Sunday, June 1st 2008

Main Stage

12PM - Alex Fox - MOVEMENT WORKSHOP
$21.00 - Register Online
Alex Fox an improviser and mover from Chicago who has trained with the Second City Conservatory and Music program, The Annoyance and IO Chicago. She can be seen in this year's Festival playing with Be Frank Wed 6/4 10pm on the Main Stage and with CHEWTIES! Sat 6/7 @ 8pm in the ADT.

This workshop concentrates on getting the improviser out of their head and into their bodies. We will be using the whole space to create an environment safe to play freely in. Designed to get us to use movement as a way to initiate scenes, create characters and heighten. Please wear clothes you can move in!


2PM - Shulie Cowen & Andrew Melton - Musical Improv Workshop
$21.00 - Register Online
Andrew Melton and Shulie Cowen will teach a workshop on Music Improv. We will cover basic ideas of song structure, such as intros, verses, choruses, and endings. There will also be an emphasis on songs with varying numbers of people, from solo songs to quartets. Several different warm-up exercises will be introduced with the idea that the students may incorporate them into their own rehearsals some day.

Andrew Melton has been Musical Director of I.O. West since 2004. After growing up in Asia and receiving degrees from Berklee and USC, he is working as a film composer and improv musician in Los Angeles.

Shulie Cowen is the Director of Opening Night: The Improvised Musical!. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, a former member of The Second City National Touring Company, and a member of the original cast of the long running musical Schoolhouse Rock Live!. Movie and television credits include Factory, You Don't Mess With The Zohan, Just Like Heaven, How I Met Your Mother and Reno 911!.

Andy Dick Experimental Black Box Theater

10AM - Craig Cackowski - Sustaining a Scene
$21.00 - SOLD OUT
So your scenework's pretty good, but can you do a 10-minute scene? A half hour scene? A three hour scene? Craig Cackowski shares some of the techniques he's learned from doing slow, patient scenework in such shows as Dasariski and Quartet.

Craig Cackowski has performed, taught, coached and directed at the IO Chicago and IO West theaters since 1992. He can be seen regularly in Dasariski and The Armando Show. Film and TV appearances include Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Year of the Dog.


12PM - Derek Miller - Finding the Narrative Arc in Improv
$21.00 - Register Online
Bring another dimension to your characters by using thematic through-lines you didn't even know you created. Capitilizing on your strong initiations, we will look at the possibilities you have discovered in solid scene work and turn them into strong character arcs. By focusing on tight connections in scenes, we will aim to eliminate scattershot invention and help support the true thrust laid out by our partners. Perfect for Harold teams that are falling apart in the third beats, actors looking to bring another perspective to their work and Individuals looking to create story-based teams such as the Movie, The Musical and Improvised Plays.

2PM - Bridget Kloss - Making Strong Emotional Choices!
$21.00 - Register Online
For every action there needs to be a reaction! Making an emotional choice can heighten everything, and give your scene energy. This workshop will help you get out of those boring flat scenes, develop game and character, and raise the stakes of all your scenes. It will also be Fun!

Bridget began performing with IO in Chicago in 1997, when she was asked to join the house team Missing Fersons. She later performed with Prefontaine for several years, and was in the shows Two Slow, Epic Prattle, and Ask Charna. In 2000 she joined the cast of The Second City National touring company, and in 2004, became a member of The Second City Mainstage cast in Las Vegas. She can currently be scene performing every Tuesday night at 10pm at io west with Sweetness. She has taught and coached improv for over 5 years, with IO, Second City and independently around the country.

4PM - Andy Dick - USING YOUR LIFE TO INSPIRE YOUR WORK
$21.00 - Register Online

Black Box

10AM - Brian Gallivan - CREATING A SOLO SHOW
$21.00 - Register Online
This two hour workshop will cover the following topics: brainstorming, writing, improvising, character monologues, autobiographical work, using your specific talents, choosing a director, and making sure you actually do a show. By the end of the workshop, every person who attends should have the beginnings of at least two pieces for a show.





12PM - Mike Coen - Playing The Scene You're In
$21.00 - Register Online
Mike's workshop will focus on how to make the scene you're in as successful as it can be. We will focus on playing the moments as they come and heightening what the players are creating together. We will utilize everything in our collective bag of improv tricks. You know 'em: listening, character, game play, space-work, environment, and all the rest. You have these wonderful devices at your fingertips; together we'll put them to good use in your amazing scene's.

Mike can be seen at IO West with Trophy Wife, Cog, The Armando Diaz show. Mike has also performed at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and performed in many improv festivals across the country. In 2002, Mike, along with James Grace, founded The Los Angeles Improv Comedy Festival. This yearly event brings out the best Improv performers from all over the country to perform in the weeklong festival. It's a wicked good time. You may have seen Mike on Comedy Central's CrossBalls or in a few commercials. It's entirely possible you may not have seen him; if you want, he'll tell you about them all he's personable like that.

2PM - Joel Church Cooper - Walk Ons, Call Backs, and Second Beats: Tying The Show Together
$21.00 - Register Online
This workshop will focus on the work an improviser must do while on the sidelines, specifically how to help a floundering scene, exploring and heightening through tag runs, and uniting theme in second and third beats. This is a workshop for the improviser who is confident in their scene work, but wants to fully embrace the group mind that only happens once the real show begins.

Joel Church Cooper has been studying improv at the IO and UCB theaters since he moved to LA four years ago. He has been a performer with the Harold Team Hey Swayze for past 2 and 1/2 years, and has performed at the LA Improv Festival as well as the Del Close Marathon. Joel has also written on sitcoms and is co-creator of the web series Roommating.

Friday, June 6th 2008

Main Stage

10AM - Ryan Suffern - THE WEBISODE
$21.00 - Register Online
This workshop is designed to help with both developing web series ideas and scripts, as well as providing a pragmatic approach to the logistical realities of producing and distributing a show on the internet based on firsthand experience.

RYAN SUFFERN has worked on films of all kinds over the past decade, starting with the independent film community in Chicago, and later, serving as an assistant to Steven Spielberg. Ryan has written and directed several independent shorts, commercials and videos, and in 2006, he began his own production company, Suckatash Productions. He recently finished writing a feature screenplay on assignment for DreamWorks, and last year, he had the pleasure to film the behind-the-scenes for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, editing several webisodes from his on-set footage. In January, Ryan licensed the web series Warthog to the Independent Comedy Network, and he is currently in production on a new series for the website. Ryan presently lives in Los Angeles with his talented wife Kim Garr.

12PM - Derek Miller - Selling It!
$21.00 - Register Online
Bring your Musical Improv to new performance levels. Take your tunes from silly ditties to strong "above the line" Songasms! By dissecting real songs and musical numbers we will push to recreate the emotion and performance qualities in the songs you're creating. Previous improvisation and musical study required.

Derek Miller has instructed levels 1,2 and 6 at the I.O. West for the past five years. He just finished his second tour with Second City at Sea and currently performs with Opening Night! the Improvised Musical (now in it's tenth smash year!) Derek has appeared on Scrubs, MadTv, MTV and Comedy Central. He has performed Improv in London, Chicago, New York and LA.

2PM - Ron West - Master Sketch Workshop
$21.00 - Register Online
Sketch groups will present their sketches for evaluation, notes, and suggestions. You and your group will learn how to improve the presented sketch and apply Ron's notes to your other sketches. Think of it as an open competition for sketches without the dumb politics. Think of it as an opportunity for us to teach each other. This workshop is for scenes with 2 or more performers.

Ron West has directed more Second City shows than he can count. He thinks it is about 30 between the franchises in Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. He regularly directs Big News, the new-show-every-week show at IO West. His musical The People vs. Friar Laurence played to critical and popular acclaim at Chicago Shakespeare, where his adaptation of The Comedy of Errors recently opened. He appeared as Dick Solomon's nemesis Dr. Strudwick on Third Rock from the Sun and has been a creative consultant to Whose Line Is It, Anyway? The Doctor bats right and throws right.

4PM - Pete Hulne - Working In And With The Space
$21.00 - SOLD OUT
The class will consist of a scene study of the relationships that coincide with the environment you create. Mostly thinking outside the box when it comes to Improv. No talking heads need apply. This is for improvisers who are interested in staying in the moment and creating, rather then being funny which hardly ever works for the new Improviser. You will be creating a believable location and using objects that work for your character with lots of space work!

Peter Hulne is from Chicago and has been doing Improvisation since 1989 when he heard about the Harold at Improv Olympic. He mastered his skills at the Annoyance Theatre, Second City and Columbia College. He toured with the Second City touring Co. and has been on countless I.o. teams such as Corky's Callback, The Family and currently BeerSharkMice. He is known for his physical improv play form being a shirt in a dry cleaners to a mountain lion and everything in between. It was once told that he was the one that invented slo-mo fighting on stage. God's truth ask Matt Walsh from UCB.

Andy Dick Experimental Black Box Theater

10AM - Dana Powell - Rooted in Reality
$21.00 - Register Online
If you get too crazy, too quick, then sustaining a scene can feel like a lot of work. Learn to have a real scene that is interesting, relatable, and a solid building block for the rest of your show. This workshop will explore different techniques you can use to discover how humor can be found in the seemingly mundane.

Dana Powell has studied and performed at IO West, UCB Los Angeles, and The Groundlings. She also performs and currently teaches at The Westside Eclectic. She can be seen on the IO stage weekly in God Squad and Powerhouse. TV appearances include Reno 911, Emily's Reasons Why Not, and The Megan Mullally Show.



12PM - Jim Woods - Finding the Game in the Scene
$21.00 - Register Online
"The game of a scene" is often used without really knowing what it means. This workshop will help you define it and play it. We will pull games from openings that allow you to strongly initiate the game at the top of your scene, and also focus on finding a game of a scene that starts neutrally.







2PM - Be Frank - STRONG PERSONAL INITIATIONS
$21.00 - Register Online
This workshop focuses on strong, personal initiations and how to meld them with the moves of your partner(s). Be Frank puts a strong emphasis on presentation & staging, and their workshop discusses new approaches to play with these elements. We concentrate on bold choices, personalized and reciprocated, performed with theatricality and above all else sticking to the reality of the worlds you have created.

Be Frank is a Chicago based group who have trained at the Second City Conservatory, I.O. and the Annoyance and have taught and performed across the country.

4PM - Eric Hunicutt - Use The Whole Buffalo!
$21.00 - SOLD OUT
Stuck in your head? Having a hard time finding game, emotion, & heightening in your scenes? Feeling like you don't know what to say or do next? Open yourself to ALL the information available and get out of your head and into the scene, your character, the relationship... it's all right in front of you! This workshop focuses on using EVERYTHING that's available in a given scene to help keep you present, open, & having fun.


Eric Hunicutt has been improvising since he was 15 years of age. Since then, he has performed & studied with ComedySportz, The Second City, iO Chicago, and The Steppenwolf Theatre. In L.A., Eric performs with Trophy Wife, Goal!, The Apple Bottom Gang, The Armando Show, and in scripted plays, sketch comedy, and TV & film. He currently teaches at iO West and The Steppenwolf School West.

Black Box

10AM - Phillip Wilburn - Impressions
$21.00 - Register Online
When you audition for a sketch show usually you are asked to do some impressions, but if you don't have any, where do you start? In this workshop you will get tips on how to do an impression. Where to start? Who to do? What works? We will work on impressions you have, and ways to find other impressions for you. If you bring ideas of someone you want to imitate Phillip will give you the starting point for that impression.

Originally from Texas, Phillip is known for his ability to imitate almost any voice, from Tom Cruise to George W. Bush, and everyone in between. The LA Times said Phillip's George W. Bush is "played to squinty eyed perfection." He has done voice work for "Dragon Ball Z" on the Cartoon Network and the "Lupin The Third" movie series. Phillip also produces and stars in viral videos. His video "Leave General Petraeus Alone" received over 100,000 hits in just one day; MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann used it to open a speech by President Bush, and the video was also featured on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Phillip can be seen on stage in Big News at the IO West every Sunday night at 10. Check all this out at www.phillipwilburn.com.

12PM - Jon Monastero and Stephen Simon - Clown Workshop
$21.00 - Register Online
Clown is a universal comic form and one that allows an artist to work with their imperfections and vulnerability while exploring the question: What is so funny about myself? Jon Monastero and Stephen Simon individually are longtime performers and students of clown and together have been performing their two-man clown show, Ten West (www.tenwest.net), for the past four years.

2PM - Paula Killen - Writing For Performers
$21.00 - Register Online
Great workshop for anyone interested in writing either for themselves, the stage, screen or the world at large. Especially good for improvisers with a fear of the written word (or writing a word.)Learn how to find your voice, how to start writing when the blank page is staring at you, how to figure out what it is you want to say,how to use humor to make drama more interesting, how to gain cofidence as a writer/trust your insticts and how to finish what you've started. Prepare to get on stage and bring pen and paper for on the spot exercises. You're gonna love being a writer!

Paula Killen - director/host THE WRITE CLUB @ IO West, veteran stage writer/performer, has helped literally hundreds of people write and perform their solo works, plays, screenplays, novels etc. Killen has been the monologist for ARMANDO and ASSSSS CAT, currently her feature film, Fully Loaded is in pre-production, with Adam McKay as Executive Producer.

4PM - Ron West - Director Workshop
$21.00 - Register Online
What is our job as satirists? What kinds of sketches do I need for my show? How many do I need for my show? What sort of scene goes where in the running order? One guy in our group is really weak--what do I do? How many songs should I have? How much does it cost for Ron to come to our town and direct our show? All these questions and more will be answered. This workshop is not only for directors, but for writer/performers who need to appreciate the structure of the whole show.

Ron West has directed more Second City shows than he can count. He thinks it is about 30 between the franchises in Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. He regularly directs Big News, the new-show-every-week show at IO West. His musical The People vs. Friar Laurence played to critical and popular acclaim at Chicago Shakespeare, where his adaptation of The Comedy of Errors recently opened. He appeared as Dick Solomon's nemesis Dr. Strudwick on Third Rock from the Sun and has been a creative consultant to Whose Line Is It, Anyway? The Doctor bats right and throws right.

Saturday, June 7th 2008

Main Stage

10AM - Jean Villepique - Move It!
$21.00 - Register Online
Using the space and your physical work to give your scene more life and longevity.

Jean Villepique has a theater degree from Northwestern University, studied at IO Chicago with Del Close, wrote and performed for The Second City in Las Vegas, Chicago and elsewhere. She had taught at the Magnet Theater in New York, where her solo show "Who Cares?" had it's debut, which was then selected by the Chicago Improv festival. She is a member of the dynomite trio Switchboard with Rebecca Sohn and Debra Downing-Grosz and performs with the Armando show at IO LA and The Soundtrack at UCBLA. She also plays music with Kit Pongetti in their duo The Artists. Credits include The Office, 30 Rock, The Goods: The Don Ready Story, I Love You Man, and My Boys.

12PM - Seamus McCarthy - Why we never out-grow the Basics
$21.00 - Register Online
An advanced re-examination of the things we learned in our early Improv Classes. A close look at why these rules always work, how to play with them in ANY situation, and how they always help your scene partner (which is the best way to help yourself).

Seamus McCarthy has been a proud member of the IO theater for 15 years. While in Chicago he was a member of Harold teams such as The Lost Yetis, Monster Island, and performed with The Second City National Touring Company before becoming one of the origial cast members of The Second City's Las Vegas theater where he wrote and performed for 5 years. Seamus is currently on IO West's Harold team Sweetness and performs in The Armando Show.

2PM - Jason Pardo - Scene Workshop
$21.00 - SOLD OUT
Jason Pardo's workshop focuses on improvising from power, choice, and playfulness. Participants practice making strong choices at the top of scenes, establishing and committing to characters, building strong relationships, and finding patterns and surprises from within each scene. Coupled with the sinceretiy of the iO West approach, students can expect to become invincible improv dynamos.

Jason Pardo has been performing and teaching improvisation for over fifteen years. Drawing from his experience with theaters including iO, The Second City, The Annoyance and ComedySportz, plus his five years of work in Hollywood, Jason combines a concert of techniques to give students an exciting learning experience coupled with sound practical application. He lives, works, teaches and performs in Los Angeles with his wife, Marion, and their soon-to-arrive son, Wes.

Andy Dick Experimental Black Box Theater

10AM - Molly Prather - Finding Your One Person Show
$21.00 - Register Online
A one person show is your opportunity to stand up in a room full of strangers and industry executives and say, "This is who I am. Please laugh and/or hire me." How do you write a show that best represent yourself? Whether you're interested in developing a monologue show or a character showcase, this workshop will help you find the story or stories you want to tell, and the framework in which they'll work best.

Molly Prather is a writer and performer living in Los Angeles. Her one woman show, That Girl: A Cautionary Tale, has played the last year at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (LA and NY) and the Comedy Central Stage. As a storyteller/monologist she has appeared in ASSSSCAT, Worst Laid Plans, Show and Tell, & Spill Your Guts all at UCB in addition to being a StorySLAM winner at The Moth ( L.A. and N.Y.C). Molly's writing has been featured on AOL Television, porn star exercise videos and published in Time Out New York and the upcoming anthology, Have I Got a Guy for You.

12PM - JD Walsh - The First 30 Seconds
$21.00 - SOLD OUT
How do the choices you make in the first few moments of a scene affect the rest of your story? The workshop will focus on individual's confidence and the decisions they make from the moment they step forward to improvise.

JD Walsh is the founder of Ultimate Improv in Westwood, CA and has been teaching improv for 14 years in Southern California. JD, a graduate of UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television has performed in over 50 national commercials, TV shows such as CSI, 24 and Studio 60 and movies from Love Liza to Bad Boys 2. In 1999 JD opened Ultimate, a theatre that believes Improv/Comedy does not need to be fast, loud and soulless but instead takes patience, risk and heart. He has been a visiting instructor at the Globe Theater in San Diego as well as teaching improv workshops in Chicago, New Zealand, Boston and New York.


2PM - Peter Murrieta and Ezra Weisz - IMPROVISING ON THE SET: BEING A VALUABLE PLAYER
$21.00 - Register Online
Once you have a job on a voice over or a t.v. show, how do you use improv to make the producers love you, not hate you?

Peter Murrieta began his career as a writer/performer at The Second City in Chicago. Upon moving to Los Angeles, he began writing on series television starting as a Writing Fellow at Walt Disney Television, and subsequently on series including NBC's 'Jesse' and 'Three Sisters'. Peter is the creator and Executive Producer of the 2002 WB Series 'Greetings from Tucson,' based on his experiences growing up in Tucson, Arizona. He has written for many other television shows, including 'All About the Andersons' and 'Hope and Faith'. He's written pilots for networks about Bounty Hunters, Kids working at Starbucks, Military Recruiters, and ESPN's Linda Cohn. Peter has written feature films for Revolution Studios and Paramount. Peter has taught improvisation at The Improv in Hollywood and at The Second City and is the co-founder and owner of bang. Improv Studio in Hollywood. Sometimes Peter can be seen there performing in his late night cult hit talk show in a small venue "Peter's Always Correct." Currently he is an Executive Producer on the new Disney Channel series, 'Wizards of Waverly Place'. Peter lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.

4PM - Mike Coleman - Keeping It Simple
$21.00 - SOLD OUT
Keeping it Simple: Improvised scene work doesn't need to be overly complicated. In this workshop we will work on finding simple themes, patterns, and real moments at the top of a show, upon which a fuller, tighter performance can be built. Bring your skills they will be tested. After the workshop we'll build a Fight Pit where the champ goes on to tangle with the undefeated Fight Pit champion Irene White*.

Michael Coleman is a talented and versatile actor whose extensive career has spanned across television, film and theater. A native of Chicago, Coleman is a veteran in the world of improvisation. He has been a member of the Annoyance Theater and the Improv Olympic West, appearing in numerous plays and improvised shows. Presently, he can be seen in the IO West shows, Beer Shark Mice and ArmandoDiaz.

Coleman has been featured in many films, including "How High?," "American Wedding" and "Wake Up Ron Burgundy." Coleman has also co-starred in a myriad of critically acclaimed television shows, including "My Boys," "Bernie Mac," "Arrested Development," "Monk," "The Naked Trucker & T-Bones Show" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

In his spare time, Coleman enjoys playing bass for the up-and-coming alternative rock band Chuck Valiant.

* Irene White has not sanctioned this fight or the use of her name.

Black Box

10AM - Mike Hughes - Writing News Based Comedy
$21.00 - Register Online
Love SNL and The Daily Show? Want to learn how to write that kind of smart, news-based comedy? Here's your chance! The head writers and director of iO West's Big News will bring you into their writers' room as you and your classmates write a sketch that will be performed in the show the next night! The class will draw from the headlines of the previous seven days to create a sketch that will be featured in that week's show.

Michael Hughes' many duties with Big News, the new-show-every-week news-based sketch show at iO West, include director, writer, actor, co-producer of the Big News Report, music supervisor, and even on occasion choreographer. Mike studied comedy at the Groundlings and Second City, has trained with Uta Hagen and Howard Fine, and has taught sketch comedy writing here at iO West. He's performed at the Los Angeles Improv Comedy Festival, the Chicago, San Francisco, and Phoenix Improv Festivals, and the Chicago Sketchfest. He's been a member of sketch and improv groups that included folks like Simon Helberg from "Big Bang Theory" and Masi Oka from "Heroes," and currently is a member of "The Yacht Club," which performs regularly at the Social here at iO West and on the second Friday of every month at the Fanatic Salon. Mike's film credits include "Factory Girl" and "The Man from Elysian Fields," and he has co-written and recorded a song which will be included on a forthcoming album to be released by the National Lampoon.

12PM - Dave Holmes - Yes, And... We'll Be Right Back.
$21.00 - Register Online
Nowadays, there are more channels, more avenues, more shows than ever before. A good chunk of them are going to need hosts, and hey- it might as well be you. In this workshop, we'll focus on what you'll run into in all the many kinds of hosting auditions. You'll see that the qualities that make an improv scene come alive are the same qualities that turn an audition into a callback into a booked job!

Dave Holmes has been bouncing around the world of television for more than a decade, hosting shows for CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Court TV, Bravo, E!, and many others. Currently, you can see him on TV Guide Network's "Celebrity Says" and FX's "DVD on TV," and as Leslie Frost on "Reno 911!" He's performed and coached at iO West since 2003, currently with the Harold team Local 132 and as co-host of the long-running comedy game show The Friday Forty.

2PM - Dave Hill - Intro to Great Characters
$21.00 - Register Online
Working on the basics of great character-work by looking at the building blocks of characters and starting to put them together in scenes.

Dave Hill is a veteran improviser who started in Chicago with the IO Chicago and Second City and who, after moving to Los Angeles, has been a performer and teacher at the IO West. He is a regular in the Armando Show and is a member of several other improv ensembles including: King Ten, Goal! and Cog. If you enjoy this workshop, look for his more extended and advanced Character Workshop held every few months at the IO West.




4PM - JD Walsh - Improv Acting
$21.00 - Register Online
Why not work on your acting while in an improv workshop or show? This workshop will focus on grounding the performer in real emotion so that they can carry the work they've done on stage into the audition.

JD Walsh is the founder of Ultimate Improv in Westwood, CA and has been teaching improv for 14 years in Southern California. JD, a graduate of UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television has performed in over 50 national commercials, TV shows such as CSI, 24 and Studio 60 and movies from Love Liza to Bad Boys 2. In 1999 JD opened Ultimate, a theatre that believes Improv/Comedy does not need to be fast, loud and soulless but instead takes patience, risk and heart. He has been a visiting instructor at the Globe Theater in San Diego as well as teaching improv workshops in Chicago, New Zealand, Boston and New York.

Sunday, June 8th 2008

Main Stage

12PM - Bridget Kloss - Ladies Only Workshop
$21.00 - Register Online
This workshop is for Ladies only! Learn how to be a strong player, hold your own on stage, and the strength of 2 person female scenes. Find your voice in a team full of guys!

Bridget began performing with IO in Chicago in 1997, when she was asked to join the house team Missing Fersons. She later performed with Prefontaine for several years, and was in the shows Two Slow, Epic Prattle, and Ask Charna. In 2000 she joined the cast of The Second City National touring company, and in 2004, became a member of The Second City Mainstage cast in Las Vegas. She can currently be scene performing every Tuesday night at 10pm at io west with Sweetness. She has taught and coached improv for over 5 years, with IO, Second City and independently around the country.

2PM - Chris Tallman - Stepping on the Gas
$21.00 - Register Online
What to do when your scene started okay and then just kinda stalled out?

Chris Tallman has been improvising professionally since 1987. At the IO West, he performs with Powerhouse, the God Squad, and Goal! -- he also appears at the Upright Citizens Brigade and ComedySportz. You've seen him on "Reno 911!," "How I Met Your Mother," "Thank God You're Here," "House," and "The Sarah Silverman Program." He's a creator, too, the brains behind and star of the sci-fi comedy series "TimeBelt," which can be seen at Channel101.com. Feature credits include Werner Herzog's "Rescue Dawn" and "Reno 911!: Miami," in which he was attacked by an alligator.



4 PM - Mo Collins - CREATING CHARACTERS THROUGH IMPROVISATION
$21.00 - SOLD OUT
Learn how to build engaging, rounded characters for improv and sketch scene from MADtv's Mo Collins.

Mo Collins was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 7th, 1965. A painfully shy youth, Mo developed her love of improv comedy after becoming involved in a drama class in the 8th grade. She also attended Robbinsdale Armstrong High School and graduated in 1983. Collins attended College for 2 years before quitting to attend Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis, where she honed her improv and sketch writing skills. Collins left after a few years and moved to Florida where she worked for 2 years at Disney Orlando at a improv place called "Pleasure Island". While there Mo met fellow MADtv castmember Paul Vogt and his brother Peter, and they became not only co workers but close friends. Mo then returned to Minneapolis where she starred in many theater productions and plays. In 1993 Mo married fellow Minnesotan and rock drummer Jimi Englund. They have a son, Cullen who is now 10 years old.Both Husband and Son have appeared on the show with her. When her son was 2, Mo sold her Minneapolis home, packed up her belongings and headed to LA in hopes of making her dreams come true. Within a year, she landed her big break on MADtv. Since then, Collins has made numerous TV appearances and had a starring role in the 2002 movie "Detective Fiction" which made its debut at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. She also appeared in the 1999 short film "Spa" about a woman who enters a spa after being invited there by a relative and refuses to leave. She also appeared in the 2001 film "Factory Accident Sex" Most recently, Mo appeared in the 2003 film "La La Wood", about the life of Jiminy Glick, and recently made a tv appearance on the sitcoms "Less Than Perfect, Arrested Development, King of The Hill,"Joey","7th Heaven", the Showtime series "Fat Actress" & the HBO Series "Six Feet Under". She has also recently appeared in the 2004 short film "The Truth About Meryl" and has a small role in "The 40 Year Old Virgin".

Andy Dick Experimental Black Box Theater

12PM - Aaron Krebs - Let the Scene Find You
$21.00 - Register Online
This workshop is for performers who are looking to be challenged to take their scene work to the next level. We will focus on fine tuning the philosophical approach to good scenes. What makes a great scene? Let's find out. We will work with scene mechanics while staying open to what the scene is telling us to do. We'll work on listening to the scene from moment one. Play the scene that is not the scene you wish it was.

Aaron Krebs is a performer, teacher, and lover of improv. He has taught and performed at multiple festivals across the US. Aaron is a founding member of Chicago's national tour company, Mission IMPROVable. In addition, he currently can be found teaching iO's level 3 and hosting Inside the Improvisor's Studio.


2PM - John Hindman - Screenplay Writing
$21.00 - Register Online
John addresses the screenplay writing process, including the common pitfalls, mistakes, and miscalculations that writers make. Many great ideas never make it because the writer didn't have a grasp on the basics of cinematic story telling and the art of screenwriting - this is a great introduction to both.

John Hindman is the founder of the iO West Writing Program, now in its sixth year. He has written for both television and film. As a story consultant he has provided analysis for studios, producers, and of course his students. He is the writer/director of "The Dream of the Romans", starring Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham, and Lou Taylor Pucci, which wrapped in May '08. John's work was recently included on Hollywood's "Black List", a year-end list of the best screenplays.

4PM - Melanie Chartoff - Charismatizing Improvising
$21.00 - Register Online
Do you have a CONNECTION ISSUE in your scene work? Do you feel you're NOT ENOUGH? Do you find yourself stumbling tongue-tied and intimidated through scenes? Or perhaps you're TOO MUCH? Overacting, mugging, tense, out of control, efforting, vague and unspecific?

Audiences come to see the true you, full of energy, potent creativity, inspiring yourself and your scene partners in play that puts them at ease. Locate your personal free zone! Find the missing link you've always lacked. or trim away the fat with therapeutic, acting and improv exercises. You'll be guided to your personal, authentic "sweet spot," from which you'll flow into the unknown and meet all challenges with stellar power and charismatic presence. This class gets your game going in a way that's authentic and powerful.

Melanie ("Fridays," "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," "Newhart," "Seinfeld," "Rugrats") has worked with Chicago's Second City troupe in N.Y., with Paul Sills in L.A., co-starred off-Broadway in "The Proposition," an improvised musical, along with Jane Curtin, Ray Baker, Josh Mostel; and cohosted a TV talk show with Fred Willard.

Black Box

12PM - Heather Campbell - Emotion, Character, and Response
$21.00 - Register Online
Get angry! Laugh and Love! Feel something! Emotions are the underpinning of character and game. The player's response to the first line of a scene is the map for the rest of his or her play; the compass that guides them is the way their character feels in that first moment. By focusing on the player's ability to choose and convey an emotion in those first crucial steps of a scene, game play and scene-work can become instinctive second nature. Some smart guy once said, "Game is two people being themselves, over and over again." And it's true!

Heather Anne Campbell began improvising at Improv Olympic, in Chicago, at the age of 15. A student of Del Close, she completed her work in the Windy City as the youngest member of Close's final production, Spoo , which toured to the Austin Comedy Festival. A four-year member of Northwestern University's The Mee-Ow Show, she was hired by Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, and spent three years abroad until moving to Los Angeles in 2005. Soon after, Heather was selected for The Groundlings Sunday Company, while simultaneously performing at UCB (Last Day of School), Ultimate Improv, and IOWest (Heather and Miles, The Armando). In 2007, she teamed up with longform improv troupe Roberto Alomar, who are happily competing in the Los Angeles Comedy Festival's Cagematch (and appear every Monday at IO!). Heather has appeared as a guest performer on MADtv, as a singing Hot Dog on a Stick sales-girl in ImprovEverywhere's Food Court Musical, and with Tim Meadows and Miles Stroth in Heather, Miles, and Tim.

2PM - Kate Purdy - Translating Improv Into Writing & Writing Into Improv
$21.00 - Register Online
Breaking down how story and character function in all story-telling mediums. And, defining how specific skill-sets in both writing and improv can be used to sharpen each other.

Kate Purdy is a writer/performer at iO West and UCB theaters. She has also worked in feature and tv development at Disney. And, most recently as a writer on "Cold Case" (CBS).




4PM - Mike Bertrando - Be A Better Scene Partner Workshop
$21.00 - Register Online
Exercises will center on giving gifts, reading what your scene partner is giving you, finding different ways of support, discovering your scene partners strengths and ways to play to them .

Michael Bertrando performed at the iO in Chicago with the famed groups Prefontaine, Atlantis and Somebody Say Charna. He currently performs at the IOWest.