A Swim in the Pond in the Rain with Maddie Parker

THE WORKSHOP
How do you know what a scene needs? You trust your gut… but how does your gut know?

In his book A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, author George Saunders breaks down the craft of writing fiction to uncover what makes a story tick. This workshop will take a similar approach to improv, dissecting scenes to identify what a story needs, why we make the choices we do, and why some choices feel more right than others. Using exercises shamelessly cribbed from Saunders’ book (but innovatively applied to improv!) we’ll learn to craft and support strong, cohesive narratives, whether in a scene or across a whole show.

THE Teacher
Maddie Parker has been improvising for more of her life than not. She considers herself very lucky to have been able to learn, perform and teach improvisation in Sydney, across Australia, and around the world. Her favourite moments have been performing in New York as part of the Del Close Marathon, winning ITS Smackdown as one half of duo The Wine Mums, being awarded best character at the 2018 New Zealand Improv Festival for playing an aggressively feminist space captain, and any show she gets to do with The Joy Riders.

“Maddie is a very encouraging teacher who knows how to bring out the best in her students”

“She looks like she’s wearing a wig” (May, 8y.o.)

Experience level

Students should be comfortable with longer scenework and should ideally have completed Level 4 at ITS

Mon 9 Nov, 6:30pm – 9:30pm at Improv Theatre Sydney

This workshop is part of the ITS Comedy Festival 2026. Check out the full program here.