Improv Your Podcasts (Fictional or Factual)

A two-part workshop demonstrating how theatrical improv games and techniques can be used to bring spontaneous storytelling to your project, whether it’s an interview-based podcast, or a fictional podcast (single narrator or full-cast audio drama).

For factual podcast creators: Many interview questions get you factual answers, but are you missing the questions that would prompt your guests to tell a far more compelling story? Learn how combining proper preparation with curiosity and a willingness to go off-script can lead to memorable interviews. No more start and stop. No more dead-ends. Go deeper and co-create something unexpected with your guests.

For fictional podcast creators: Do you feel stuck with your story? Is your writing feeling “flat”? If you need a creative nudge, this workshop is for you. Using improv games, we’ll show you how to:
• Start at the beginning (No, it’s not obvious, and it isn’t always the beginning you think it is)
• Give your characters character
• Prioritize imagination over research (at least on the first draft)
• Give your dialogue life by focusing on emotion and intent
• Trust in tangents to find out “what’s next?” in your story
• Generate ideas, plots, and scenarios quickly
• Silence your Inner Critic and bust through writer’s block.

Both halves of this workshop will give you lots of practical ideas for your podcasts.

Absolutely no improv experience is needed. We’ve listed the skill level as intermediate, but everyone is welcome.

A handout with ideas and more resources is included.

Speaker Bios

Peter G. Reynolds is a writer, documentary filmmaker, and award-winning author of the middle-grade book Stitches in Time Travel. He is also a 2023 Prix Aurora Award winner for his short story “Broken Vow: The Adventures of Flick Gibson, Intergalactic Videographer.” Based in Toronto, Canada, Peter is the owner of For the Record Productions Inc.

His storytelling journey began with his first children’s picture book, Lost Hallway, which was inspired by his son. Peter’s captivating short fiction has been featured in On Spec Magazine three times and two anthologies. Discover more about his literary works at www.storiesbypeter.com.

Beyond writing, Peter is passionate about teaching and performing improv comedy. He honed his improvisational skills at Second City Toronto and Annex Improv.

Neil Jones is a writer, instructor, and relational therapist in Toronto, Canada.

He is the co-founder of Radio Project X, an audio comedy/drama collective that performs anthology shows in the style of old-time radio plays. Before this he co-wrote, directed, and produced several series of popular live sketch shows: Radio Vault (a hit at the 2007 Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival), the All‑Nude Revues, and the Yellow Robot shows, and wrote and peformed with comedy troupes Upchuckle!, Savador’s Deli, and The Departement of Redundancy Department. He was the Story Editor on one of the first transmedia series, the 2012 superhero comedy, Tights and Fights: Ashes.

He trained in improv at Second City Toronto, The Bad Dog Theatre, and Annex Improv.

He taught From Script to Voice to Stage (a comedy writing and performance class at The Social Capital Theatre) and Free Yourself Through Improv (a health and wellness offering for students at the University of Toronto).