you how to celebrate who you are and to find truth in comedy through a series of improv and acting exercises that focus on honesty, spontaneity, playfulness, and saying “yes, and.”

GARRETT ROJAS is an actor, improviser, multi-hyphenate from Austin, TX. Named after Garrett Morris, he was probably destined to become an improviser at some point anyway. He was named Rookie of the Year at the 2023 ColdTony’s and has appeared in a number of main stage shows since then. He’s a working actor who’s committed to continuing his education, having taken acting, improv, and elective classes weekly since January 2021. As a teacher and someone who also has a passion for playing pretend, he aims to help you on your creative journey while maintaining an environment that fosters fun. You can catch him this fall at Coldtowne performing in shows such as The Monster, The Misterios, and The Showdowne (hosting).

Level 4: The Harold

SKIPPING CLASS ON NOVEMBER 27.

Prerequisite: must have taken a Level 03 Improv class at ColdTowne

If Chicago-style improv were music, The Harold would be the twelve-bar blues, the language that’s shared by all improvisers in this tradition. In addition to being a challenging and rewarding form in itself, The Harold is also a great teaching tool, and the skills learned in mastering it are applicable to almost every other form of improv. This level builds on and challenges all of the skills the students have learned up to this point. Students weave together multiple story lines and characters to create shows that are each a unique tapestry spun from what has come before. This class includes a student performance.

DAVE BUCKMAN has directed, taught and performed at some of the world’s leading improvisational comedy institutions. After several years studying and teaching improv in Chicago, Dave served as Artistic Director of Boom Chicago in Amsterdam for 2 years, where he was fortunate to work with and direct some of the funniest people working in television and web-based sketch comedy today. After Europe, Dave worked as a director and teacher at The Second City in Chicago. He has directed MainStage shows at ColdTowne: Bigfoot, the musical, Austin Translation, Barney Biller Dark Night, The Roast of St, Nick, Eye for an iPhone and Shanty Town Lake. The Second City: Who’s yer Baghdadi?” (Cleveland), World’s Gone Wild” (Touring Company) and Deficit Comedy Jam (Touring Company) Boom Chicago: Your Privacy is our Business, Europe, We’ve Created a Monster, The Future is Here and it is Slightly Annoying. In 2002, he directed “Boom Chicago: RockStars” only the second stage-swap with The Second City’s Main Stage in its 50 year history.

Level 3: Longform World-Building

SKIPPING CLASS ON NOVEMBER 27.

Prerequisite: must have taken a Level 2 improv class at ColdTowne.

Strong group work, or “group mind,” is the focus of Level 3, where students take a deeper look at their scenework and begin to create shows that are more than just a montage of disconnected scenes. While continuing to strengthen and build on the lessons of past levels, various storytelling techniques and other skills are introduced to help students go from improvising a single scene to creating an entire longform improv show. This class includes a student performance!

DAVE BUCKMAN has directed, taught and performed at some of the world’s leading improvisational comedy institutions. After several years studying and teaching improv in Chicago, Dave served as Artistic Director of Boom Chicago in Amsterdam for 2 years, where he was fortunate to work with and direct some of the funniest people working in television and web-based sketch comedy today. After Europe, Dave worked as a director and teacher at The Second City in Chicago. He has directed MainStage shows at ColdTowne: Bigfoot, the musical, Austin Translation, Barney Biller Dark Night, The Roast of St, Nick, Eye for an iPhone and Shanty Town Lake. The Second City: Who’s yer Baghdadi?” (Cleveland), World’s Gone Wild” (Touring Company) and Deficit Comedy Jam (Touring Company) Boom Chicago: Your Privacy is our Business, Europe, We’ve Created a Monster, The Future is Here and it is Slightly Annoying. In 2002, he directed “Boom Chicago: RockStars” only the second stage-swap with The Second City’s Main Stage in its 50 year history.

Level 1: Intro To Improv

SKIPPING CLASS ON NOVEMBER 30.

Spontaneity. Playfulness. Listening. Trust. Honesty.

Learn the basic fundamentals of improv comedy and meet cool new people in the process! Our courses are designed to help students unlock their inner creativity in a fun and supportive environment. Whether you want to learn more about the comedic process to become a better writer/actor/performer, or you just want to loosen up and improve your communication skills while becoming more comfortable in your own skin, the lessons of improv we teach work to build your confidence both on-stage and off. This class will teach you how to celebrate who you are and to find truth in comedy through a series of improv and acting exercises that focus on honesty, spontaneity, playfulness, and saying “yes, and.”

TIANA STUART (she/her) is an actor, improvisor, musician, writer, and director.  Tiana discovered a love for improv comedy when she lived in Amsterdam from 2016-2019 where she studied long-form improv at the world-renowned Boom Chicago under Michael Orton-Toliver, who combined curriculums from both Boom Chicago and The Free Association out of London. She then moved back to the U.S. where she graduated from Coldtowne's conservatory program in 2022. You can now catch her goofing around on multiple House Teams at Coldtowne and in other troupes. Tiana co-wrote and directed Twinsies, a comedic short-film that has garnered 25 award nominations and 4 wins, including Best Comedy at the Austin Indie Fest. Tiana is also a co-producer of the Lysistrata Women's Comedy Festival, a four-day comedy festival celebrating the collective power of women. You can catch her in HBO's Love and Death and other films and commercials. She is represented by the Zephyr Talent Agency.

Level 3: Longform World-Building

SKIPPING CLASS ON NOVEMBER 30.

Prerequisite: must have taken a Level 2 improv class at ColdTowne.

Strong group work, or “group mind,” is the focus of Level 3, where students take a deeper look at their scenework and begin to create shows that are more than just a montage of disconnected scenes. While continuing to strengthen and build on the lessons of past levels, various storytelling techniques and other skills are introduced to help students go from improvising a single scene to creating an entire longform improv show. This class includes a student performance!

DREW WESELY graduated from ColdTowne Conservatory in 2008, started as a Teacher’s Assistant in 2011, and became an improv teacher in 2015. He graduated from ColdTowne Conservatory’s Advanced Graduate Improv Studies program in 2016. He hosted the ColdTowne Theater monthly improv jam, and currently hosts his independently operated weekly drop-in improv class/jam. Instructors from UCB, iO, The Annoyance and The New Movement have either coached or taught him in classes or workshops.

Level 2: Scenework Strategies

SKIPPING CLASS ON NOVEMBER 30.

Prerequisite: Must have taken an improv class at ColdTowne or elsewhere.

Strengthen your two person scenes using characters, relationships, and finding & playing “The Game.”

Building on the fundamentals from Level 01, students will begin to practice skills and techniques that strengthen their scenes and characters. Concepts will be introduced to help create deeper characters and relationships more quickly, while keeping things fun! Students will learn how to identify patterns within their scenes to create “The Game”: the engine that drives comedy in an improvised scene or sketch. This class includes a student performance!

EMMA HOLDER is an actor, improviser and sketch comedy writer with a background in theater and literature. She has been performing, writing and directing at ColdTowne theater since 2008 and has taught improv, sketch, youth improv, youth playwriting, and creative writing for over 10 years. Emma performs regularly with her improv teams Kinkade and Stupid but Brave. She was a founding member of one of the longest running ColdTowne sketch teams, Pendulum, and has written and produced two solo sketch comedy shows: Kennedy Women and I'll Allow it. Emma has performed at UCB Theater's Dell Close Marathon, Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, New York Sketch Fest and Austin Sketch Fest.

Level 6: Creating a Form

SKIPPING CLASS ON NOVEMBER 30.

Prerequisite: Must have taken a Level 5 improv class at ColdTowne.

In Level 6, you’ll take everything you’ve been learning for the past year and apply it to creating and performing your class’s own form. You’ll also get a series of showcases at the theater that run concurrently with the class and culminate in a graduation show and ceremony. You get a certificate and everything!

This class includes a 4 showcase performances including a graduation performance.

TIANA STUART (she/her) is an actor, improvisor, musician, writer, and director.  Tiana discovered a love for improv comedy when she lived in Amsterdam from 2016-2019 where she studied long-form improv at the world-renowned Boom Chicago under Michael Orton-Toliver, who combined curriculums from both Boom Chicago and The Free Association out of London. She then moved back to the U.S. where she graduated from Coldtowne's conservatory program in 2022. You can now catch her goofing around on multiple House Teams at Coldtowne and in other troupes. Tiana co-wrote and directed Twinsies, a comedic short-film that has garnered 25 award nominations and 4 wins, including Best Comedy at the Austin Indie Fest. Tiana is also a co-producer of the Lysistrata Women's Comedy Festival, a four-day comedy festival celebrating the collective power of women. You can catch her in HBO's Love and Death and other films and commercials. She is represented by the Zephyr Talent Agency.

Level 2: Scenework Strategies

Prerequisite: Must have taken an improv class at ColdTowne or elsewhere.

Strengthen your two person scenes using characters, relationships, and finding & playing “The Game.”

Building on the fundamentals from Level 01, students will begin to practice skills and techniques that strengthen their scenes and characters. Concepts will be introduced to help create deeper characters and relationships more quickly, while keeping things fun! Students will learn how to identify patterns within their scenes to create “The Game”: the engine that drives comedy in an improvised scene or sketch. This class includes a student performance!

ANTHONY ELLISON spent 9 years in Chicago writing, performing, teaching, etc. After dozens of sketch shows at Second City, Annoyance, CiC, he earned an MFA in Playwriting, and won the Scott McPherson Playwriting Award. His plays have been produced in Chicago, NYC, Austin, Liverpool, Athens OH, Muncie IN, and many more.