This workshop will speak to the usefulness of improv as a tool in daily life. Improv is a means of utilizing everything you've got to get everything you need. It allows you to "roll with the punches" and be your best self in every moment by acknowledging every gift you're given and supporting those around you. This root-level workshop is helpful to faculty, staff, & students alike.
Look into the eyes of your partner and give them the best time. Worry less about what will happen and focus on what you have right now and give your teammates the best time and they in return will do the same for you ensuring everyone has a great time. In this workshop you will gain skills in supporting your scene partners in serving the right now on stage.
It's all too easy to dismiss ourselves, to say that we aren't good at what we do, that our ideas just don't measure up. Too boring, too obvious. Not clever, not charming. We just don't have the same "stuff" that we admire in others. Too easy to tell ourselves that we should hide ourselves in a cave.This workshop will get us to face the fact that we all have stories worth telling, that we all have ideas worth sharing. We will learn to take up space, to speak from our perspectives, and to believe in our own contributions.
During improv shows, our scenes can often suffer from too much going on, or from vital cues not getting picked up. The stress of being onstage gets to us and we either try to overcompensate by adding more, or miss the offers our partners make. But how can we keep our brains from going into overdrive and truly stay in the moment with our partners, reacting to what is already there rather than inventing new things? How can we trust that what we have is enough? This workshop will focus on exercises that will help slow us down, quiet our inner critic, heighten our perceptiveness and keep us attune to the rich world that has already started unfolding in our scene. We will create scenes that prove that we are all we need.
Improvise the Ping Pong Style draws inspirations from the fast, instinctive rhythm of ping pong. Just like in the game, improv demands presence, sharp reactions, and a focus on your partner—not a pre-made plan. As Del Close said, “Improv is much closer to ping pong than it is to chess.” In this workshop, we’ll explore how to stay in the moment, listen deeply, and follow the flow of the scene. It’s about trusting your instincts, and discovering the joy of responding—one move at a time. Ps: you don't have to play ping pong to participate.
The main objective of this workshop is to train tools from dance and physical theater to create from and with the body. We'll work to develop the body's creativity and the relationship between movement and image, movement and ideas, and movement and words. By combining dance and theater, we can add poetic ways of telling stories, expressing emotions, and creating imaginary worlds with unconventional bodies. Students will take away creative devices from the body that they can apply in their individual and group improvisations. The workshop will offer a break from realism and open the door to surreal, imaginative creation.
Fartlek Improv is a playful deep-dive into pacing, emotional depth, and scene building. Inspired by interval training, we’ll kick off with quick, one-minute scenes—fast, instinctive sprints—then expand them into ten-minute versions using the same starting and ending moments. Over six hours, we’ll build narrative muscles, explore character arcs, and find richness in simplicity. We’ll finish where we started—with that one-minute scene, now full of depth, rhythm, and connection. It’s improv training for storytellers who like to move.