The Story of Excused Absence

Once upon a time, I had two little girls and a whole bunch of stories to tell.

The little girls liked my stories, but I wanted a bigger audience. So, I decided to teach a class for them and their friends that would let us make up stories together. It was called Move Your Tale, and it was really fun. 

But once we started telling stories together, I wanted to tell stories to an even BIGGER audience. So I began telling them at libraries and schools and wherever else they’d have me. Meanwhile, the classes grew and the stories grew and I needed more space and more interesting ways to tell and better ways to teach.

It was about this time that I had a great stroke of good luck. Three minutes from my house, a little improv theater called ColdTowne opened up and began to create wonderful stuff. I knocked on their door hoping to rent the space for classes, but instead I found the most perfect way to tell a story.

Move Your Tale’s storytelling soon evolved into improv, sketch comedy & creative drama. The classes grew and the shows grew and it was more and more fun all of the time. We even became the official youth program for ColdTowne. And both my little girls were still listening to my stories, and telling their own, but they weren’t so little anymore.

In 2015 we decided to have an Improv Festival for kids and teens and we called it Excused Absence Comedy Fest and my no longer little girls were happy to be a part of this more sophisticated comedy endeavor.

In 2017, Move Your Tale turned ten years old. To mark its passage from little to big, and to honor the youth comedy goals of our now yearly festival, we rebranded the ColdTowne branch of our work Excused Absence Comedy for Youth. We doubled down on our commitment to providing kids and teens with opportunities to master Long form Improv Comedy, with performance opportunities, and chances to see live comedy performed by accomplished, known comics. Move Your Tale remains our touring and applied improv company, bringing shows and classes to schools libraries and community events. It’s a very good thing.

When Covid shut down normal operations, ExAb’s classes and shows moved to Zoom and then to my carport and a little stage in my backyard. ColdTowne lost our original, beloved little theater on Airport Blvd in October of 2020, and Fallout Theater generously welcomed ExAb into their space as indoor events became possible – a tribute to the “a rising tide lifts all boats” mentality of the Austin Improv scene and a gesture that allowed us to stay in business. Finally, in January of 2023, ColdTowne found a fantastic (though temporary) new home at 1700 East 2nd Street where ExAb has re-established weekly classes, school break camps, weekly family shows, ExAb All Ages Nights and Excused Absence Comedy Festival. We’re still telling stories and Improv is still the most wonderful thing in the world. Just when you think it’s getting old or letting you down, in swoops back in with a whole new set of wonderful ideas and connections. And jokes. So many jokes.

Come see us when you can!

About Kristin

Kristin Henn is the Director of Excused Absence Comedy at ColdTowne Theater and Move Your Tale, an Applied Improv program focused on bring the philosophy and practices of Improv to the wider community.

Kristin holds a BFA in Directing and an MA in Theatre History & Criticism with a focus on Creative Drama. She has trained, performed and taught as an improviser at ColdTowne, Hideout, Fallout Theaters and has attended countless intensives and workshops at iO, The Annoyance, UCB, Improv Utopia, and with Aretha Sills, grandaughter of Viola Spolin and daughter of Second City founder Paul Sills.

In addition to her work with youth through ExAb and MYT, Kristin is a faculty member at ColdTowne Theater’s Conservatory. Additionally, she teaches Improv to adults and youth at the Blank Stuttering Center, the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and regularly offers her adult focused “Improv for Resiliency” series at libraries and community centers. Both through ColdTowne and independently, she works with businesses and organizations to incorporate the core concepts listening, flexibility and trust through Improv.

Kristin has two brilliant daughters, two ridiculous dogs and a very bossy cat named Kevin.