IMPROFEST workshop: No isn't always a block - Patti Stiles

Learning to accept each other’s offers is vital in improvisation. However, many improvisers end up being trained in a ‘Pavlovian’ response to create improvisation through saying yes! to everything without understanding the offer or the story. This workshop will show you that sometimes the best Yes is a NO!

Bio:
Patti is an actor, director, author, playwright and teacher who specialises in improvisational theatre. She is a former Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre (CA), Dream Kitchen Theatre (CA), Impro Melbourne (AU) and the International Theatresports Institute (CA), and a founding member of the award winning Die Nasty – the live improvised soap opera (CA).

Her tutelage and mentorship has strongly influenced many improvisors and improvisation companies all over the world. Such as Rapid Fire Theatre (CA), Impro Melbourne (AU), Spontaneity Shop (UK), Closer Each Day (UK), Smoking Sofa (FR), Teatro A Molla (IT) and I Bugardini (IT), B.L.U.E – the musical (IT), Courtyard Playhouse (UAE) and the award winning Austentacious (UK).

In 2021 she released her first book Improvise Freely. It has received an enthusiastic response from improvisors, teachers and impro companies around the globe. In 2022 it was translated into Italian.
Patti has been featured on the cover of the Spanish impro magazine Status; she is a contributor to the book The Art of Making Mistakes and has been interviewed for the books Something Like A Drug and The Improv Handbook (which is dedicated to Patti in recognition of her mentorship.) She has been interviewed for numerous podcasts and University papers and her blog has been translated into French, Italian, German and Portuguese.

Adding to her list of credits are three nominations for an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award, plus she holds the unofficial record for being the first female to improvise for 53 hours in a row in the famous Die Nasty soap a thon.

The Canadian press has given her the titles “Impro Doyen” and “Queen of Improvisation”.

The workshop is a part of Improfest 2025, a theatre festival focusing on improvisational theatre. The festival invites improvisers from Sweden and the rest of the world to give performances and offer workshops in various locations in Sweden during the period May to August 2025

(Workshopen kommer att hållas på engelska då Improfest är en internationell improvisationsteater-festival med inbjudna improvisatörer från hela världen.)