Clowning for Improvisers with Soleil Kohl - Thu 2/5/26 @ 6:30 PM

Clowning for Improvisers with Soleil Kohl - Thursday, February 5, 2026 @ 6:30 PM

This workshop is for seasoned and beginner improvisers alike who are looking to get out of their heads, more in tune with their impulses, and find ways to elevate what makes them uniquely funny from the moment they enter the stage.
In a supportive environment, participants will be guided through a series of exercises that focus on a “cracking open” of the emotional actor. You’ll make bigger choices that are less about being clever, and more about commitment. We’ll also focus on:
-Playing with less fear and reservation, and being less in-your-head on stage.
-Sharpening a basis of physical theater skills to create more dynamic stage pictures, rhythms, and relationships.
-Tapping into your own sense of play and being able to carry it into a scene.
-Staying connected and responsive to the audience, and learning when to break the fourth wall.
-Using mistakes as gifts to the scene, rather than failures.
-Expanding your space and character work by making committed physical choices.
-Finding when and how to interact with audience members that feels fun and inviting, not heckling.
-Understanding what makes YOU uniquely funny, so that you can play with and against it.

This workshop is highly physical, playful, and will involve lots of silliness. By the end of it, you’ll laugh a lot, have a few new tools and vocabularies to pull from, and have a more playful perspective of your own performing instincts, the audience, and your scene partners.

No experience in clowning, and no improv level requirement required!

Instructor bio: Soleil Kohl (she/they) is an experimental performance artist based in Denver, Colorado specializing in clown, devised work, and immersive theatre. Her work ranges from absurdist satire and character comedy to embodied physical theatre and dance, creating a mixture of physicality, authenticity, and provocation. Soleil has brought original work across the US and abroad, and has been featured on BBC Scotland and No Proscenium.
Her teaching style is informed by over ten years of improv comedy, physical theater, and clown studies, as well as a Master of Arts in Learning, Developmental, and Family Sciences. She takes from several styles and pedagogies, whose lineages include Jacques Lecoq, Dell’Arte International, and Richard Pochinko. Among others, she has studied with Giovanni Fusetti, Spymonkey (Aitor Basuri and Toby Park), Christopher Bayes, and Donna Oblongata.

Financial Assistance

We understand that financial circumstances can sometimes make participation challenging. Please know that your presence, voice and contributions are valued here, and we are committed to making our programs as accessible as possible.

We have a few ways to help folks experience our classes. First off, all of our volunteers can take up to one full level class every term. Our volunteers learn positions at the theater and agree to a regular schedule at either our box office, tech booth, or our HM position which helps get the shows started on time. If you have a skill or trade or item that could be of benefit the theater, we're open to talking to you about it. We also offer payment plans for more flexibility, look into them at check out.

If those options aren't helpful, we offer an inclusion scholarship that will help Rise best reflect Denver. If you feel that you have a perspective and experience that Rise could benefit from we offer scholarships each term for our leveled classes. Apply below.

Link to Scholarship Program: https://risecomedy.com/rise-comedy-inclusion-scholarship/

If you have circumstances beyond these options or would like more details on any of them please reach out to [email protected] with the subject "Financial Assistance"