Improv workshops sold separately. 100% of proceeds go directly to the instructor.
All workshops will be held at the Blue Door Theatre (319 S Cedar St, Spokane, WA 99201)
Workshop Schedule
Friday, April 4th
TIME | WORKSHOP TITLE | INSTRUCTOR |
9:30 to 11:30 AM | Your First Line is Mime | Jake Foerg of The Blue Door Theatre |
9:30 to 11:30 AM | Inspiring Character | Noah Johnson of Levity Theatre |
11:30 AM to 12:30 PM – LUNCH BREAK | ||
12:30 to 2:30 PM | The Magic Arc | Bainbridge Island Improv Collective |
12:30 to 2:30 PM | The Space Between… | Diana Brown of Bingewatch |
2:35 to 4:35 PM | Musical Workshop | Musical Monday |
Saturday, April 5th
TIME | WORKSHOP TITLE | INSTRUCTOR |
9:30 to 11:30 AM | Connecting in the Dark | Eric and Aden Nepom of B.A.B.E. |
9:30 to 11:30 AM | Building the Playground | Andy Perkins of Snooze Button |
11:30 AM to 12:30 PM – LUNCH BREAK | ||
12:30 to 2:30 PM | Musical Workshop | Musical Monday |
12:30 to 2:30 PM | Take it Further | Jaymie Parkkinen of The Park |
12:30 to 2:30 PM | The Art of Pitching an Idea | Brandon Minaya & Devon Sheehan of Jet City Improv |
If you took a workshop at the 2025 NWIF, please take some time to fill out the surveys for the ones you took! Each survey should take about 5 minutes, depending on how much feedback you have.
Full Workshop Details

Musical Workshops
Presented by Musical Monday
We are excited to say that our headlining act, Musical Monday, will be teaching two musical workshops at this year’s festival! Learn how to make up songs on the spot, by yourself or with a partner from the Internet’s Favorite Improv Comedy Band!
Each of the specialty, 2-hour workshops costs $50.
Friday, April 4th
2:35PM - 4:35PM
Saturday, April 5th
12:30PM - 2:30PM

Connecting in the Dark
"Building your intimate relationship with the audience"
by Aden & Eric Nepom
Length: 2 Hours
Time: Saturday, April 5th from 9:30AM - 11:30AM
Max Class Size: 20
Cost: $30
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
"Connecting in the Dark" Description
Your show begins when you set foot on stage. Spend time crafting the most underestimated and simultaneously most critical skill in performance: building your relationship with the audience. As improvisers we invest in our scene starts, our character creation and the intricacies of our spacework... but it is those first f moments when you meet the crowd and they create their expectations that can make or break your show. This workshop will help you hone your ability to connect with your audiences. From hosting and directing to interviewing the crowd, learn to make those first few moments count and how to honor the most important scene partner you ev had: the people sitting in the dark.
Instructor Bio:
Real life couple Aden and Eric Nepom have been improvising for over 50 years between the two of them. They have been playing together for roughly nine years, and have only been married for seven blissful years. Recognized for outstanding skills in theatre, speech, communication and development, these two share a passion for committed character work, grounded platform building and that moment where one realizes that anything can happen in improv! Individually they’ve created programming, won awards and traveled the world as improv teachers, stage performers and educators. Together, they’ve taught and performed on stages from as close as 20 minutes from their house, to as far away as Tel Aviv. Their festival appearances include the Fertile Ground Festival in Portland, OR, the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival in Austin, TX, the Alaska State Improv Festival in Juneau, AK, the Seattle Festival of Improvised Theatre in Seattle, WA, New York Musical Improv Fest in NY, and Mount Olymprov Greek International Improv Festival in Athens, Greece and many more.

Building the Playground
"Learn to create dynamic and interesting base realities for your scenes"
by Andy Perkins
Length: 2 Hours
Time: Saturday, April 5th from 9:30AM - 11:30AM
Max Class Size: 16
Cost: $30
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
"Building the Playground" Description
You have to build the playground before you can play on it! In this workshop, we will focus on establishing a specific and fun base reality for our scenes. By doing so, we will give ourselves the freedom and confidence to feel grounded and playfully reactive in our scenework.
Instructor Bio:
Andy began teaching as a graduate student while pursuing his MFA in Acting at Purdue. While there, he designed and taught a semester long foundational improv course.
Since then, he moved back to Kansas City, Missouri where he taught acting and improvisation for multiple theatre companies including the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, the Coterie Theatre, the KC Improv Company, and his own independent workshops. He has also taught for Avila, Park, and Purdue University as an adjunct professor, and has traveled to teach improv for OKC Improv, ComedySportz Buffalo, the Detroit Improv Festival, the Baltimore Improv Festival, the San Diego Improv Festival, the Trill Comedy Festival in Houston, and workshops in Chelan, Washington.
Currently he resides in Portland, OR where he has taught for Portland Center Stage, Northwest Children's Theater, and the Cathedral Park Performing Arts Collective.

Take It Further
"Our caution is killing us. Let's go nuts."
by Jaymie Parkkinen
Length: 2 Hours
Time: Saturday, April 5th from 9:30AM - 11:30AM
Max Class Size: 16
Cost: $30
Level: Intermediate
"TAKE IT FURTHER" Description
Skip the slow build. Start your scenes at a six out of ten and discover what happens when you heighten from there. This workshop challenges improvisers to begin with high emotion and even higher stakes, unlocking wilder territories and originality. Leave your comfort zone at the door and prepare to explore the absurd.
Instructor Bio:
Through more than a decade of teaching, Jaymie Parkkinen has dragged improv and clowning into weird new territories. After training at every major comedy institution in the country, he spent years experimenting with what happens when you push performance past its comfort zone. He is the founder of Clown Cardio, featured in The New York Times, and teaches improv and clowning in Los Angeles and internationally, helping performers discover just how strange and wonderful they can be.

The Space Between...
"Sustaining your emotional choices in the spaces between the words."
by Diana Brown
Length: 2 Hours
Time: Friday, April 4th from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM
Max Class Size: 14
Cost: $30
"The Space Between..." Description
Sustaining your emotional choices in the spaces between the words. In this workshop we will mine the silence for the specificity of your emotional intention.
• Come and explore the rich inner life of your characters.
• Play with the complexities of emotions that inform the human experience.
• Learn ways to extend the dynamic tension between players without sacrificing brevity.
You will leave this workshop with tools for and appreciation of staying in the golden moment.
Instructor Bio:
Diana Brown is an improv artist, teaching artist, actor, producer, director. She was voted Most Valuable Mentor and Teacher at the San Francisco Improv Festival. She leads the improv program at Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s School of Theatre. Diana is an instructor, producer and a member of the leadership team with Leela Improv Theatre in San Francisco. She uses applied improvisation in medical settings to improve patient/provider communication. Diana enjoys helping improv artists to find and amplify their unique gifts. She genuinely believes everyone is infinitely fascinating and endeavors to instill that belief in her students.
She’s presented Improv workshops, intensives and “workshop to show” experiences at festivals around the country and at Improv Fest Ireland 2024, Belfast Improv Fest, 2024 2024 Vancouver Improv Festival, 2024 Gather Spring Improv Retreat Ireland 2024, Camp Improv Utopia West, 2023.
Diana is half of the duo Bingewatch. She plays in the Shakespeare inspired trio Gamesome Frolic, the Tennessee Williams inspired duo Fleeting Reminiscence, the trios POPTOP, The Witches, and appears with the Twilight Zone inspired ensemble But of Mind.
Diana is a guest artist with BATS Improv in San Francisco and a member of the acting pool with the San Francisco sketch comedy company Killing My Lobster. She has appeared at festivals around the country including SF Sketchfest, San Francisco Improv Fest, Rise Comedy Fest, Countdown Improv Fest, SAVI Fest , Twin Cities Improv Fest, Alaska State Improv Fest, NYC Improv Fest, and at Improv Fest Ireland, Vancouver Improv Festival, Gather Spring Improv Retreat Ireland.

Art of Pitching an Idea
"the art of the pitch for both artistic & corporate endeavors."
by Brandon Minaya & Devon Sheehan
Length: 2 Hours
Time: Saturday, April 5th from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM
Max Class Size: 25
Cost: $30
"The Art of Pitching an Idea" Description
Whether you have a new show idea that you want your theatre company to put resources behind, or you are trying to get buy-in for a business proposal, the steps to success can look the same and we'll dive in together on how to craft the perfect pitch for each. We recommend you bring paper or something to take notes with as well as a willingness to ask questions and be interactive, however this is *not* an improv workshop and there will not be any scene-work, rather this is a soft-skills business seminar adapted to teach the art of the pitch for both artistic and corporate endeavors.
Also note that all financial proceeds of this workshop will go directly to supporting Wing-It productions dba Jet City Improv, a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to providing improv for good and providing outreach efforts for incarcerated youth and children experiencing hardship"
Instructor Bio:
Brandon is currently the Executive Director of Jet City Improv (formerly Managing Director Board VP) and a tech industry veteran with a long history of teaching pitching workshops at collegiate hackathons and incubator events. His experience with pitching in the context of business and technology coupled with his experience directing shows and managing an improv theatre inform his approach to bringing a similar approach to pitching across any context.

The Magic Arc
"Tools for bringing story to all your improv!"
by Todd Erler & Sandi Spellman
Length: 2 Hours
Time: Friday, April 4th from 12:30PM - 2:30PM
Max Class Size: 12
Cost: $30
Level: Intermediate
"The Magic Arc" Description
Every format, every game, every style of improv can be made richer by discovering the "Magic Arc" within... Learning to see how the top of a scene "seeds" the close of the scene can be your super power! Todd and Sandi will introduce concepts and skills to allow improvisors to find the narrative in their scene work and beyond!
Instructor Bio:
Todd Erler, Tina Frei, Sandi Spellman, and Laurel Marlantes each bring many years of improv training, teaching and performing to this workshop. Their current collaboration, Bainbridge Improv Collective, is an exploration of narrative long form improv, prompted by a single suggested word. Worlds are created, themes emerge and big magic is made! Todd, Tina and Sandi are also former (Todd, Tina) and current (Sandi) members of The Edge improv at Bainbridge Performing Arts.

Your First Line is Mime
"set yourself up for a successful and seamless scene"
by Jake Foerg
Length: 2 Hours
Time: Friday, April 4th from 9:30AM - 11:30AM
Max Class Size: 20
Cost: $30
Level: Intermediate
"Your First Line is Mime" Description
In this workshop, we will focus on how to start scenes with non-verbal initiations that will help you establish your base reality more efficiently, communicate your ideas more effectively, and set yourself up for a successful and seamless scene. In our scenes, we will have plenty of time for dialogue, but our primary focus will be effective gesture, expression, and movement at the beginning of the scene.
***This is not a workshop on how to be a mime or the art of miming. It is a scene-based improv workshop with scenes that will include dialogue.
Instructor Bio:
Jake Foerg has performed with The Blue Door Theatre, The Upfront Theatre, The Dead Parrots Society, The Deep End Theater, Bandit Theater, has toured with the PETER comedy trio, and started two independent underground theaters in Bellingham, Washington. He has performed in festivals in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, and Boise, and is currently a performer and educator at the Blue Door Theater. One of his favorite things in the world is teaching improv, and he's excited to be able to share his knowledge with every improviser who is looking to improve their craft.

Inspiring Characters
"Learn to quickly create dynamic characters to elevate your scenework"
by Noah Johnson
Length: 2 Hours
Time: Friday, April 4th from 9:30 am to 11:30
Max Class Size: 16
Cost: $30
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
"Inspiring Characters" Description
Want to learn how to create strong, dynamic characters to take your scenework to the next level? In this 2-hour workshop, you will be equipped with tools to be able to create lively characters from nothing. We will uncover the characters you always do, while also uncovering brand new ones you've never played. We will explore the depths of physicality, voice, character worldview, and emotional responses, all while pushing you out of your comfort zone and unveiling the characters you have yet to discover within yourself.
This is great for intermediate improvisers who have been doing improv for about a year, or want to expand their range with character work!
Instructor Bio:
Noah Johnson is the founder of Levity Theatre in Coeur D'Alene, ID, and co-founded the Northwest Improv Fest in 2024. His expertise in teaching ranges from beginner short form, to advanced-level long form improvisation. He has produced Improvised Murder Mystery Shows, Improvised Musicals, Improved Long Form Montage shows, and much more. His passion lies in Character and Relationship-based scenework. As he likes to put it, "Characters, their dynamic, and how they interact on stage is the only thing the audience can actually see, hear, and experience, so they need to be at the forefront of what we do."