Classes

The heart of long form improvisation is the two-person scene. This class is centered on grounded, authentic two-person scene work. In this class, we focus on two main elements: establishing a base reality (the who, what, and where) and the emotional reality of the scene (what is the character’s relationship to themselves and to the environment around them?)

We also touch on how to edit a scene and do support work through walk-ons and tag outs. Improvisers learn how to become comfortable playing themselves on stage and draw inspiration from their real-life experiences.

This class will revisit basic knowledge of the Harold form. From there different iterations of the Harold form will be taught: Genre Harold, French Harold, Silent Harold, Harold Goes To Hollywood, et cetera. Prerequisite Harold Part 1 (Level 4)

The Harold is the hardest longform set to play, but it’s also the most rewarding. Every skill required to be a great longform improviser is built into the Harold. We will cover it all in this class: opening games, group games, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd beats. You'll learn premise-based initiations. You'll learn how to create strong base realities so that you can return to them in your later beats. You will find yourself making justifications, callbacks, and connections. You will learn to be a better improviser.

You've done a great first scene. Now what? Can you bring the game from the first scene into a second scene? This class teaches you how to identify that game and sustain it in a second beat. We reinforce the importance of building a strong base reality (where, who, what) and teach you how to spot the first unusual thing. From there you work on framing, justifying, exploring, and heightening. We explore the use of the time dash and analogous scene as a way to jumpstart second beats.

This class bridges the gap between doing one-off scenes in a classroom and moves you towards sustained longform sets in performance settings.

Prerequisite: Level 2 or instructor approval