IMPROV
FESTIVUS
WORKSHOPS
Introducing Premier Workshop Instructor and Festivus Headliner
Rick Steadman
Rick Steadman has been teaching and performing improv for 27 years, and is the Artistic Director of CSz Seattle. He was a main company performer with ComedySportz LA for 20 years, and was Director of Education and Rec League Director from 2015-2021. He performed around LA as a member of the Impro Theatre Lab Ensemble, in the improvised HG Wells show Fantastic Tales, and as half of the two-person show One-Person Show. Rick's also performed and taught throughout the US as a guest of a bunch of great improv theatres and companies, specializing in improvised Shakespeare, creating emotional relationships, and making exciting story choices.Prior to moving to LA, he was Associate Artistic Director and a founding player at ComedySportz Spokane. Rick's also an award-winning actor, voiceover artist, and audiobook narrator. More at ricksteadman.com.
Heart of the Matter Relationship Workshop
with Rick Steadman
Saturday 11AM-1PM
​
Every story we care about is built on relationships, and every relationship is built on emotion. Through a series of exercises, Rick will help you find new ways to connect to your emotions, and connect your emotions to each other, putting good acting into your improv, and making audiences care.
Character Creation Clinic
with Rick Steadman
Saturday 2:30-4:30PM
​
Always improvising as yourself, or as the same few characters? In two hours, Rick will take you through a series of exercises and games to inspire characters you didn't know you had inside you, and give you tips on using those skills in the moment, during a show or audition. Focuses will be on practical application of physical, emotional, vocal, and point of view work.
Lyndsay Hailey
Lyndsay Hailey is the co-author and first-ever emcee of Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike Live. During her residency (2017 - 2019) she was awarded ”Best Host in Las Vegas” for her role and the show has since expanded globally. Lyndsay is an alumnus of The Second City National Touring Company, The Deltones, and the iO Roadshow, with whom she toured the world performing and teaching improv, sketch comedy, and comedy writing. She starred in films including Close Quarters, Get Well Soon, and Uncle Kent 2, which won the Viewer's Choice Award at SXSW. Lyndsay is the CEO of Shoes Before Pants Productions which is slated to produce Lyndsay’s original feature film Sorostitute this fall of 2024. In addition to comedy, Lyndsay is a spiritual coach, a certified Kundalini yoga instructor, and the Founder of Presence Practice© an improv methodology that combines improv fundamentals with meditation and breath-work.
Harold Workshop
with Lyndsay Hailey
Saturday 11AM-1PM
​
Want to learn the mathematical structure that underpins the entire universe? If your answer was YES, then AND by meeting Harold. Harold is the creation of long-form improvisation founders Charna Halpern and Del Close out of iO Chicago. Charna and Del set out on a mission to make improvisation a stand-alone, viable art form, not just a tool for sketch comedy. The creation of Harold, iO’s world-renowned long-form structure, set that dream sailing. Harold is an organically occurring structure that underpins human behavior and provides improvisers with a framework. What emerges from the ensemble is free-flowing, improvised long form with bold characters, monologues, scenes, individual directorial moments, group work, physicality, and of course laughter. If done properly, Harold will take on the identity or “group mind” of the ensemble that lives within its bounds.
Scene Scaffold Pay-What-You-Can Workshop
with Scott Wojtanik
Saturday 2:30-4:30 Scene Scaffold
Frame out your scene to reach new heights!