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BWN FOUNDER DUDLEY RIGGS

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★ ★ ★

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”grid” full_width=””][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text css_animation=””]Dudley Riggs is a fifth generation member of a distinguished show business family, and has worked (since the age of 5) as a circus aerialist, movie actor, vaudevillian, comedian, writer, stage director, and producer.

A noted improvisational comedian, Riggs created the Instant Theater Company in New York, which he moved to Minneapolis in 1958 to become the Brave New Workshop.

Riggs also opened the Experimental Theater Company (E.T.C.) in the Seven Corners area of Minneapolis in the early 1970s. This theater provided a wider range of material including stand-up comedy, variety shows, and specialty acts, including the Flying Karamazov Brothers, Penn & Teller, Louie Anderson, and Lizz Winstead, among many others.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/G3j-sa3NfgA”][vc_empty_space height=”35px”][vc_column_text]Dudley Riggs wins lifetime achievement Ivey Award recalling his service and experiences with the love of laughter.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”grid”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_column_text]

Riggs has attended the University of Chicago, the University of Tulsa at Oklahoma, the University of the Philippines in Manila, Mankato State Teacher’s College and the University of Minnesota. His continuing education includes being accepted into the Harvard University Writing Program in 1996.

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”18957″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” qode_css_animation=”element_from_left” css=”.vc_custom_1471378384893{border-top-width: 1px !important;border-right-width: 1px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;border-left-width: 1px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;border-left-color: #dddddd !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #dddddd !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #dddddd !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #dddddd !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”18959″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” qode_css_animation=”element_from_left” css=”.vc_custom_1471378525812{border-top-width: 1px !important;border-right-width: 1px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;border-left-width: 1px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;border-left-color: #dddddd !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #dddddd !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #dddddd !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #dddddd !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”18960″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” qode_css_animation=”element_from_right” css=”.vc_custom_1471378638342{border-top-width: 1px !important;border-right-width: 1px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;border-left-width: 1px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;border-left-color: #dddddd !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #dddddd !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #dddddd !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #dddddd !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”18961″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” qode_css_animation=”element_from_right” css=”.vc_custom_1471378792421{border-top-width: 1px !important;border-right-width: 1px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;border-left-width: 1px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;border-left-color: #dddddd !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #dddddd !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #dddddd !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #dddddd !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_column_text css_animation=””]In addition to receiving a Kudo Award from the Twin Cities theater critics, Riggs received the Urban Guerrilla Award and the Charlie Award from the National Association of Comedy Arts. After selling the Brave New Workshop in 1997, Dudley Riggs started his third career as a writer. He is currently working on two books – one a memoir of his early life in circus and vaudeville, the other a history of instant theatre and political satire.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_separator color=”#ee3424″ transparency=”.5″ thickness=”thin” align=”align_center” style=”” border_width=”” el_width=””][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”grid” full_width=””][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”18962″ img_size=”full” qode_css_animation=”element_from_top” css_animation=””][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1438804830072{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_text css_animation=””]Recently, The Ivey Awards, an annual celebration of professional theatre in the Twin Cities, named Brave New Workshop founder Dudley Riggs its 2009 Lifetime Achievement honoree.
We love you Dudley![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”18963″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=”element_from_bottom”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”grid”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_separator color=”#ee3424″ transparency=”.5″ thickness=”thin” align=”align_center” style=”” border_width=”” el_width=””][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

Now in our 55th year of crafting audacious, hilarious, and thought-provoking original comedy, improv and satire in Minneapolis, the Brave New Workshop (BNW) Comedy Theatre is a Twin Cities comedy institution, and a truly unique place to laugh, learn, think, and play. The BNW has been writing, performing and producing original sketch comedy, music and comedy improvisation longer than any other theatre in the United States.

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