Improv Workshop (In-Person)

SCENE INTO SONG – TAKING YOUR SINGPROV TO THE NEXT LEVEL

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OK. You can sing. You can improvise. You can even improvise a song or two. Now it’s time to learn how to marry your scene work to support your newly minted song so the story you’re telling before, during, and after the song is cohesive and strong. We explore the fundamental building blocks of doing long-form improvised musicals here!

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Preferred Skill Level of Potential Students: Intermediate
Workshop Student Limit: 12
Length of Workshop: 3 hrs.
Acceptable payment arrangements: 50/50 split, Flat Fee, Per Student
Workshop Outline:

  • Physical & Vocal Warm Up
  • Learn advanced MI song concepts Learn fundamental song structures (Verses, Chorus)
  • Learn more advanced song structures (I Wish, Love/HateDuet, Fugues, Variety numbers, Revolution Numbers, etc.)
  • (Re)Visiting exploring/heightening regular scene work .
  • Work on establishing meaning relationships at top of the scene.
  • Quickly determining the who/what/where/why of the scene.
  • Chase the “what” of the scene to such a point song is required.

Special Instructions: A musical director will be required for this.

BE THE HOST(ESS) WITH THE MOST(ESS)

People paid good money and time to be at your show. Give them the best experience through effective, concise, and powerful hosting. Whether you have to emcee an entire show or just go out and get a suggestion, learn the skills necessary to effectively open a show, run games, get good suggestions, and support your fellow actors through great hosting!

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Preferred Skill Level of Students: Beginner– Advanced

Workshop Student Limit: 12 Length of Workshop: 2 hrs.

Acceptable payment arrangements: 50/50 split, Flat Fee, Per Student

Workshop Outline:

  • Discussion of role of an emcee.
  • Explore power dynamics between audience & performer.
  • Work on endless committment to engaging the audience.
  • Learn how to “warm up” the crowd.
  • Explore getting suggestions (steering the audience to good suggestions, rejecting/ignoring bad ones).
  • Using techniques when the audience is not receptive to the team/host.
  • Incorporating “crowd work” into the show.
  • Learn how breaking the 4th wall consistently can actually have the audience feel they’re a part of the show.
  • Learn how to interview an audience member to get suggestions
  • Identify and use strong editing of short-form games as a host.

Special Instructions: None

TALKING TABOO - PLAYING WITH RACE, GENDER, AND OTHER NO-NOS

Ever wonder what it’d be like to play characters, relationships, and situations that you’ve always wanted to but others told you not to? Have you shied away from exploring new creativity because of how you may be perceived? This workshop is to discuss and play with the taboos of improv such as race, gender, religion, politics, sex, mortality, and language among many others to break down the barriers to unlock realism and depth to your scene work based on every day human experience.

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Preferred Skill Level of Students: Intermediate – Advanced

Workshop Student Limit: 12

Length of Workshop: 2-3 hrs.

Acceptable payment arrangements: 50/50 split, Flat Fee, Per Student

Workshop Outline:

  • Discussion of taboos in students’ personal lives.
  • Discussion of taboos in improv.
  • Develop characters based on personal opinion regarding a given taboo.
  • Incorporate improvised monologues.
  • Incorporate real-life characters to develop new ones that embody a given taboo, e.g., the former Southern belle who allows a subtext of “southern pride” to support her dialogue. Understand justification for these characters, i.e., when it’s “right” to use them. Explore dramatic improvisation, i.e. “not chase the funny”, when exploring these issues.

Special Instructions: None

HAVE GUITAR - WILL TRAVEL

Have you ever felt you’ve worked really hard with your partners to explore and heighten your scene and you feel like you have nowhere to go? Guess what? YOU DO! Go into song and let the laughs continue! This workshop will introduce the fundamentals of musical improv and how you can use basic musical direction & performance to take your scenes to a new level!!

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Preferred Skill Level of Students: Intermediate – Advanced

Workshop Student Limit: 12 Length of Workshop: 3 hrs.

Acceptable payment arrangements: 50/50 split, Flat Fee, Per Student

Workshop Outline:

  • Physical Warm Up Vocal Technique overview
  • Discuss how to vocalize with the body
  • Perform vocalization warm-ups. Basic “singprov” overview
  • Performing rhyming exercises
  • Learn basic rhyming song structures
  • Perform scenes into song Learn advanced MI concepts
  • Learn fundamental song structures (Verses, Chorus)
  • Learn basic chord progressions/styles (12 bar blues, I-IV-V songs, reggae)

Special Instructions: None

BEYOND HAMILTON

Hip-hop has influenced everything from the radio to the TV to the big screen. It has also become part of the theatre scene as well! Learn the basics of what it takes to do improvised hip-hop from the streetz on up! We learn the fundamentals of building your rhyme catalog to putting together a cypher to going from scene into hip-hop in one dope workshop!

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Preferred Skill Level of Students: Beginner – Advanced

Workshop Student Limit: 12

Length of Workshop: 3-4 hrs.

Acceptable payment arrangements: 50/50 split, Flat Fee, Per Student

Workshop Outline:

  • Develop a sense of presentation & commitment to the performance of rap
  • Work on building a rhyming catalog and techniques to keep it fresh and current
  • Explore different rhyme flows and tips & tricvks that can be used when freestyle rhyming
  • Practice give and take of focus within a hip-hop based cypher/song
  • Play short-form games and long-form scenes that include rap
  • Use supportive techniques for the back-line to use during a show
  • Take a look at existing “hip-hoperas” and show how they use these techniques

Special Instructions: Would like access to a sound system to connect devices with pre-recorded music to play if possible.

PLAY ME OFF, JOHNNY!

Musical directors – they’re like unicorns – you always hear about them but can never capture them for your show! Why not become your own unicorn and learn the secrets behind the techniques of musical direction?

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Preferred Skill Level of Students: Beginner

Workshop Student Limit: 12

Length of Workshop: 3-4 hrs.

Acceptable payment arrangements: 50/50 split, Flat Fee, Per Student

Workshop Outline:

  • Discuss the role of a musical director (MD)
  • Explore the art of underscoring scenes
  • Explore different genres of music and how to emulate them.
  • Work on supporting common musical improv structured songs (choruses, tagline numbers, variety numbers, revolution numbers,rap battles, etc.)
  • Improvising with multiple musicians (if applicable)

Special Instructions: Students should bring their own instruments – preferable acoustic instruments or keyboards.

SHOW ME - DON'T TELL ME

Words – they can get in the way of delivering excellent scenes. So throw them away! This unique workshop uses physical theater improvisation and speechless scenes along with mask work and music to discover communication through body language and silent interactions. Develop new characters & initiations and sustain deeper interactions with players of all skill levels using these techniques.

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Preferred Skill Level of Students: Intermediate – Advanced

Workshop Student Limit: 12

Length of Workshop: 3 hrs.

Acceptable payment arrangements: 50/50 split, Flat Fee, Per Student

Workshop Outline:

  • Perform physical warmups to connect body & mind
  • Explore effectiveness of action in a scene
  • Determine the what & why of a scene through objects
  • Perform scene work with less & less words using physicality, objects, and emotion
  • Perform improvisational silent pieces

Special Instructions: Participants should wear comfortable clothes to move around in.  Participants should wear athletic shoes (sandals, open-toed shoes, and boots/heels are strongly discouraged).

THINK FAST: IMPROVING YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS THROUGH IMPROV

Improv can help not only on stage but in the boardroom.  This workshop discusses and demonstrates how improvisation can build better communication within a business environment and how that communication can lead to more productivity.

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Preferred Skill Level of Students: Intermediate – Advanced

Workshop Student Limit: 100

Length of Workshop: 1 hr

Acceptable payment arrangements: Flat Fee, Per Student

Workshop Outline:

  • Discuss “what is improv”
  • explore fundamental tenants of improv
  • learn to establish trust amongst participants
  • explore “yes and” as a fundamental team building strategy
  • learn to use trasnformation for innovation

Special Instructions: The location should provide a projector and screen as a presentation is part of the workshop.  Voice amplification would be a plus (hand-held wireless microphone or lavelier microphone preferred).

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?

You’ve accomplished a lot in your life right?  Graduated college? Started a business? Built a house?  Started a family?  Travelled the world?  Attended an improv festival workshop?  Our lives are the sums of our experiences!  So why can’t we use our lives to fuel our scenes?  Learn how you can transform life experience into fantastic initiations, characters, viewpoints, and wants & needs in your scenes!  The more life experience you have, the better!

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Preferred Skill Level of Students: Intermediate – Advanced

Workshop Student Limit: 15

Length of Workshop: 3 hr

Acceptable payment arrangements: Flat Fee, Per Student

Workshop Outline:

  • discussion of individual backgrounds
  • physical warm up.
  • learn how to use occupation to develop characters.
  • learn how to use major life events to influence character wants & needs.
  • learn how to use life experience to develop a personal lens (viewpoint) in which all interaction can be filtered through.
  • discuss techniques to gain life experiences in area unfamiliar to yourself.
  • learn short-form/long-form games to perform using experience as the catalyst.

Special Instructions: None

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