dig deeper
InTO your improV

ColdTowne Theater offers elective courses with community leaders and guest instructors, sometimes on niche topics, always with goal of offering improvisers a fun path towards well-roundedness. Now available:

Real People, Imaginary Circumstances w/Clifton Highfield (September 18)

Initiations & Gifting w/Rich Talarico (September 21)

Character & Story w/Rich Talarico (September 28)

How to Write a Joke w/Rich Talarico (October 5)

Sustaining a Scene w/Craig Cackowski (October 20)

The Improv Mindset w/Bob Dassie (October 20)

Improv Diagnostics w/Asaf Ronen (October 22)

CLIFTON HIGHFIELD has been teaching and performing in Austin for over a decade. He has studied comedy at Second City, ImprovOlympic, iO West, and UCB in Detroit, Chicago, and LA. Clifton has taught scores of comedy classes at various theaters, festivals, comedy clubs, schools, and workplaces across the US and is currently a faculty instructor at The Fallout Theater. Clifton has performed in over a thousand shows across the United States and currently performs in The Sunday Harold with Candy Necklace at Coldtowne Theater.

REAL PEOPLE, IMAGINARY CIRCUMSTANCES
WITH CLIFTON HIGHFIELD

Prerequisite – Completion of level 3 of an established Improv Program.

Create believable characters that exist under the imaginary circumstances created by the scene. Practice supporting a base reality by accepting the gifts that the moment has already provided. Improve your group scenes by discovering what your imagination can find between the lines of dialogue.

Wednesdays, 8pm-10pm
starting September 18
(4-week course)

RICH TALARICO is a Peabody® Award-winning writer/producer with four Emmy® and four WGA Award nominations, best known for his work on Key & Peele. Rich was responsible for K&P fave Substitute Teacher, (“…Ay-ay-Ron?”) which in 2024 was added to The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum Of American History. Rich wrote dozens of K&P faves: Racist Zombies, Karim and Jahar, Hatz, Teaching Center, Obama Greets, Black Ice, and co-wrote many more. Other credits include: MADtv, The Tonight Show w. Jay Leno, Saturday Night Live, and the critically-acclaimed, Review. An alum of Chicago’s Second City and Improv Olympic, Rich also provided punch-up work on Mean Girls and Get Out. As an improviser, Rich teaches, coaches and performs with long-form group Dasariski. As an actor, Rich appeared on screen on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, MADtv, the feature film High Fidelity, and in A&W Root Beer’s classic TV ad, “Mr. Dumass.” Talarico’s extensive experience in the comedy industry has made him a sought-after teacher, writer and consultant. Rich is currently teaching and performing stand up comedy around the US.

INITIATIONS & GIFTING
WITH RICH TALARICO

Students will learn how to initiate organic scenes, emphasizing discovery over intention. Giving and using gifts allow players to focus on relationship over situation and to dig deeper into character games. Explore relationships and build characters by exploring endowments from our scene partners.

No Recording Please , PG-13 content and conduct requested.

Saturday, September 21
11am-2pm

CHARACTER & STORY
WITH RICH TALARICO

Improvisers, did you ever come off stage and say “Great scene, who were we?” Or, “Great scene, where were we?” Learning to play a point-of-view on stage is essential for long form players. Many players feel they don’t know how to, or never play characters. This class will give insightful tools for developing and playing out Character. POV is the filter through which only your character looks. The needs of the characters dictate the plot. The needs of the plot dictate the structure.

No Recording Please , PG-13 content and conduct requested.

Saturday, September 28
11am-2pm

HOW TO WRITE A JOKE
WITH RICH TALARICO

Sigmund Freud says there are three parts to a joke. The expectation, the bewilderment and the illumination. In this 2 hour lecture, attendees will learn comic devices and joke writing techniques that they can carry forward in their comedy careers or just have a deeper understanding of what is going on subconsciously when a joke is presented to an audience. Join comedy veteran Rich Talarico who will share insights on joke writing learned from 30 years in the entertainment business having written monologue jokes for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, as well as Key & Peele, MADtv, and SNL.

No Recording Please , PG-13 content and conduct requested.

Saturday, October 5
11am-2pm

CRAIG CACKOWSKI is an actor, improvisor and teacher based in Los Angeles. He has been involved with the iO and iO West (RIP) theaters since 1992, and was the three-time winner of the Del Close Award as Teacher of the Year at iO West. He has played numerous improv festivals around the country with his long-running three-man troupe Dasariski (with Bob Dassie and Rich Talarico) and his duo Orange Tuxedo (with his wife Carla!). While in Chicago, he appeared in and co-wrote 5 revues for The Second City, and helped create such improv forms as JTS Brown and Close Quarters. As an actor, he has been seen in recurring roles on such shows as Community (as “Officer Cackowski”), Bajillion Dollar Properties (as “Todd the janitor”), Veep (as “Cliff”) and as part of the ensemble cast of Drunk History. Other film and TV credits include The Mayor, Son Of Zorn, Girlboss, Comedy Bang Bang, Newsreaders, Welcome To The Family, The Mindy Project, How I Met Your Mother, Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Year Of The Dog, 21 And Over, The Kings Of Summer, Murder Bury Win, and Wine Country. He may be heard frequently on such podcasts as The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Spontaneanation and his own podcast Craig’s List, in which he makes Carla watch his 100 favorite movies.ship and character work as well as a high level of concentration and support work from the players on the sidelines. Learn it from original cast member Craig Cackowski.

SUSTAINING A SCENE
WITH CRAIG CACKOWSKI

For Advanced improvisors who want to learn “slow play”.

Sure, your scenework’s pretty good. But can you do a 10-minute scene? A 20-minute scene? An hourlong scene? Craig Cackowski shares some of the techniques he’s learned about long. slow, patient scenework from his years working with such groups as Dasariski and Quartet.

Sunday, October 20
11am-2pm

BOB DASSIE has performed and taught improv all over the world, from New York to Los Angeles, from Singapore to Scotland. Over the years he has been involved with several long-form groups including the improvised musical Baby Wants Candy, The Armando Show and alongside Stephnie Weir in the 2-person WeirDass. Until recently, he performed with Dasariski and Quartet at the IOWest in Los Angeles and has appeared in the fully-improvised play, Stolen House, which premiered in Chicago and had a limited run in New York. Bob has appeared on various screen sizes in shows such as HBO's Funny or Die Presents: The Carpet Brothers, NBC's Community, Comedy Central’s Review, FX’s The Comedians, IFC’s The Spoils of Babylon and in “Casa de mi Padre”. He has also written for Adult Swim’s only satanic dog show Mr. Pickles, the current reboot of the Bugs Bunny cartoon, Wabbit, and again with his lovely wife, for the web series, WeirDass: Eleven Year Itch.

THE IMPROV MINDSET
WITH BOB DASSIE

For: Intermediate improvisers who are in their head from the jump

Class Description: This class will focus on our approach to improv regardless of style or structure. We’ll explore the way scenes start, how we enter to serve the scene, and we’ll expand our collective improv vocabulary while honing existing skills in the pursuit of being a confident and giving improviser.

Sunday, October 20
2pm-5pm

ASAF RONEN is the author of Directing Improv: Show the Way By Getting Out of the Way. He regularly performs, teaches and produces in Austin, was Education Director at The Institution Theater for eight years and is currently the Conservatory Director at ColdTowne Theater. He is also a Producer and Education Director of Austin’s annual Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. He has taught and performed improvisation in Canada, Great Britain, Norway and in twenty-eight of these United States with such groups as the B. Iden Payne Award winning Confidence Men (improvised plays in the style of David Mamet) and imp (mostly silent improv). He was also producer on TRUST US, THIS IS ALL MADE UP, a documentary on legendary improvisers TJ & Dave that premiered at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival in 2009 and helped develop the improvised film Days of Delusion with director Scott Myers. In 1999, Asaf founded the improv website, YESand.com of which he is Editor-in-Chief.

IMPROV DIAGNOSTICS
WITH ASAF RONEN

No lesson plans. Just a steady stream of scenework to help you pinpoint your individual tendencies. Find out what your strengths are and where you could explore further. Working in a non-stop series of improv reps, you’ll learn what your patterns are and how to break them through personalized challenges. Great for intermediates who want to develop new skills and for professionals who want to keep fresh.

dig deeper
InTO your improV

Real People, Imaginary Circumstances w/Clifton Highfield (September 18)

Initiations & Gifting w/Rich Talarico (September 21)

Character & Story w/Rich Talarico (September 28)

How to Write a Joke w/Rich Talarico (October 5)

Sustaining a Scene w/Craig Cackowski (October 20)

The Improv Mindset w/Bob Dassie (October 20)

Improv Diagnostics w/Asaf Ronen (October 22)

REAL PEOPLE, IMAGINARY CIRCUMSTANCES
WITH CLIFTON HIGHFIELD

Wednesdays, 8pm-10pm
starting September 18
(4-week course)