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Intensive info will be posted in Spring 2010
Intensive info will be posted in Spring 2010
Level 1: Intro to Improv with Kurt Braunohler
This class incorporates movement-based exercises, scenework and group exercises to explore the primary fundamentals of improvisation, making you more confident, trusting and graceful on stage. The class emphasizes creating a rich environment for your scenes, committing to your decisions and your scene partner and beginning with the body as inspiration.
KURT BRAUNOHLER was most recently seen at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where he was nominated (along with Kristen Schaal) for the if.comedy Award's "Best Comedy Show" (formerly the Perrier). Before that he won the Barry Award for Best in Festival at the Melbourne Comedy Festival (also with Kristen). In the past year he has performed at Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, the HBO Vegas Comedy Festival, and on the BBC in "Comedy Shuffle." His web-series, which he co-created, "Penelope: Princess of Pets" on Superdeluxe.com, has been picked up for 12 more episodes, including a music video for the New Pornographers, as well as been picked up for air by the BBC. He has also traveled to the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen with the Neutrino Video Projects, which he helped create, as well as to the Edinburgh Theater Festival in Scotland, and was awarded "Improv Ensemble of the Year" by the Chicago Improv Festival. He co-hosts the variety show, Hot Tub, which was voted "Best New Variety Show" by Time-Out New York's readers poll. His creations include www.chengwin.com, which was voted by the Village Voice as "Best Hilarious Insane Guerilla Theatre". He is currently working on a Script Development Deal with Paramount Studios.
Level 2: Scenework with Pat Shay
This class will help you create great scenes that engage the audience. Students will learn and practice techniques for starting scenes, enhancing and enriching scenes, finding yourself when you feel lost, and creating characters that are completely unique.
PAT SHAY is a longtime student of Del Close who performed, coached, and taught at Del's theater, the ImprovOlympic, for ten years — on the national touring ensemble as well as two of the longest-running house teams in the theater's history: Georgia Pacific and The Pat Shay Dancers. In Chicago, he also played leads in full productions of Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet, and performed under Mick Napier's direction at the Annoyance. He has coached and taught improv teams at theaters throughout the country, and run workshops for student ensembles from many universities, including Miami of Ohio, UMass, Harvard, and Columbia. He recently spent four months performing for The Second City aboard a cruise ship, and now finds terms like "port" and "starboard" creeping into his everyday vocabulary.
Level 3: Intro to Longform with Scott Eckert
This class is an introduction to the art of creating whole improvised pieces. Building on a solid foundation of relationship-based scenework, students will learn to seek out patterns and connections between characters, scenes and ideas. Longform techniques such as initiating and editing, second beats, pacing, tag-outs, walk-ons and group games (to name a few) will help students create entire pieces with richer scenes. In addition, the class introduces the basic history of longform (including the Harold) and expands students' improv vocabulary, allowing them to examine not only individual scenes but entire shows.
SCOTT ECKERT has been improvising since 1999 and currently performs every Wednesday at The PIT with Big Black Car (2006 CIF Selection; Best Improv Group, 2005 ECNY Awards). He has also co-created six two-person shows with Ellie Kemper. As an actor, Scott has starred in several plays by Eric Bland and in Comedy Central's CONTROL FR3AKS. Scott studied improv in New York and Chicago (Ali Farahnakian, Charna Halpern, Susan Messing, Miles Stroth) and wrote his senior thesis on the theory and history of American improvisation at Princeton University, where he also directed the improv group Quipfire!
Level 4: Advanced Longform with Rebekka Johnson
This class will teach students to harness their scene skills and allow them to become second nature. With a focus on improvising emotionally, students will be introduced to several forms including Harold, La Ronde, and Deconstruction. Students will also be introduced to terms and skills that will allow them to examine their piece work as closely as their scenework.
REBEKKA JOHNSON, best known for her work on the MTV hit show Boiling Points, has performed in various sketch and improv shows across the country, including the Neutrino Video Projects which was an official selection at the 2004 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. Rebekka has been improvising since 1997. She has learned the art of improv from Miles Stroth, Amy Poehler, Bob Dassie, Michael Delaney, Kevin Mullaney, Andrew Secunda and Matt Donnelly. She has performed in many venues around the city with Arsenal, The Mosaic NYC, and Neutrino. You can currently see her performing with Threat at the PIT.
Level 1: Intro to Sketch Writing with Alex Zalben
This is an intro level sketch class, pure and simple, geared towards the student who has never written before, or even a writer who wants a refresher in the basics. Working off the idea that anyone can start writing sketch comedy, you'll learn the formulas that will let you start writing sketch now. You will not need to have pre-existing work to take this class — it will involve practical assignments in individual and team writing. By the end of class, you'll not only have a truckload of sketches, you'll also be prepared to strike out and write great sketch on your own.
ALEXANDER ZALBEN is an award-winning sketch comedian who has performed and taught all over the United States, as part of the sketch group Elephant Larry. He has written for Modern Humorist, Jest Magazine, McSweeneys, and is the co-creator of the comedy website X-Ball Online, which receives over 20,000 visitors per month. His one-act play, All's Swell That Ends, Will, was performed at the Telluride Theatre Festival. He is also the producer of SketchFest NYC, the Big Red Comedy Festival, and the groundbreaking Neutrino Video Projects. His live talk show Comic Book Club has been featured in the New York Times, and at San Diego Comic Con. He currently hosts the online show "The Stack." One time, he took a class with, and then got slapped by, John Cleese.
Level 2: Intermediate Sketch Writing with Joe Schiappa
This class will examine sketch forms ranging from traditional forms such as game show sketches, talk show sketches, parodies and character sketches; to the offbeat and absurd sketch forms more typical of Python, The State or Kids In The Hall, as well as a short video scripts. The class will focus on writing, rewriting and group critique.
JOE SCHIAPPA is the director of Pete and Brian's One Man Show which was selected for the 2007 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. He was also the director of Matt and Ben which was part of the 2003 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Currently, Joe is one half of the comedy troupe Project:Projekt and can be seen in their show The Million Dollar Idea featuring Matt Higgins. He recently finished a screenplay with Ken Jeong (the upcoming Judd Apatow film Knocked Up). Backstage has called Joe's work "hilarious". Joe is an alumni of The Second City Training Center and has studied with Shira Piven of the Piven Theater. Joe is a graduate of Emerson College where he was a member of the troupe This is Pathetic whose alumni include David Cross and Laura Kightlinger.
Level 3: Sketch Comedy Workshop with Kevin Allison
In the class we will write, produce and perform a complete sketch show at the PIT. We will learn how to use or break formulas for jokes and scene structure, study sketch acting and do improv-to-sketch exercises, and learn about adding dimension to the comic premise, developing beats of action, fleshing out comic characters and playing with end twists. In sessions, we maintain a supportive dynamic between students who collaborate to make one another’s material fresher and funnier, beat by beat.
KEVIN ALLISON is a regular on VH1's hit series Best Week Ever and was a writing and performing member of The State, the sketch comedy group best known for The State on MTV, which The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Details called the funniest sketch show on the air. Recent film and TV appearances include Reno 911!: Miami, The Ten, The Next Girl I See and HBO's Flight of the Conchords. Kevin currently leads the sketch group Big Flux, a popular favorite at the PIT. His writing has appeared in The Village Voice, Giant, Premiere and Film Journal International. Kevin has been teaching sketch comedy classes since 2002. He also teaches film classes at NYU.