All classes take place at The Bard’s Town in the Lounge on 1801 Bardstown Rd. in Louisville, KY.
December Classes
There Will Be No Classes On December 23rd, 2019.
Learn to create and use your environment in improv!
IMPROV: ENVIRONMENT (DROP-IN CLASS)
December 9th at 6 pm
Taught By Ben Hagan
$30
The most difficult thing about improv for most, environment work, will become easy for you. Create all the things around you as fully as possible (i.e. Scenery, object, clothes and etc.) and keep them there for you and your scene partner.
Learn how to tell a complete story while improvising!
NARRATIVE IMPROV (DROP IN CLASS)
December 16th at 6pm
Taught By Stefan Gearhart
$30
What is Narrative Improv?
In narrative improvisation, performers create a complete story based on audience suggestions. As opposed to other improv that focuses primarily on the joke, narrative improv cares most about creating a story that not only makes the audience laugh but has a complete arc from beginning to end. It requires grounded characters with strong objectives, meaningful relationships, and clear environments. Narrative improv blends the excitement of spontaneity with the emotional depth of a traditional theatre experience. At Impro, performances are often genre-driven, where the improviser can sink their teeth into a style through research and exploration of themes, archetypes, and motifs.
Why learn narrative improv?
Whether you are a professional actor or an improv enthusiast, stories are a part of our everyday life. Stories are how we share ideas with one another. And in improv, telling stories transcends the art form from being a series of jokes to being an experience the audience and the performer will remember for a long time. Narrative improv stories not only make you laugh but make you think and feel.
For the professional actor, more and more, casting directors are looking for improvisers who can do more than just tell a joke. They want actors who can keep the reality of the scene. Who have an understanding of the bigger picture and where their character fits within that. Directors very often ask actors to improvise, and they are not always looking for a joke. They want to see what happens when you invest in the character within the given circumstances of the scene. So whether you do comedy or drama, narrative improv will make you a stronger actor.
Learn how to trust your instinct and just do it!
GET UP AND DO IT! (DROP IN CLASS)
December 16th at 8pm
Taught By Ben Hagan
$30
Learn how to take a suggestion, not think about it, and just do it!. Fill the scenes with intensity and action instead of a lot of thinking. Learn to use high energy and quick thinking so the audience enjoys your work from beginning to end. No experience needed.
Learn how to improvise with puppets!
IMPROVISED PUPPETRY (DROP-IN CLASS)
DECEMBER 30TH AT 6PM
Taught by Stefan Gearhart
$30
Learn to use puppets within your improvisations. Improvised Puppetry is based on colorful characters, relatable scenes, and physical movement. By studying the core ideals of each art form you can expand your own abilities as a performer.
This workshop will provide you with a specific set of techniques that will help you develop more robust characters, create more compelling scenes and perform improv with puppetry in a powerful, confident manner.
Stefan Gearhart will lead you through scene work, help you discover ways to quickly snap into character, and offer some personal feedback on how you play. He will also focus on the operation of hand puppets as tools for characters in improvisation and methods for creating powerful scenes via Puppetry. You will also learn how to bring the puppet to life using movement, posture, and your voice.
Puppets will be provided for use during workshop. Feel free to bring your own if you have one. We will be specifically be using felt hand puppet styles, a la Muppets.
Learn how to create improvised characters and keep them!
CHARACTER CREATION (DROP-IN CLASS)
DECEMBER 30TH AT 8PM
Taught By Ben Hagan
$30
This workshop will focus on the deep creation of characters and the potential they have for continued use in Long Form, Short Form, and Sketch. Ben Hagan will teach you how to develop characters over time, how to stay in character, and how to pull characters quickly out of your ass! You’ll never play a similar version of yourself again! By the end of the workshop you will be able to take a number of characters with you to use on stage whenever needed and have the techniques to create new ones instantaneously and not copy your partner!
