Hennepin Avenue, where he operated the first espresso machine in the state while also providing a home for Instant Theater Company. After the café moved to South Hennepin Avenue in Uptown in 1965, claims of "the first espresso machine west of the Mississippi River" were also made. By 1961 the name had been changed to Brave New Workshop. In 1971, Riggs opened the Experimental Theater Company (E.T.C.) in the Seven Corners area of Minneapolis, next to the University of Minnesota. This theater provided a wider range of material including comedy, variety shows, and specialty acts. A number of famous performers started at the Brave New Workshop, including regional natives Louie Anderson and Al Franken, writers such as Pat Proft, television executive producer Linda Wallem, and scriptwriter and producer/director Peter Tolan. There 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 other's shows when traveling. After operating it for 39 years, Riggs sold the Brave New Workshop in 1997 to Mark Bergen, John Sweeney and Jenni Lilledahl. Bergen eventually moved on to other projects and Sweeney and Lilledahl continued to operate the theater and made some changes. Their focus is more on long-form improvisation, while Riggs had always been more focused on shorter individual sketches. In 2017, the University of Minnesota Press published Riggs's memoir Flying Funny: My Life Without a Net. The memoir focuses on his early life in the circus and vaudeville, and the early development of improv, since the books Brave New Workshop by Ron Hubbard and Promiscuous Comedy by Irv Letofsky covered some later developments. Death Riggs died in Minneapolis on September 22, 2020, aged 88. References External links Kerr, Euan, "Hennepin Theater Trust buys iconic Brave New Workshop", MPR News, December 3, 2021. Historical Timeline/Highlights of 2605 Hennepin Avenue (http://www.bravenewworkshop.org/theatre/historicaltimeline.cfm). Brave New Workshop. Retrieved from Brave New Workshop website Finding aid to the Dudley Riggs papers at the Performing Arts Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries. 1932 births 2020 deaths Writers from Little Rock, Arkansas Comedians from Arkansas 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians American male comedians Improvisational theatre