dudley riggs born 1932 is an improvisational comedian who created the instant theater company in new york which later moved to minneapolis to become the brave new workshop bnw comedy troupe riggs was born in little rock arkansas and joined the circus when he was five years old his family performed in a variety of acts with the ringling bros and barnum bailey circus where he learned comedy in the vaudeville style later he formed a group that toured the country during winters when the circus was not operatingaudiences at shows put on by the troupe were often quite hostile toward the performers after years of trying to appease the crowds with traditional performance styles riggs began to request input from them as an example he might ask who do you hate in this town if the audience replied the mayor the performers would quickly improvise a scene about the mayor however at the time improvisation was a word primarily used to describe the actions of jazz musicians riggs was an admirer of jazz and avoided using the term himself preferring the phrase instant theater later a new york times critic called riggs performances word jazz while members of the second city troupe visiting in the 1960s and 1970s referred to the shows as spot improvone year the booking agent for the troupe stated that he couldnt find anyplace willing to take the performers in order to keep skills strong riggs rented a streetlevel space in new york city where group members could practice people walking by could see what was going on by looking through the window and passersby soon began to offer money to watch rehearsals riggs soon booked a venue and put on a regular showthe famous critic walter kerr was an early attendee and was amazed by what he saw he held off writing a review for three weeks because he couldnt believe that the performers were actually taking in the audiences ideaskerr was convinced that group members were calling upon accomplices for input and were using prearranged material after realizing the authenticity of performances he wrote a glowing reviewthe group began touring and eventually settled in minneapolis in 1958 they were originally at a site called dudley riggs caf espresso on east hennepin avenue where riggs operated the first espresso machine in the state after the caf moved to south hennepin in uptown in 1965 claims of the first espresso machine west of the mississippi river were also made incidentally the uptown neighborhood now proclaims that they have more coffee shops per capita than seattle so riggs may have been influential there as well the name was finally changed to brave new workshop at the same timeriggs opened the experimental theater company etc in the seven corners area of minneapolis next to the university of minnesota in the early 1970s this theater provided a wider range of material including standup comedy variety shows and specialty actsa number of famous performers started at the brave new workshop including regional natives louie anderson and al franken and writers such as pat proft television executive producer linda wallem and scriptwriter and producerdirector peter tolanthere was some sharing of experience and technique between bnw and second city in chicago del close worked with riggs for a time and members of both troupes were regulars at each others shows when travelingafter operating it for 39 years riggs sold the brave new workshop in 1997 to mark bergen john sweeney and jenni lilledahl though bergen eventually moved on to other projects sweeney and lilledahl still operate the theater and have made some changes their focus is more on longform improvisation while riggs had always been more focused on shorter individual sketches