Magnet Theater

Instructor: Armando Diaz

Armando is widely regarded as one of the best improv teachers in New York City and beyond. His list of teaching credits is a long one: the ImprovOlympic Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, NYU and Michael Howard Studios. He has trained dozens of actors who have performed or written for Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Mad TV, and The Daily Show.

A Chicago native, Armando studied improv under Del Close at the ImprovOlympic, Mick Napier at the Annoyance, and graduated from the Second City Conservatory. He performed in and helped create one of the most popular improvised longforms in Chicago, "The Armando Diaz Experience...." For the last decade, "the Armando" has been performed weekly in Chicago, and is now taught and performed in many other cities including Los Angeles and New York.

In addition to writing and producing short films, Armando wrote sketches for the show Upright Citizens Brigade on Comedy Central, and has performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Instructor: Louis Kornfeld

Louis Kornfeld is the Managing Director of Megawatt, as well as a teacher and long-time ensemble member at the Magnet Theater. He can be seen regularly performing with The Boss and Kiss*Punch*Poem, and can be heard as a contributing writer/actor for the podcast The Truth. Louis has appeared in countless shows at the Magnet and elsewhere, including Theory of Everything, The Armando Diaz Experience, and a stint touring with The Second City onboard the NCL Gem. He remains firmly optimistic.

Instructor: Peter McNerney

Peter McNerney is a performer and instructor at the Magnet Theater in New York City and can be seen on the Science channel's first scripted comedy Stuff You Should Know premiering January 2013. He served for three years as the Artistic Director at the Magnet Theater where he has directed and performed in over 30 productions. Currently he performers with Nick Kanellis in the improv duo Trike (TimeOut New York Critic's Pick) as well as The Magnet Theater Touring Company. Peter also serves as the Associate Artistic Director and Casting Director for the nationally respected education and media company The Story Pirates with whom he writes and performs on Absolutely Mindy! on SiriusXM Radio and through a partnership with Penguin Publishing has co-written and performed in the interactive touring shows Endangered Authors, Theodore Boone and The Thrill of Rights and The Ranger's Apprentice: Escape to Areluen. Peter is the co-writer and director of theater/sketch comedy fusioneers Sax & Dixon, who have been featured at Ars Nova NYC and Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival. He is from Winnetka, IL, graduated from Northwestern University and currently lives in Brooklyn with his beautiful and hilarious wife Beth Newell.

Instructor: Rick Andrews

Rick Andrews is a teacher and performer at The Magnet Theater, and has been studying, performing, and teaching improvisation since 1999. He began improvising with Improv Boston, and continued with a stint in Saint Louis, MO. He has been fortunate to learn from many improv greats, including Armando Diaz, Ed Herbstman, Joe Bill, Mark Sutton, Amy Pohler, Ian Roberts, Will Luera, Jill Bernard, and more.

Rick has taught workshops at improv festivals across the country, including the Boston Improv Festival, Baltimore Improv Festival, Black Box Atlanta, and many more. He has taught improvisation to people as old as 75 and as young as 6, and has done workshops for production companies and zoos alike.

He enjoys running, putting words on pages, thinking about the brain, and he loves improv more than anything.