Improv in the Workplace
Bring the unexpected to work…
Teambuilding, training, shows and role-play actors from Seattle’s improv theater, in person or online. Pick what you’re after and we’ll build it around your team.
Custom improv sessions built around your goals, balanced just how you like between fun, better communication and teambuilding. A 15-minute icebreaker or several hours of training.
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Teambuilding Classes
Games and exercises built on “yes, and”: listening, supporting your scene partner, and building on each other’s ideas.
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Skills Training
Training for specific skills: sales, negotiation, presenting, and handling frustrated clients or customers.
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Any length, anywhere, even online
At your office or offsite, at one of our spaces, or over video for remote and hybrid teams. See our spaces.
Reward your team, board or office with a hilarious improv show made for your group: holiday parties, awards nights, retreats, milestones, or just because.
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We come to you
Book one of our shows for your event, or have us build a show from the ground up around your company.
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You come to us
Host your event at the Market Theater in Pike Place Market, or our training centers in Georgetown and Issaquah.
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Food and drinks
Catering options at our spaces, and a bar at the Market Theater.
Trained actors for corporate, small-business and medical training. We work with your existing program and coaches, or help you build the training you need from the ground up.
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Simulated Patients
Actors who portray patients and family members, so clinicians can practice hard conversations before they happen for real.
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Corporate Role-play
Frustrated clients, underperforming employees, resistant stakeholders: played realistically, and adjusted on the spot.
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Behavioral Simulations
Scenarios that help leaders practice empathy, de-escalation, active listening and crisis communication.
Custom performances for conferences, retreats and compliance training: to build teamwork, start a conversation about workplace issues, or give everyone a break from the slides.
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Conferences and Retreats
An opener, a closer, or a mid-day reset, written around your theme and your people.
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Training that Sticks
Workplace issues acted out live, so your group talks them through instead of clicking through them.
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Built with You
Tell us the message and the audience; we write, rehearse and perform it.
Our personal and business storytelling coaches can turn your presentations into something they'll think about for days...
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Training for Leaders
We bring ourselves to every story we tell on stage, and we can teach you what turns a memorized speech into a fully-connected experience
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Tighten Up Your Pitch
Our award-winning storytellers have been featured on the MOTH, RISK!, PBS, The Story Collider and more: and we love to help folks turn a pitch into a story nobody will forget.
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Connect Your Team With Stories
Our group storytelling workshops can help a group of coworkers discover the connections and shared experiences they never knew they had!
What teams say
UP’s improv team-building experience brought our team closer, was extremely useful and fun. The class was aligned to our objectives and in a fun setting. It fostered lots of fun ideas and was really enjoyable.
Lisa Ginther HuhMicrosoft A fabulous time was had by all and we would highly recommend Unexpected Productions to provide a unique entertainment experience for your next event.
Kim AueAUE Engineering
How it works
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Tell us what you need
Use the form below or email workplace@unexpectedproductions.org: your goals, your group, and a date.
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We design it with you
We talk it through and build a session, show or simulation around your goals and your schedule.
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We bring the play
At your office, your event, one of our spaces, or online. You just show up.
Host it with us
Three spaces, with catering options at each. Tell us your headcount and we’ll suggest the right one.
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The Market Theater
Our home in Pike Place Market, with a full bar. The place for a show and a party. Up to 220 people.
1428 Post Alley, Seattle
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Georgetown Studios
Our training center in Seattle, with room to move for workshops and training. Up to 50 people.
650 South Orcas, Suite 101, Seattle
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Issaquah
Our Eastside training center, close to home for teams east of the lake. Up to 50 people.
1315 NW Mall Street, Suite 4, Issaquah
What your team will practice
- Active listening
- Saying “Yes, And ...”
- Thinking on their feet
- Supporting each other
- Adapting to change
- Communicating clearly
- Taking creative risks
- Laughing together
- True collaboration
- Embracing failure!
Why improv works at work
The playful, supportive room we build makes simple exchanges thought-provoking, freeing and fun. Here’s what the experts say.
The skills performers learn in improv — teamwork, collaboration, listening, communication, and the ability to adapt and problem-solve — can translate to social and professional skills sought after in many workplaces.
Juan SiliezarThe Harvard Gazette, “For More Than Just Laughs,” May 1, 2019 Once you get good at [improv], you’ll find it’s invaluable training for leadership.
Doug SundheimForbes, “Four Lessons Leaders Can Learn from Improv Right Now,” May 21, 2020
More from the experts (3)
Improv offers us a safe space to play well with others, go with the flow, and take a break from overanalyzing.
Clay Drinko, Ph.D.Psychology Today, “Improv Boosts Creativity and Psychological Well-Being,” May 18, 2020 Improv lets go of the belief that you have to get somewhere really creative right away. Embracing small steps will get you somewhere really fantastical.
Charity FerreiraStanford Magazine, “8 Life Lessons You Can Learn from Improv,” November 12, 2019 By improving everyone’s improvisational capabilities, we can all become better marketers, teammates, leaders and humans.
Meghann CraigForbes, “Improv Training: The Power of Funny Business,” June 14, 2019
Teams we’ve worked with
Questions
Not at all! Many of our clients like to build plans that involve some of each. You might use us, for instance, to give your team a break between focus sessions, and we will balance team-building with light-hearted fun. Some clients hire us to do both teambuilding and a show. We wouldn't be improvisers if we didn't love building something that's right for the moment you want to create.
Not if they don't want to! And no one needs any experience. The room we build is playful, supportive and nonjudgmental, and nobody is put on the spot alone.
Anything from a 15-minute icebreaker to several hours of training. We shape it to your schedule and we will be happy to make recommendations based on your goals.
At your space or online, any size: tell us your headcount and we’ll shape the session around it. At our spaces, up to 220 at the Market Theater, up to 50 in Issaquah, and our Georgetown space features breakout rooms which can host groups from 20 to 50 people.
Yes! One of the best things about improvisation is that it is centered around ensuring everyone has a voice. Many of the improv games we play were first developed as a way of integrating international students and using 'play' as a universal way of communicating and connecting.
The good thing about improvisation is that we can accommodate almost any space you have to work with. We have done teambuilding work in all types of environments, and we will happily make recommendations for how to adapt to the space you have.
Absolutely! We run teambuilding and training over video too, so remote and hybrid teams can play together. The same games and exercises, adapted for the screen.
Yes, we regularly travel to events, conferences, and corporate training events, both nationally and internationally.
Yes. Our actors work as simulated patients and family members, alongside your existing program and faculty, or we can help you build the scenarios you wish to practice. Some of our favorite work is with medical practitioners looking to better connect and meet the needs of their patients in the little time they often have together.
Everything we do is built for your group, so we quote once we know what you need. Cost is based primarily on the hours and number of improvisers needed, which means we can build a plan to meet almost any budget. Tell us a little about it and we’ll get back to you with ideas and a price.
Rather email? Write to us at workplace@unexpectedproductions.org
