Improvisation workshop led by Michael Brunlieb, drawing on Viola Spolin's games, open to all levels and part of the Birmingham Improv Festival 2026.
Michael Brunlieb is running a comedy workshop at MAC Birmingham on Saturday 7 November, part of the Birmingham Improv Festival 2026. It's called What's Beyond, and it's a three-hour session open to all levels, so you don't need any prior improv experience to join in.
The workshop is built around the work of Viola Spolin, a pioneer of improvisational theatre who created a collection of games to give players a framework for solving problems on their feet. What's Beyond is one of her sets of challenging exercises, and it focuses on what lies beyond the immediate stage environment — pushing you to look past the room you're in and build a world around the scene.
Brunlieb comes over from Chicago, where he's spent fifteen years performing and teaching. He improvises with the ensembles Sand, Real Angels and 3 Actors Living in a Cave, mostly at the Logan Square Improv theatre. He's been named one of Chicago's top improvisers by the iO theatre three years in a row, and he's studied at the Paul Sills Theatre Game Centre with Aretha and Carol Sills, and at iO Chicago with TJ Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi. He's performed and taught internationally, so this isn't his first time bringing Chicago-style improv to a new city.
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Outside the improv world, he's got a fair few screen credits to his name: Southside on HBO, Joe Pera Talks with You on Adult Swim, and Trial of the Chicago Seven on Netflix. The workshop runs for three hours on Saturday 7 November at MAC Birmingham, and tickets are £51.95.
