Faculty
Thunderbolt faculty are working writers, performers, and directors teaching practical performance skills drawn from theatre, improv, clown, and sketch comedy.
Rhiannon Jenkins
Writer • Performer • Director
Rhiannon Jenkins is a writer, performer, and director trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
She wrote and performs the internationally touring cabaret Good Girl, a sharp solo show blending comedy, character work, and music to explore sex, fantasy, and power.
As an actor she has appeared on stage in productions including At the Wedding in Worcester.
Rhiannon works regularly as a theatre director and is directing God of Carnage, Jagged Little Pill, and One Man, Two Guvnors this year.
She has also performed and taught with Hoopla Impro and The Nursery Theatre in London.
At Thunderbolt, she teaches acting craft, character work, voice, and musical performance for improvisers and theatre artists.
Chris Griswold
Founder • Writer • Director
Chris Griswold is a writer, director, comedian, and educator who has been performing and teaching improv since 1998.
Chris trained at École Philippe Gaulier in France and spent more than a decade in the New York improv community, performing at the Annoyance Theatre and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre while working in the administration of the Upright Citizens Brigade Training Center.
Chris later served as Assistant Director of Comedic Arts at Emerson College and taught in the BFA in Comedic Arts program, where they helped develop curriculum and hands-on experiences for undergraduate comedy training, including the ComEx comedy festival and Emerson Mainstage Improv.
Chris has trained thousands of performers worldwide, many of whom have gone on to write and perform on shows including Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Silicon Valley, Inside Amy Schumer, and Broadway’s Stuffed.
Chris directs Good Girl, the internationally touring cabaret written and performed by Rhiannon Jenkins.
At Thunderbolt, Chris teaches technical, genre, and presentational performance skills, with a focus on clarity, structure, and audience connection.