The Queer and Funny Improv Festival is proud to offer workshops from world-class improvisers. 
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Each workshop is $60.
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If you are in need of financial assistance, please fill out this brief scholarship request form.
Email [email protected] if you have any questions.

Saturday

Who, What, Where, Why? with Taj Ruler
​10:00am - 12:30pm, Saturday 11/7
Sometimes you find yourself in a scene and feel stuck. You might ask yourself, "Who is my scene partner? Where does this scene take place? Why does any of this matter??" Who What, Who Where, Why created by Taj Ruler is an approach to starting scenes that help improvisers ensure that they know exactly who they are to each other and where they are in a scene right away, which allows for more exploration of character and heightening! 
Taj Ruler (She/They) is an actor, improviser, and teacher in the Twin Cities. Some of her stage experience includes Children’s Theatre Company, Mixed Blood Theatre, Pillsbury House + Theatre, Girl Friday Productions, and the Brave New Workshop. Taj has a passion for building community with a laser-like focus on respect and equity while building and maintaining safe, fun spaces.
An Exploration in Connected & Grounded Play with Ianne Warshawsky
2:00pm - 4:30pm, Saturday, 11/7
In this workshop, we will play with different acting exercises and games modified specifically for the improviser, learn techniques to co-regulate with your scene partners and find the fun in the silence between choices. In performance and play, we can sometimes find ourselves lost in the adrenaline of the moment and distracted by the desire to make interesting choices. This workshop provides tools and practices that empower us to find calm and be present with each
other in the moment.

Ianne Warshawsky (They/Them) has been performing theater and music since childhood, finding the butterflies in the greenroom to be their most unique friendship! In 2021, following a series of life changing decisions, they decided to take their first improv class at Stomping Ground Comedy Theater and Training Center in Dallas, Texas and haven’t looked back since! In the last five years they have been a part of a variety of long form main stage shows such as My F*d Up Thanksgiving and The Drawing Room. As well as performing, they have also coached, taught, and directed both adults and youth, as well as studied stage acting and improvisational jazz. Ianne brings an attitude of curiosity and adventure to all that they do and is a life long student. 
At this Queer & Funny Fest, you can see Ianne perform with Twilight of the Old West on Saturday, November 7.
​A Minnesotans Nightmare: Direct Communication with Neco Pacheaco
2:00pm - 4:30pm, Saturday, 11/7
Ever wonder how to pivot in a scene when you feel uncomfortable? Or how to address a moment that didn't feel quite right on stage? This workshop will give you team building exercises, in-scene techniques, and post-show processes that can allow you to handle the tough parts of collaborative art so that you can become a stronger, more honest and comfortable performance team!

Neco Pacheaco (She/They/Neco) has 20 years of scripted theater training and 10 years of improv experience. Her college degrees focus on education, equity and accessibility, and theater. Utilizing all of these skill and experience areas Neco works to ensure anyone can access, enjoy, and grow their personal skills in improv and theater performance.

Sunday

Don't Talk About It! with Jim Robinson
10:00am - 12:30pm, Sunday, 11/8
In this workshop, we’ll practice the art of doing something and not talking about it! Teaching scenes can get us stuck. So can scenes where we narrate what we’re doing. However, engaging in an activity that is not the heart of the scene can be a vehicle for emotions, relationships, physicality. Most of all, doing something without talking about it gets us out of our heads.

Jim Robinson (He/Him) is an alumnus of the Brave New Workshop Main Stage, the Off-Beat Comedy Club onboard the Disney Cruise Line, and The Theater of Public Policy. He teaches Improvisation and Mental Health at the University of Minnesota. Jim hails from Riverside, California.
Find Your Voice & Explore Identity Through Solo Improvisation  with Andy Eninger
2:00pm - 4:30pm, Sunday, 11/8
This session breaks down the high-wire act of solo improvisation into simple, manageable steps that enable performers at every level to create their first solo performance, uncover new characters and even invite new aspects of their own identity into their 'performance persona.' 

Andy Eninger (He/Him and They/Them) is a speaker, performer and writer. He is the creator of the improvised solo improv show “Sybil,” which he has performed and taught around the world. He especially loves working on devised musicals in a feisty ensemble, and some of his favorites have been: “Little House on the Parody,” “Bandgeeks! A Halftime Musical!” “Steamworks! The musical!” and “Ponyboy” (a mashup of The Music Man and Equus.) He has also performed as a cast member for The Second City at Sea and Bar Harbor’s ImprovAcadia (he loves a vacation destination!) Andy was a founding member of three Chicago theater companies, GayCo Productions, Chicago Comedy Company and The Playground Theater and served as the Head of the Writing Program for the Second City Training Center from 2011 to 2016. He holds a BS in Mass Communications and an MA in Playwriting from Miami University and studied film directing at the Academy of Drama & Film in Budapest, Hungary.  When he’s not writing and performing, you can find him traveling the world speaking and facilitating workshops for The Nova Collective (where his is a Partner and Head of Learning.) He lives in Los Angeles with his comedian husband and his dogs, Pearl and Barb from Accounting, and a ukulele that he plays when he’s stressed (he plays it a lot.)

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There's A Clown In My Improv! with Gregory Parks
Clown and seasoned solo improviser Gregory Parks invites participants to explore bringing clown techniques of character, timing, and attention to the improv table. Please wear closed toe shoes.

Gregory Parks (He/Him) is a clown, actor, and improviser from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has performed on four continents with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, Disney Live!, Kinoshita Circus, and as part of clown festivals in China and India. He performs mostly silent solo improv titled "Where I Am Now". An advocate for representation and a proud geek, he has moderated, participated in, and created panels for CONvergence sci-fi-fantasy convention and is the host of CVG-TV's Con-Link. He’s a member of the casts of Blackout, Star Trek: The Next Improvisation, and Improv Movement Project.

Gregory has taught workshops on clowning, character, and physicality for Pleasure B Company, (Nagoya, Japan), the Daidogei Festival clown ambassador group (Shizuoka, Japan), Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, Prescott Circus, Circus Smirkus, Brave New Workshop Student Union, HUGE Theater, and MN State Thespian Conference. Up until the pandemic, he was the creator and producer of Twin Cities Clown Cabaret and is slowly planning its eventual return.