2024 Festival Workshops

We crowdsourced this year’s workshop roster!

In June, we invited all 2024 festival performers to vote for the workshops they wanted us to program at this year’s Countdown Improv Festival. Below are this year’s top choices. We’re starting with 9 workshops this year, but reserve the right to add more later on, depending on performer interest. For more on our methodology, click here.

All workshops will last approximately two hours each, will take place at the HCC Ybor Performing Arts Building, and will be capped at 16 students per workshop. On the low end, we’ll need a minimum of 6 people in order for a workshop to run. (Both of these numbers are flexible depending on instructor preference.) Workshops will run during the morning and afternoon of Fri, Aug 9 and Sat, Aug 10. All workshops will cost $30 each.

Click here to buy tickets for this year’s festival workshops.

Friday, August 9

12:00-2:00 p.m.

2:30-4:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 10

10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

12:30-2:30 p.m.

3:00-5:00 p.m.

An Alternative Approach to Scenework
Bill Arnett
Sat, Aug 10, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
HCC Rehearsal Hall

NOTE: THIS WORKSHOP IS SOLD OUT

Have you heard the saying that you have to learn the rules so you’ll know when to break them? That time is now! But this class is about far more than breaking the many traditional improv rules. By looking beyond our assumptions about improv and towards the rules of the moment, we will discover how to create more natural and textured scenes that are easier for us to play and more compelling for an audience to watch.

Instructor Bio

Bill Arnett has been improvising in Chicago since 1998. He has been a member of several noteworthy iO ensembles (People of Earth, 3033, and The Armando Diaz Experience). As a teacher Bill has worked consistently around Chicago and traveled internationally, including 18 months as the Training Center Director at the iO. In 2016 Bill published a book, The Complete Improviser.

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You Already Know What’s Going On
Michael J. Astrauskas

Sat, Aug 10, 12:30-2:30 p.m.
HCC Rehearsal Hall

Confidence doesn’t necessarily mean high-status, but means you are 100 percent behind what you’re doing. Any character can be interesting and relatable if the improviser – and by extension the character – believes in themselves and their own life experiences. This workshop has games and exercises to focus on bringing out aspects of yourself as characters by creating a safe environment to commit and play naturally, rather than play as what you think you should be doing.

Instructor Bio

Michael J. Astrauskas is an improvisor based in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States. He has studied at Endgames Improv and Camp Improv Utopia, as well as at festivals and with visiting teachers. He loves to take photos, and can be seen capturing moments at Bay Area festivals and shows, as well as officially for Leela Improv in San Francisco. Michael loves to share his joy of improv, and that has led to production of shows and the San Francisco Improv Festival, as well as teaching. His philosophy is that improv can be for fun, a tool for life, or any combination.

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Improvise Like A Clown
Victoria Dym

Sat, Aug 10, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
HCC Mainstage Theatre

My favorite class at clown school was improv! However, we will explore the physicality of clown gags and how they can add to scenework. Prepare for movement, object work, laughter, and the joy of clowning.

Instructor Bio

Victoria Dym is a graduate of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Clown College with a degree in humility, and was paid as a clown actor for a CBS television special presentation about the school starring Dick Van Dyke. Victoria is a certified laughter yoga leader. Ms. Dym has actress IMDb credits for Dominick and Eugene, Blood Sucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh, and The Man with Elephant Hands, and IMDb co-writer credits for 7 Lives of Chance, and The Man with Elephant Hands.

Victoria’s first book, Clown School, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2015. She has been an improviser for thirty-seven years and a participant in the Countdown Improv Festival for the last seven. Her solo show this year is Self Portrait with Evening Palm.

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Heroes, Outlaws, Lovers, and Magicians: Personal Branding for Improvisers
Bryan Fernando

Fri, Aug 9, 12:00-2:00 p.m.
HCC Rehearsal Hall

In this workshop we will unleash the power of personal branding in our scenework, specifically the early 2000s MBA branding archetypes put forth by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson in The Hero and the Outlaw. You will learn what your personal brand is as an improviser, discover how to play more true to yourself, “sell” your scenework, and figure out how all the pieces of your group come together to form a cohesive whole. Are you 100% main character vibes all the time? (Hero) Do you like subtly but harmlessly messing with people from the sidelines? (Jester) Do you just hope everyone has a good time and don’t want to cause any problems? (Innocent) Together we will establish strong points of view and bring those points of view to life through our characters, helping to add our own unique sensibilities to every scene and game.

Instructor Bio

Bryan Fernando has been doing professional improv in and around the Pacific Northwest for 15 years, and amateur improv even longer than that. This will be his sixth consecutive Countdown Improv Festival and his first year offering this intermediate-to-advanced workshop.

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Gender Fluid
Betse Green

Sat, Aug 10, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
HCC Rehearsal Hall

Gender is a construct: so let’s get constructive! With an emphasis on finding authenticity through subject matter often lost in stereotypes, we will utilize playful exercises to break from the binaries that bind and draw strong, meaningful connections to the gender identities in your life, both in and out of performance. Do you struggle with playing the different identifying gender as a grounded, real character vs. caricature? Do you endow your scene partner as their identifying gender when they are trying to play something different? Come prepared to walk in the different-identifying gender’s shoes, taking on what it truly feels like to embody all the physical, emotional and communication traits of the opportunity identifying gender.

Valuable communication, creative and relationship building skills are packed into this fun and interactive workshop taught by CSz Boston owner and 15-year professional improviser and certified applied improv educator and architect, Betse Green. By the end of the workshop, you’ll walk away knowing:
– How to make supportive, creative choices that encourage communication
– The value and purpose of walking in a different-identifying gender’s shoes and learn more about yourself.
– How to play more authentic identifying genders.

Wear comfortable clothing and be prepared to move your body in different positions.

Instructor Bio

With over 20 years of improv experience, Betse Green has performed, taught and directed all over North America and Europe. Her curiosity compass points directly toward forming strong, grounded characters, whose honest relationships form the heart of the scene. She likes to play for the others: those people and situations that can otherwise be forgotten on the improv stage, as is apparent in her work with people possessing a wide range of abilities and experience. Her workshops explore a variety of topics-from improv basics, to guiding experienced players through complex territories such as race and gender, and how artists can incite and continue these conversations from the stage. Yet paramount to any ideology is FUN! Betse’s lust for life has made her a staple of the Oregon improv community and continues to propel her imagination and dedication to Portland’s improv stages and beyond.

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Musical Improv For Non-Musicians
Dartanion London

Sat, Aug 10, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
HCC Mainstage Theatre

How to approach musical improv from an improv-first perspective. We’ll focus on using simple song-based techniques to let you add music to your already existing improv skills. All levels of musical experience are welcome!

Instructor Bio

Dartanion London is a beatboxing looping improvisational standup comedian that makes up songs on the spot based on audience suggestions. He’s performed across the USA and internationally, trained at The Upright Citizens Brigade theatre in Los Angeles, and was a mainstage cast member at the Ryan Stiles Theatre in Bellingham, Wash.

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Mystery Workshop
Mystery Instructor

Fri, Aug 9, 2:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
HCC Studio Theatre

What is this workshop about? Who is the instructor? The only way to find out is to sign up!

Instructor Bio

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Self to Solo through Body and Play
anděl sudik

Sat, Aug 10, 12:30-2:30 p.m.
HCC Mainstage Theatre

In this workshop we will explore solo improvisation as an art and a tool to create potentially scripted pieces of sketch, stand up, poetry, essay, solo character etc. Stephen Sondheim said “Content Dictates form” and I deeply believe that so let’s play with whatever you bring to the table that no-one else can and discover what it can be. Through mind body connection, movement, play and group discussion we will explore our point of view as player and as human both individually and as a part of the ensemble. We’ll explore or discover your comedic voice and hopefully leave with more questions then answers and a curousity to keep on playing. Equal parts dumb fun and reflection. Bring water, there will be sweat. (And a notebook:)

Instructor Bio

Anděl Sudik is a director, improviser, actor and writer based in L.A. and Chicago known for her explosive energy onstage and in the classroom as well as her experiential teaching style. She is a faculty member of the Second City where she teaches sketch writing and improvisation remotely and iO where she teaches summer intensives in Chicago. She is an alum of Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, the Second City Touring and resident ETC Company and has directed sketch, improvisation and solo shows at The Public House, Annoyance, iO and Second City, and soon Edinburgh Fringe. Before 2020 she could be found traveling, teaching and performing all over the states as well as across Europe in festivals and privately. Now she can be found doing… the same but sometimes over zoom. Full bio at YesAndel.com

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Just Sing … Sing A Song
Linda Marie Williams Taylor

Fri, Aug 9, 12:00-2:00 p.m.
HCC Studio Theatre

Love improv but the thought of musical improv leaves you stopped dead in your tracks? Or have you done tons of it but want to try something new? In this workshop we will explore making music second nature and getting comfortable with putting a tune to your characters voice – finding rhymes, harmonies, backups, and choreography. We’re just gonna play and I bet you leave with a tune or two stuck in your head!

Instructor Bio

Linda Marie Taylor has been performing, teaching, and directing improv for over 20 years. From fast paced short form competitions in ComedySportz venues across the country, performing montages, Harolds, living rooms and interventions, to creating original long form formats with troupes as large as 30 people to creating duo acts – Linda Marie loves to get in and get creative. And oh boy is musical improv her jam! Linda coaches all levels and ages of improvisers, teaching scenework focusing on individual skills and habits, and pushing students to discover something new. She specializes in musical improv focusing on solo skills and group cohesiveness within musical games scenes and entire narratives.

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History and methodology

From 2018 through 2020, festival workshops were programmed on an ad hoc basis, with the festival organizers choosing the instructors, and, in some cases, the workshop topics. We did it this way for a few reasons — for one thing, it felt like the easiest way to curate a diverse, high-quality workshop roster each year — but we were always aware that this process was neither particularly transparent nor egalitarian. In 2021, we decided try to fix this problem by putting the workshop-programming process in the hands of our performers.

In 2022, we refined the process to make performer voting the primary, but not the sole, determinant of that year’s workshop roster. We opened voting for a nine-day span and allowed all performers to vote once. The key difference between 2021 and 2022 was that the two executive producers of the festival also voted — but each of their votes was worth 4 performer votes. In the end, this meant that the producers’ votes accounted for roughly 20 percent of the total votes received.

To determine 2024’s workshop roster, we ran a variety of scenarios to identify the clear winners. First, we looked at the total number of votes received. Then, we looked at the total number of points received, where a first-choice workshop vote will receive 6 points, a second-choice vote will receive 5 points, and so on. Then, we looked at the total number of first, second, and third place votes that each workshop received. Then, we averaged the results from all three categories to come up with our workshop roster. In 2024, the executive producers’ votes were once again worth 4 performer votes.