Workshops

2016 Workshops

All Workshops to be held at ImprovBoston (40 Prospect St, Cambridge MA 02139).
50% BCAF Performer Discount only applies to 2 hour workshops.

Saturday, SEPTEMBER 10

ALL WORKSHOPS TAKE PLACE FROM 1-3PM

Let's Face It: Crowd Work that Works with Jenny Zigrino (Conan, @Midnight, Adam DeVine's House Party, Bad Santa 2)
Lets face it. Crowd work is an invaluable skill for comics. When it's bad, it's bad. But when it's good, it's electric! With this workshop, you'll learn tips and tricks from Jenny on crowd work, dealing with hecklers, drunks, bachelorette parties, and having fun with your audience. The first hour is discussion based while the 2nd hour will have a real audience in attendance to exercise your skills.

That's What She Said with Chrissie Gruebel (Magnet Theater)
This one’s for the ladies! In this workshop, we’ll celebrate what it means to gender identify as a woman in the comedy scene and work on bringing our unique voices and experiences into our improv. With support and trust, we’ll empower ourselves to do the scenes we like, play characters we can relate to, and only be wives and girlfriends if we wanna be.

Be Selfish with Megan Gray (Magnet Theater Artistic Director)
Are your characters never brought back for callbacks? Are you first to be tagged out? It could be that you haven’t given yourself enough in the first scene. Or maybe you’ve been too supportive of your partner. In either case, you need to focus on you.
This workshop will work on finding the essence of your character, then maintaining and growing it. The best thing you can do for your partner is to give yourself something. Be specific, be detailed, make simple choices for yourself from the moment you step into a scene. Let those choices sink in, build on them, make your character a person that you’ll want to explore in every beat. Let’s find that together!

Free Form Improvisation with Will Luera (Director of Improvisation at Florida Studio Theater)
This workshop explores the makings of the unique style of Big Bang free-form improvisation. This mindset is built on the concept of "follow the funny" and proposes that every single moment, beat, line and movement in a show can be deconstructed and used to lead you to the next scene. During this exploration and deconstruction, a language and pattern are established that help define form where previously there was no form. We'll review the tools that will enable performers to create a unique free-form performing experience every time you hit the stage. We will review ideas of listening to what the show wants, what can be funny, when are the best times to edit and how to use transformational edits to drive the show in different directions.

Intro to Hip Hop Improv with North Coast (New York City Improvised Hip Hop Act)
New York City’s premier hip hop improv comedy team, North Coast, is a unique collaboration of improvisational comedy, hip hop, beatboxing, and music. This musical improv workshop will get even the most beginner performers comfortable and confident with freestyle rapping and will teach you how to really drill into the deal of your scene and its’ characters. Learn how to set yourself up, find your flow, and weave your rapped verses in and out of your improv scene-work.

Advanced Improv Hip Hop Improv with North Coast (New York City Improvised Hip Hop Act)
Take your hip-hop improv skills to the next level using polysyllabic rhymes, second beats, and dynamic scene structures. Trust your instincts and make bold choices that pay off through support work. Students will be expected to make choices with form, flow, and expand their repertoire of characters. Good scene work is imperative to good musical improv; let’s drill into the deal of your scene and its’ characters so you can learn how to set yourself up, find your flow, and rap from a place that matters.

SPECIAL 1-5PM WORKSHOP

Creating a Sketch with Kevin McDonald (Kids in the Hall)
Join Kevin McDonald of the Kids in the Hall for a 4-hour workshop to learn/improve the sketch writing process.
Students will bring a premise for a sketch and under Kevin’s sage tutelage, the group will analyze and dissect each premise for viability as a full fledged sketch. Students will learn the process of taking a sketch from concept to reality and the hurdles along the way.
For the second half of the class, the class will work together to develop the selected premise(s) into a fully written sketch.

Sunday, SEPTEMBER 11

10AM-6PM with Special 8PM Performance of Material

Improv to Sketch Intensive with Kevin McDonald (Kids in the Hall)
Join Kevin McDonald of the Kids in the Hall for a one day, 8-hour intensive workshop to improve your acting and writing skills. Students will learn how to write comedy through performance, and use improv as a writing tool.
The workshop will warm up with improv games to help sharpen storytelling skills, and students will eventually create their own improvised scenes in small groups. They will then work their improvised scenes into full comedy sketches. Kevin will go from group to group, helping with the "writing" of each scene. Each group will then have the opportunity to present their sketch.
After getting notes, and revising and presenting the scenes again, the workshop will end with the groups finalizing their scenes and performing them at a show that night!
This workshop will improve your acting and writing skills, and teach you how both skills work together to create great scenes and hilarious comedy. And if prompted, Kevin will tell lots of stories about the Kids in the Hall.