Next-Level Narrative Musicals: The Top 5 Mistakes & Easy Fixes

Instructors: Conor Hanney & Ryan Brookshire (Los Angeles)

Learn how to make your improvised musicals feel written, in this workshop taught by Thee Improvised Musical's Conor Hanney and Ryan Brookshire.

Throughout this workshop, Conor and Ryan will guide you through the solutions to the top five mistakes in every improvised narrative musical. Learn how to understand the beats of a narrative musical, how to use character needs to drive your story, how to slow down and create narrative tension, and how to adjust your show’s pacing to match that of actual musicals.

This workshop is perfect for any advanced musical improviser looking to take their narrative chops to the next level.

Student Information

Advanced: This workshop is open to advanced students with at least basic knowledge of narrative musical structure.

Workshop Capacity

To ensure the quality of the student experience, this workshop is capped at 14 students.

About the Instructors

Conor Hanney is the founder & director of Thee Improvised Musical, featured in Variety, LA Weekly, & Broadway World. He writes and composes for the screen and stage, worked as a creative executive at DreamWorks Animation, an adjunct professor for the University of Notre Dame, and has written scripts and songs for Disney, Netflix, and Paramount. Hanney also writes and ghostwrites novels, with the subrights to his first manuscript acquired by Disney.

Ryan Brookshire is an MD, songwriter, teacher, and improviser based in LA. He has a degree in music education and trained at UCB and previously at Washington Improv Theater (WIT), where he created and taught the musical improv curriculum, played with house team iMusical, Harold teams, and project shows. At UCB, he co-hosts the twice monthly jam, MDs classes and shows, and performs with Sing Out, Louise! He also plays with THEE Improvised Musical, and has guested with Magic To Do, The Musical Version, and Mosh Pit at World's Greatest Improv School (WGIS). He's coaches indie teams and has taught classes and workshops through THEE, The Lyric Hyperion & Glendale Room Training Center, San Diego's "Women Hold Up Half the Sky” Fest at Finest City Improv, the neuro-diverse actors company EPIC Players LA, Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP) online, and free "Improv for All" WIT workshops. He's also trained with instructors from The Groundlings, iO, The Second City, and Baby Wants Candy.

Host or Publisher Bay Area Musical Improv