Instructor:  Jessica Austgen is an award-winning actor and improviser who realized that doing improv made her acting better, and acting experience made her improv better. Neat! 

Jess performs at Rise Comedy with The King Penny Radio Show, an improvised 1940’s radio drama. She’s the one in the blonde wig, Vera VonDunk. You may have also seen her onstage as Renfield in Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really at the Arvada Center or in David Byrne’s Theater of the Mind at the DCPA. 

Teaching work  includes DCPA, Denver School of the Arts, University of Denver, Camp Improv Utopia, Denver Improv Festival, University of Northern Colorado, University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado Thespian Convention.

Awards: Colorado Theater Person of the Year 2018 (True West Awards), Best Actress in a Comedy (Westword, Best of Denver 2003, 2012), Best Supporting Actress in a Play (Marlowe Awards 2015, 2019), Best Ensemble (Henry Award, 2017)