workshop

Embodiment in improv: Using your body’s innate qualities to enhance your improv scenes

17 October 2021 • 0 Comment

In this workshop we’ll take ‘using your body’ to a whole new level! We will work with different techniques from the field of Embodiment, applied to improvisation theatre. On this day you’ll learn 3 different practices that all focus on a state/quality/energy in your body. All techniques have been tested on improvisers before 😉

You will learn ‘Centring’ techniques to upregulate and downregulate your nervous system when improvising. This will help you deal with stress or fatigue, on and off stage.

You will engage in a 5rhythms®️ dance improvisation and learn to recognize and enhance these 5 rhythms/energies (Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness) in improv scenes.

You will try some ’embodied principles’ like Yes Pose, No Pose, Taking Up Space pose and Vulnerability Pose to access specific qualities in your body and then use those in improv scenes.

Bring comfortable clothes and a water bottle for dancing! You can dance on socks or barefoot.

The Big Picture

17 October 2021 • 0 Comment

Symmetry, depth, perspective- all words one might associate with a painting more than an improv performance, yet these elements are what make up our world, and are what the audience sees when they watch your show. The images we present to the audience affect how they interpret our work, while the physical choreography informs everything from a character’s emotional perspective, to the action of the scene itself. In this workshop, we will explore how the content of each scene can inform its physical presentation and work with levels and body positioning, distance, stagecraft and alternative performance spaces to build scenes that are vibrant, multi-dimensional and expressive. Go beyond space work to unlock the beautiful work of art inside your scene.

What’s so funny?

3 October 2021 • 0 Comment

Laughing is fun. Making people laugh even more so, but how do you do that? What style do you need? Is one style better than the other? There’s no clear-cut answer, but in ‘What’s so funny?’ we’ll explore the kinds of laughter. Whether it’s a booming laugh, a modest smile, crying from laughing so hard, the ‘oh my god I can’t believe this is happening’ snort, or a tiny giggle. Dare we go big? Of course! Is there another way? Probably! We’ll look at the different vantage points of laughter in all its forms and discover what we as a group find funny. From ridiculous to believable, from remarkable characters and uncomfortable situations to feel-good pulp.

Improv Through The Ages

3 October 2021 • 0 Comment

Do you struggle with playing a different age and end up being a caricature? Do you have a hard time endowing your scene partner any other age than what they look? When you play an age different than your own, do you still get endowed as your own age? Does your physicality/voice not convey your character’s age? In the Improv for the Ages class we will explore the different generational archetypes to create grounded characters vs. caricatures. You will also learn tools to support your fellow player in playing whatever age they want to play. Come prepared to walk in the shoes of 8 generations. Taking on what it truly feels like to embody all the physical, emotional and communication traits of any generation.
By the end of the workshop, you’ll walk away:
Identifying your own age stereotypes
Identifying the 8 generational archetypes
Empowering yourself to create real, grounded characters
Hone your listening skills to support and create characters spanning all generations
Find additional joy in playing your chronological age

Miyazaki’s Kingdom: an improvised Miyazaki

3 October 2021 • 0 Comment

The human world can be a dark place. Can also be simple and uplifting. In fact, nothing is ever black or white. We go through everyday life looking for moments of magic. What if we switch it, and look for everyday moments in a magical world?

This workshop is about bringing you to a place where nothing is normal. Where everything is normal. Where the weirdest and most magical creature can just be a girl, and where the spirit of the forest can just be a boy. A story where magic is real and reality is magic. This poetic, sensitive and place of emotions place is Japanese director Miyazaki’s kingdom.We’ll learn how to build Miyazaki’s stories with heroes who care: about the world, about nature, about the human part of us, about our soul.

The best way to understand what it means to be human, is to not be one.

Let’s spice it up!

3 October 2021 • 0 Comment

Have you ever been in a scene that was plain and boring, low stakes and overall just blablabla, but you just couldn’t make it interesting? Then Let’s spice it up! We’ll work with the difference between you as the improv player and you as the character, finding what’s dramatically or theatrically interesting about a scene and how to make a character just intriguing to watch. You’ll learn how to be bold, get some insight on dramatics and how to make choices as the character and as the player.

Impro & Psychology

3 October 2021 • 0 Comment

This workshop uses three aspects of psychological theory to help deepen your character work: First, we use Leary’s Rose to explore the dynamics of a two-person relationship, simultaneously play with status and connection. It sounds vague, but I promise you it’s a ton of fun!
Next, we use the personality traits from the NEO-PI to give you some fun tools to build realistic characters with. Channel your inner neuroticism, or be as agreeable as you can. How self-conscious can you be as a character on stage?
The final part of the workshop explores Cattell’s Trait Theory of Personality, where there are 16 factors to help you build new and unexpected characters!

Fluid Improv

3 October 2021 • 0 Comment

Do you struggle with playing feminine or masculine characters as a grounded, real characters vs. caricatures? Do you endow your scene partner as opposite of what they are trying to portray? Come prepared to walk on the masculine/feminine side. Taking on what it truly feels like to embody all the physical, emotional and communication traits of your characters. Valuable communication, creative and relationship building skills are packed into this fun and interactive workshop taught by professional improviser and Certified Improv Educator and Architect, Betse Green.
By the end of the workshop, you’ll walk away with:
How to make supportive, creative choices that encourage communication
How to reframe gender stereotypes as learning opportunities in a fun way
Playing characters not bound by gender
With more value and purpose of walking in feminine/masculine shoes and learn more about yourself, and others.

Intro to Comedy Writing

3 October 2021 • 0 Comment

This course is an introduction to writing comedy. It consists of writing exercises, group feedback, and individualized coaching. The course will cover finding premise and POV, topical joke writing and intro to satire. Number of participants is limited to eight to have full benefits of Stacey’s experience.

Diving Deeper: Character Development

3 October 2021 • 0 Comment

What happens when you take that one dimensional character, perhaps the one with the silly smiling face, and bring out more dimension? What do they look like when they are upset?
Exuberantly happy? This workshop will use classic theatre and improvisational techniques and skills to go deeper into character development. Using mask work training to let the character tell us about them, we shall go even deeper to discover the bigger picture of the world around us and they way we, and they, interact with it.
***bringing a puppet to use for this is encouraged (we will have a handful of puppets available for those in need)

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