Workshops
Keep checking back for new workshops as we add them - and check out some of the historical workshops we've held below!
Wisenheimer Workshop Series
3's A (Perfect) Crowd (20 spaces)
A long form improv workshop catered to those wanting to make a three-person troupe function both on and off-stage. Learn tips, tricks, and get advice in this interactive session including how to hone your teamwork, create memorable scenes, balance egos, and gain guidance on fostering longevity for your troupe.
​​​Basic Instinct(s) (20 spaces)
A long form improv workshop focused on the essentials. Whether you’re learning the basics for the first time or looking to brush up on your established skill set, this workshop is geared towards the tenets of long form including active listening, teamwork, space & scene work, character building, and editing.
About Wisenheimer
Wisenheimer is Leslie Mitchell, Jeff De Leon, and Jen Kuhle. Founded in 2011, the troupe performs across the country creating relatable characters who bring to life memorable scenes all based off suggestions and a brief conversation with the audience.
This workshop will teach how to create a long-form improvised movie. We will use the ideas of genre, narrative, and camera movements to create an improvised cinematic experience.
Griffin Pafford is an improviser and instructor based in Greenville, SC. He performs weekly in Alchemy Comedy's "AllStars" team as well as "Local Legends." He's been improvising for 11 years and has been teaching for 8 years. In his day job he is a mechanical engineer designing a variety of different devices that he hopes you never notice because if you do he messed up.
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Sketch (10-15 spaces cap)
This 8-hour intensive focuses on insights and techniques Rich has learned from his 30 years of experience in comedy and late-night TV (SNL, MADtv, Key & Peele, The Tonight Show) and from having co-written five resident company shows for Second City in Chicago. Students will have an overview of writing essentials: how to write jokes, how to identify and use comedic devices, how to brainstorm, and how to develop ideas. This workshop will also focus on story structure and coming up with endings, as well as how to properly format how to contribute to other students' pitches and work, a valuable writers’ room skill.
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​Improv (15-20 spaces cap)
This 8-hour intensive is all about the bones of the scene. Improvisers, have you ever come off stage and said "Great scene, WHO were we?" or "Great scene, WHERE were we?" Like any other narrative form of storytelling, improvisers need to be able to answer ALL the questions of the scene and performance. WHERE? WHO? WHAT? HOW? WHY? WHEN? Crucial questions in storytelling. Often, one or more of these important questions can be left unaddressed in an improv performance. This is a class Rich has been teaching for many years in LA, NY, Chicago, and around the US. Learn how improvisers play WHERE (object work), WHO (point of view and character), WHAT (games or playable dynamics), HOW & WHY (the gift-givers) and WHEN (dealing with time, linear and shattered narrative).
ABOUT RICH TALARICO
Rich Talarico is a Peabody Award-winning and four-time Emmy nominated writer and producer best known for his work on Comedy Central’s Key & Peele. Rich wrote Key & Peele favorites like Substitute Teacher, Kareem and Jahar, Dueling Hatz, Racist Zombies, Teaching Center, and many more. Rich has also written/produced “Review” for Comedy Central, FOX’s “MADtv,” NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” as well as “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Rich wrote on the NBC Must See TV: Tribute to James Burrows as well as NBC's Red Nose Day and NBC's New Year's Rockin' Eve hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Rich produced and wrote comedian Frank Caliendo's “Frank TV“ for TBS. Rich was a writer/performer on “The Sketch Pad” for HBO. Rich did script punch-ups on Tina Fey's “Mean Girls” and Jordan Peele's “Get Out.”
Rich took his first improv class from Stephen Colbert at Chicago’s Second City in 1992 and then did a stint on the road with Second City’s National Touring Company performing "The Best of The Second City." Rich co-created five original sketch comedy revues with Second City's Etc. and Main Stage Companies. While in Chicago, Rich worked extensively at Improv Olympic (now iO) under the direction of Charna Halpern and the late Del Close. Rich performed with the early casts of Chicago’s longest running improv show, “The Armando Diaz Experience, Theatrical Movement and Hootenanny,” and performed on iO house teams “Mr. Blonde” and “Faulty Wiring.” Rich co-created the scripted hit parody "The Roof Is on Fiddler" with TJ Shanoff and co-created the long-form improv shows “Strap Heads,” “Trio,” “Close Quarters,” and “Dasariski.”
As an actor, Rich has appeared on Comedy Central’s "Review,” "MADtv," “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” and the feature film “High Fidelity.” Rich has appeared in numerous TV commercials, most notably A&W Root Beer’s classic ad, “Mr. Dumass.”
Twitter: @richtalarico
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Website: richtalarico.com