ALLIGATOR IMPROV AND SELF EXPRESSION

We evolved to laugh at the absurd, to laugh at ourselves and each other, to laugh to connect and break social tension. In improv, often what we're trying to do in our scenes is to make absurd things feel real and make real things feel absurd, sometimes while making people feel tense, hopefully resulting in laughter and connection. Grounding in our scenes comes in many forms, and all of them are valuable tools in our improv toolbox. To make the absurd feel real, and make us laugh at what we know to be real and absurd. It's amazing the impact it can have when we go wild and stay grounded while we do it. That's what we'll be working on in this workshop.

We'll talk about:
Ways to use grounding for comedic effect when juxtaposed with absurdity.
Different angles to take on the "straight man" role in a scene.
Broadly touch on tools we have to make scenes and characters feel real: Playing 'to the top of your intelligence', taking what's happening seriously, taking what's happening personally, finding justification, getting physical/emotional, object work, details, and keeping continuity in mind.

We'll practice:
Playing up the "straight man" in scenes for comedic effect vs playing close to yourself for comedic effect.
Taking ourselves seriously as a character/ taking the situation seriously to give it stakes.
Asking ourselves "If this is true, what else is true?"
Rationalizing, justifying, embodying, and committing to wild characters to make them feel real.

This is a primer for the upcoming Grounding for Comedic Improv class, which is 6 weeks of classes starting April 20th. If you take the workshop and are interested in taking the class you'll receive a personal coupon code to take the price you paid for the workshop off of the price of the class (this also applies if you've purchased early bird tickets for the class so don't miss out on that if you know you'll be taking both of these) A lot of these practices take time to sink in so it is beneficial to get warmed up with them with the workshop. If you don't get a spot in the workshop though, don't worry, we'll be going over all of this in the class as well.

This is an intermediate/advanced workshop and is not intended for new improvisers. An experience level of 30 hours of instruction/performance or more is recommended. That's two 6-week 2-hour classes(24H) + two three-hour workshops(6H). Some of these hours could also come from jams. In-person or online. You don't have to be an expert, just familiar and comfortable with the basics :)

We will be recording students' in-class performances so they can watch themselves back after class and notice how they like what the exercises do for their performances, notice if different strategies suit their style or is something new they want to try leaning in to, and what they like about their own performances or what they want to change for next time; This is to help students get in touch with their own comedic instincts. Recordings are not to be shared with anyone outside the class, downloaded or duplicated in any form, and will only be accessible to the students. This is to respect the privacy of the space in which we're creating, experimenting, and trying new things.