The Little Improv Festival: Meet the Workshop Instructors

Imogen Palmer is a theatre-maker, improviser and teacher. She was the Theatre School Manager of The Bristol Improv Theatre 2019 – 2022, is the Artistic Director of The Delight Collective, and has created multiple shows. 

Imogen has 10+ years of experience as a facilitator and performer, having trained with the world-leading Impro Melbourne and at Howard Fine’s Acting Studio (Melbourne). She’s performed with Soothplayers and Impro Melbourne. 

Imogen leads Bristol Improv Theatre’s applied improv offering, which has been featured in the Sunday Times. 

Imogen will be leading Bring Improv to Work alongside Stephen Brown, and Scenes from Truth.

Alongside having performed improv for nearly a decade, in shows like ‘The Bish Bosh Bash’ and ‘Scenes to an End’, Stephen also co-created and produced the BIT’s longest-running show ‘Tales of Adventure’. 

Outside of the theatre, Stephen is a professional coach (Stephenbrowncoaching.com), trainer and business psychologist. He has designed many successful, interactive training programmes over the past decade, incorporating the principles of improv, coaching and business psychology.

Alongside Imogen, he has developed the BIT’s Applied Improv offer and delivered high-rated workshops for the NHS, Universities and a variety of businesses in the private sector. He also works one-on-one with clients who want to work on their public speaking, confidence and presence.

Stephen will be leading Bring Improv to Work, with Imogen Palmer. 

Will Gawned moved from Australia to Bristol in 2016 and took up improv to meet people and have a laugh. He’s now a regular performer with This Is Your Musical, has directed shows with Unscripted Players, and performed in various Bristol Improv Theatre productions. 

Will’s background is in scripted theatre, performance poetry, science teaching, creative writing and Dungeons & Dragons. Will is interested in improvised singing, collaborative story-telling, and non-comedic improv.

Will will be leading Intro to Songprov alongside Simon Hembra.

Anna Loyd Bradshaw is an actor, director and teaching artist. She grew up and trained in England but in 2014 moved to New York City where her main focus was on developing and directing new work.

In 2022 Anna moved back to England and is now based in Bristol where she lives with with her husband and their baby girl.

Anna will be leading Improv for Fun alongside Cat Murphy.

Rachael Procter-Lane is a stalwart of the improv scene in Bristol, featuring in two of Bristol’s most iconic improv troupes: Closer Each Day, the improvised soap opera that is a Bristol cult classic and the longest running episodic improv show that we know of, and Degrees of Error, who have toured their improvised whodunnit “Murder, She Didn’t Write” across the UK and beyond.

Rachael will be leading Commit to Your Characters.

Cat Murphy has been teaching with the Bristol Improv Theatre for over two years. She performs and directs with BIT Associate Companies Tales of Adventure & The Bish Bosh Bash, as well as the Longform company Last Day on Earth.

She began directing with Novato Theatre Company, and turned her hand to improv with The Unscripted Players, where she directed her avant-garde improv show ‘The Stuff of Dreams’.

She is now the show director of ‘The Bish Bosh Bash’ and directed the BIT’s most recent Christmas Show “Merry Christmas (despite the current circumstances)”. She is a qualified yoga teacher and holds a degree in Drama with Psychology from Bath Spa University.

Cat will be teaching Improv for Fun alongside Anna Lloyd Bradshaw.

Simon Hembra has performed with improv groups such as Degrees of Error, Closer Each Day and The Bish Bosh Bash. He has experience in musical improv, songwriting and singing. 

Simon will be accompanying Will Gawned in teaching Intro to Songprov.