I will be a guest faculty member for the 2026 Tennessee Arts Academy Summer Institute

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Alan Hawkins Selected as Guest Faculty for the 2026 Tennessee Arts Academy Summer Institute Seattle based educator, improviser, and author Alan Hawkins has been selected to serve as guest faculty at the Tennessee Arts Academy Summer Institute, held July 11 to 17, 2026, on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Tennessee Arts Academy (TAA) is a nationally recognized professional development program dedicated to inspiring and […]

Hogan Cup 2025 Woodinville High School

For the last four years, I’ve had the honor of coaching the Woodinville High School improv team for the Hogan Cup, a competition that Unexpected Productions hosts each year. Thirteen high schools from across the region compete for a spot in the finals. Last night was our home match, and it was a great one. This year, we only had three returning players, and all of them were brand new to the program last season. […]

Federal Way High School Improv Night

Federal Way High School Drama: A Night of Improv Magic Last week, the Federal Way High School Drama Department and Thespy Troupe 3541 delivered an absolutely incredible night of live improv comedy. What made the evening even more impressive is this: the advanced drama students who opened the show had only four rehearsals together before stepping onstage. You wouldn’t have known it for a second. They came out swinging with fast, funny short-form improv that […]

Three years ago today I got cast into the ensemble at Unexpected Productions

Three years ago today I got cast into the ensemble at Unexpected Productions—America’s oldest Theatersports company. A few months before, Dave Clapper had pitched the idea of doing a tribute show to honor Kevin. I never got to say goodbye to Kevin. He died during the pandemic. No memorial. No drunken wake at a pub with all of his friends. I not only loved Dave’s idea, my soul needed it. Dave wanted to ask Tony Beeman to be […]

Improv Your Parenting

I recently had the opportunity to meet Jeremy Strozer, an improviser from Los Angeles who now lives with his family in Ireland. And he’s doing a project that focuses on the idea of how an improviser parent their child. What do the tenets of improv teach us about being better parents? And how can that information be helpfully disseminated to the general public if they are not improvisers? It was such a fun interview, and […]