Dave Ruark

Dave Ruark holds a degree in Environmental Science from the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed undergraduate study before establishing himself in the Pacific Northwest. He pursued work in his academic field before adding improvisation to his practice in 2010, initially studying the form and developing as a performer for local audiences in the Western Washington region. In 2016 he became a member of Imagined Reality Improv, an ensemble serving the Bainbridge Island and surrounding areas, through which he performed live shows for community audiences.

From 2017 to 2020, Ruark co-taught improv and acting workshops at Purdy Women's Correctional Facility in Gig Harbor, Washington, alongside actor and community educator Dinah Manoff. The prison workshop program, which ran for approximately three years before the pandemic interrupted access, used improvisational exercises and performance techniques as a creative and educational resource for incarcerated women at one of Washington State's primary women's correctional facilities.

In 2019, Ruark launched adult improv classes on Bainbridge Island through his teaching platform Let's Do Improv. When pandemic conditions made in-person instruction impossible in 2020, he transitioned the program to online delivery, expanding his student reach across several states. As in-person programming resumed, Ruark continued teaching adult improv and expanded into youth instruction, offering improv and acting classes and summer camps for students ages 8 to 18 at BARN (Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network) and Jewel Box Theater from 2023 onward.