Well, the dream has come true! Any night of the week you can see long-form improvisation in Minneapolis. http://hugetheater.com/shows has you covered at 8pm every night but Tuesday (Tuesdays go to http://www.bravenewworkshop.org/six-ring.php and see the next generation!).
How long will it last? Totally up to you. We're not bankrolled by some fat-cat investors. We haven't received any enormous grants (yet). We're kept afloat by:
- audience members buying a ticket, and putting a few extra bucks in a jar
- donors clicking on our page at http://www.givemn.com
- great organizations like the Jaycees, MRAC, and the Murray Foundation giving financial grants
- angels volunteering their time to work our box office and tech booth
- generous companies donating/discounting labor and materials
- friends bringing by theater and office supplies
- improvisors coming to our drop-in classes
- beginners coming to our 101 and 201 classes
- meeting planners renting our space during the day
- shedding literal blood, sweat, and tears
No one's on salary. We're doing this because we're stupid and our kids are so smart we're assuming they'll get scholarships to college. We're doing this because we feel like there needs to be a home for scenic improvisation in the Twin Cities. Now there is. Let's keep it. Thanks for listening. Thanks for coming. Thanks for helping. You rock.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Improv Exercises I Had To Write Up Myself Because I Couldn't Find Them Already On Line or In Peter Gwinn's or Keith Johnstone's Books
MEISNER START- From Jimmy Carrane & Liz Allen
Two players sit across from each other. They begin the scene by saying what they really notice. “You look tired.” They respond by taking it in “I do look tired.” That exchange goes back and forth until they notice something else. “You look suspicious” or whatever. When it starts to feel like a scene, the coach says “Make this a scene” and it can become more scenic.
SWITCH INTERVIEW – http://www.withoutannette.net/games.php?Name=Switch%20Interview
Two people conduct an interview on a topic supplied by the audience or director. Yell “Switch” to end and switch players.
NAMES ONLY SCENE – from Craig Cackowski
Each line of dialogue for the scene is only the characters names, said once:
Player 1: Peter!
Player 2: Janet?
Player 1: Peter...
The emotion and physicality of the scene tells the story for us, and the players have to connect with each other.
THE GIFT (THE BOX) – from Johnstone, described at http://www.transactors.org/Thinking%20Inside%20the%20Box.html
The director says “I have a present for you” and hands the student a mime box. The student opens it up. The director asks them questions to make them explore the what's inside. What's in the box? What does it smell and taste like? How big is it? Whatever questions they want. There's a note on it, what does it say? What's underneath it? What noise is it making? Unzip it, what's inside? If they say they don't know, assure them that they do know.
EVERYBODY GO
In a circle. One student jumps in the middle, says “Everybody go” then does a sound and action. Everyone says YES! and repeats that sound and action. There's no order, anyone can jump in at any time.
FINGER THEATER – from Jill Bernard/Keith Johnstone
Two person scene acted out with your fingers walking around like legs instead of your bodies. Give an action movie location suggestion. Recommend 3rd person entrances by other students or their other hands as environment. Fascinating is how scenes tend to be more active and intimate.
STATE THREE THINGS, TURN & SCENE – from Joe Bill
Two characters stand on the edge of the stage. They take turns stating information about their characters. Then they pivot and start the scene.
PLAYER 1: I have constant indigestion
PLAYER 2: Shadows scare me
PLAYER 1: I'm deeply religious
PLAYER 2: I scratch myself, constantly
PLAYER 1: I'm a steelworker
PLAYER 2: I wish I had a friend
[They pivot and start the scene]
INFORMATION BOOTH Acting in Commercials Camera by Joan See
The teacher or another student sits at the information booth of a mall or store. The player enters as a character and asks the location of a specific item. They have a brief interaction. The player leaves and enters again as a different person seeking the same item and has a brief interaction. They leave and enter again for a total of either 3 or 5 characters depending on your needs.
YAY/BOO Comedysportz
One player makes a statement, everyone goes YAY! A second player makes a statement, we all go BOO! We go around the circle alternating YAY! and BOO! to illustrate how any offer can yield a big reaction.
LOSER BALL – Jill Bernard
We stand in a big circle, with a pretend or real ball. There are only two rules to loser ball. #1 You cannot catch the ball. #2 You must be unbelievably supportive of your teammate's inability to catch the ball. The ball is thrown, missed, the person who misses it shags it and throws it to someone else.
SOUND CIRCLE
In a circle. One person turns to the person next to them and makes a sound. That person turns and makes the same sound only BIGGER! They turn and make the same sound EVEN BIGGER! It goes around and around. “Bigger” can mean volume, adding more gesture, intensifying the emotion, making it last longer, any vector you see fit.
PASS THE PHRASE quoting http://storyrobot.wordpress.com/2007/05/18/the-copy-circle-game/ who learned it from me, I learned it from Joe Bozic
“-Students in a circle
-First player walks towards another player in the circle. First player says a line of dialouge and has some specific style of movement or action. (eg walk with a limp, finger formed into hook, shouting “arrrrr, there’s treasure enough for all, me hearties”)
-Player one takes player two’s spot in the circle. Player two walks towards another player and tries to copy player one as exactly as she can.
Play continues, which each player trying to copy the last player as exactly as possible.”
CHARACTER WALK AROUND adapted from Susan Messing and Viola Spolin
Everyone walks around the space. The coach calls out different body parts for them to lead with. “Lead with your hip” or whatever. Let them take a moment to figure out what kind of person this is, then call “Make a noise for this person.” Then call “Make up a catch phrase for this person” or “Greet the people you pass.” Do this with several body parts. You can also coach them to feel an emotion they're actually feeling, and grow it a little larger, and work it through their body, bottom to top. Then the same procedure, call “Make a noise for this person.” Then call “Make up a catch phrase for this person” or “Greet the people you pass.” Repeat with the opposite emotion.
CHARACTER INTERVIEW
Have three students onstage, assign each a character, like “Angry Plumber” or “Bored Step-dad.” Interview them about their lives.
TWO EYES - Les McGehee/Johnstone
You need pieces of paper that already have two dots drawn on them. The dots are eyes. We're in pairs. Without speaking we create a face together. Player 1 may draw an eyebrow, player 2 draws a bow-tie, or whatever. When we feel the drawing is done, we write the name of it one letter at a time, one player writes A , the other player writes N or whatever, and they spell out the name of the creature.
SCENE ONE/FINAL SCENE
Show us the first scene of a story. Then show us the last scene of that story. Example: the first scene is a kid wishing he could join the Olympic bob-sledding team. The second scene is the kid at the bottom of the hill, his leg broken, his coach bringing him a medal for effort.
SPRING TRAINING – Susan Messing
One student leads us in spring training. It can literally be anything, we will copy them and follow their lead. When that student is done they tag someone else and we follow them. This continues until everyone has lead us.
TWO LINE HIGH FIVE – adapted from the Idle Erics
Two players step into the circle and do a terrible two-line scene, then high five each other and step back. If three players accidentally step in at the same time, two of them must say their lines together.
Two players sit across from each other. They begin the scene by saying what they really notice. “You look tired.” They respond by taking it in “I do look tired.” That exchange goes back and forth until they notice something else. “You look suspicious” or whatever. When it starts to feel like a scene, the coach says “Make this a scene” and it can become more scenic.
SWITCH INTERVIEW – http://www.withoutannette.net/games.php?Name=Switch%20Interview
Two people conduct an interview on a topic supplied by the audience or director. Yell “Switch” to end and switch players.
NAMES ONLY SCENE – from Craig Cackowski
Each line of dialogue for the scene is only the characters names, said once:
Player 1: Peter!
Player 2: Janet?
Player 1: Peter...
The emotion and physicality of the scene tells the story for us, and the players have to connect with each other.
THE GIFT (THE BOX) – from Johnstone, described at http://www.transactors.org/Thinking%20Inside%20the%20Box.html
The director says “I have a present for you” and hands the student a mime box. The student opens it up. The director asks them questions to make them explore the what's inside. What's in the box? What does it smell and taste like? How big is it? Whatever questions they want. There's a note on it, what does it say? What's underneath it? What noise is it making? Unzip it, what's inside? If they say they don't know, assure them that they do know.
EVERYBODY GO
In a circle. One student jumps in the middle, says “Everybody go” then does a sound and action. Everyone says YES! and repeats that sound and action. There's no order, anyone can jump in at any time.
FINGER THEATER – from Jill Bernard/Keith Johnstone
Two person scene acted out with your fingers walking around like legs instead of your bodies. Give an action movie location suggestion. Recommend 3rd person entrances by other students or their other hands as environment. Fascinating is how scenes tend to be more active and intimate.
STATE THREE THINGS, TURN & SCENE – from Joe Bill
Two characters stand on the edge of the stage. They take turns stating information about their characters. Then they pivot and start the scene.
PLAYER 1: I have constant indigestion
PLAYER 2: Shadows scare me
PLAYER 1: I'm deeply religious
PLAYER 2: I scratch myself, constantly
PLAYER 1: I'm a steelworker
PLAYER 2: I wish I had a friend
[They pivot and start the scene]
INFORMATION BOOTH Acting in Commercials Camera by Joan See
The teacher or another student sits at the information booth of a mall or store. The player enters as a character and asks the location of a specific item. They have a brief interaction. The player leaves and enters again as a different person seeking the same item and has a brief interaction. They leave and enter again for a total of either 3 or 5 characters depending on your needs.
YAY/BOO Comedysportz
One player makes a statement, everyone goes YAY! A second player makes a statement, we all go BOO! We go around the circle alternating YAY! and BOO! to illustrate how any offer can yield a big reaction.
LOSER BALL – Jill Bernard
We stand in a big circle, with a pretend or real ball. There are only two rules to loser ball. #1 You cannot catch the ball. #2 You must be unbelievably supportive of your teammate's inability to catch the ball. The ball is thrown, missed, the person who misses it shags it and throws it to someone else.
SOUND CIRCLE
In a circle. One person turns to the person next to them and makes a sound. That person turns and makes the same sound only BIGGER! They turn and make the same sound EVEN BIGGER! It goes around and around. “Bigger” can mean volume, adding more gesture, intensifying the emotion, making it last longer, any vector you see fit.
PASS THE PHRASE quoting http://storyrobot.wordpress.com/2007/05/18/the-copy-circle-game/ who learned it from me, I learned it from Joe Bozic
“-Students in a circle
-First player walks towards another player in the circle. First player says a line of dialouge and has some specific style of movement or action. (eg walk with a limp, finger formed into hook, shouting “arrrrr, there’s treasure enough for all, me hearties”)
-Player one takes player two’s spot in the circle. Player two walks towards another player and tries to copy player one as exactly as she can.
Play continues, which each player trying to copy the last player as exactly as possible.”
CHARACTER WALK AROUND adapted from Susan Messing and Viola Spolin
Everyone walks around the space. The coach calls out different body parts for them to lead with. “Lead with your hip” or whatever. Let them take a moment to figure out what kind of person this is, then call “Make a noise for this person.” Then call “Make up a catch phrase for this person” or “Greet the people you pass.” Do this with several body parts. You can also coach them to feel an emotion they're actually feeling, and grow it a little larger, and work it through their body, bottom to top. Then the same procedure, call “Make a noise for this person.” Then call “Make up a catch phrase for this person” or “Greet the people you pass.” Repeat with the opposite emotion.
CHARACTER INTERVIEW
Have three students onstage, assign each a character, like “Angry Plumber” or “Bored Step-dad.” Interview them about their lives.
TWO EYES - Les McGehee/Johnstone
You need pieces of paper that already have two dots drawn on them. The dots are eyes. We're in pairs. Without speaking we create a face together. Player 1 may draw an eyebrow, player 2 draws a bow-tie, or whatever. When we feel the drawing is done, we write the name of it one letter at a time, one player writes A , the other player writes N or whatever, and they spell out the name of the creature.
SCENE ONE/FINAL SCENE
Show us the first scene of a story. Then show us the last scene of that story. Example: the first scene is a kid wishing he could join the Olympic bob-sledding team. The second scene is the kid at the bottom of the hill, his leg broken, his coach bringing him a medal for effort.
SPRING TRAINING – Susan Messing
One student leads us in spring training. It can literally be anything, we will copy them and follow their lead. When that student is done they tag someone else and we follow them. This continues until everyone has lead us.
TWO LINE HIGH FIVE – adapted from the Idle Erics
Two players step into the circle and do a terrible two-line scene, then high five each other and step back. If three players accidentally step in at the same time, two of them must say their lines together.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
2010 Twin Cities Improv Festival
The Twin Cities Improv Festival is pleased to offer the following classes:
SATURDAY JUNE 26th
•11AM-2PM SAT AM: JET EVELETH - "Being A Human - An Improv Workshop for Honest Play"
•11AM-2PM SAT AM: MATT CRAIG & FRANK CAETI - "Scenic Improvisation"
•3-6PM SAT PM: MATT CRAIG & FRANK CAETI - "Scenic Improvisation"
•3-5PM SAT PM: NELS LENNES & JILL BERNARD - "Beginning Improv"
SUNDAY JUNE 27th
•11AM-1PM SUN AM: FRANK CAETI - "Using Scenes to Inspire New Scenes"
•3-6PM SUN PM: HOLLY LAURENT - "Exploring a Form: JTS Brown"
•3-5PM SUN PM: NELS LENNES & JILL BERNARD - "Beginning Improv"
Two hour classes are $40 ($30 for festival performers)
Three hour classes are $60 ($50 for festival performers)
A four-pack of classes is $180.
BEING A HUMAN - AN IMPROV WORKSHOP FOR HONEST PLAY with Jet Eveleth (3 hours - offered only once)
Having a difficult time playing clever? Try playing real. Let go of feeling robotic on stage and speaking in unnatural tones. Instead of playing a fairly convincing human, be a human. What you are trying so hard to play is what you are all the time, now take out the effort. This workshop will focus on being truthful to your internal experience on stage. We will utilize emotional information in the breath and eyes of the performer to work from a deeper place. We will also explore ways of bringing more of yourself to the stage. With such work we can connect to the audiences’ humanity rather than just their intellect. We will use techniques that focus on: playing from an unforced place, breaking the habit of over thinking and indicating, connecting to your scene partner from a place that is more emotional. Once you play this way you may never want to go back to standing on stage and saying witty things.
SCENIC IMPROVISATION with Matt Craig and Frank Caeti (3 hours - offered twice)
The foundation of great improvisation is good scenes. In this workshop we will focus on improvising solid two-person scenes utilizing emotion, character, and point of view. The ultimate goal of scenic improvisation is the discovery and manifestation of relationship. This workshop is a great opportunity to learn the ropes of building a rich and layered scene from the ground up. Great as a transitional workshop between forms, as a introduction to the fantastic world of scenic improvisation, or as a touch-up for you experienced improvisers out there.
IMPROV DIAGNOSIS with Matt Craig (2 hours - offered only once)
Discover what type of improviser you are using a simplified structure that will enable you to approach scene work in a whole new way. In this comprehensive workshop, we will categorize your strengths and weaknesses in a method that I have been developing for over ten years. You will leave this workshop able to identify yourself as either a proactive or reactive improviser, and why, and then be able to take away the positive and negative implications of both. After this workshop, participants will be able to pinpoint their strengths as an improviser, but also determine their weaknesses so that all who take it will become fully-rounded, unstoppable, improvising juggernauts.
USING SCENES TO INSPIRE NEW SCENES with Frank Caeti (2 hours - offered only once)
You have just performed the first couple scenes of your long form, now what? This class will focus on using scenes you have performed early in any long form structure to inspire new scenes and make strong connections. Students will learn techniques that go beyond just following plot and heighten the ideas you originally explored. Time-dash, analogous situation, theme, character, location, game of scene, and following the fun - are all worthwhile threads to pursue for the second beat and beyond.
EXPLORING A FORM: JTS BROWN with Holly Laurent (3 hours - offered only once)
JTS Brown is a 12-year-old form created by some of the best long form players of i.O. Chicago. It’s patchwork style combines a pallet of moves deigned to highlight solid scene work within its highly transformational and almost dream like string of characters, relationships and realities. It elevates long form to a higher level of theatricality by combining sophisticated scene work with playful and experimental group work. JTS produces an exciting hybrid of fresh comedy and downright good theater.
Holly Laurent has been teaching JTS in the upper levels of the i.O. training center since 2006. She enjoys helping groups take the fundamentals of JTS and develop new moves based on its inspiration. In her JTS workshop you will develop original moves and invent long form pieces that reflect the distinctive personality of YOUR group.
BEGINNING IMPROV with Nels Lennes & Jill Bernard (2 hours - offered twice)
Does improv look fun? Would you like to try it? Nels Lennes & Jill Bernard from HUGE Theater offer this class to absolute beginners. Come give improv a try with simple exercises that will train you to be more fearless and spontaneous from the get-go.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS
Jet Eveleth is a member of The Reckoning and recently toured in I Live Next Door To Horses, winner of the 2008 Del Award for Best Scripted Show. She can also be seen in Ted & Melanie, Pleasant Valley and The Armando Diaz Experience. She received her M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College and is an instructor at Columbia’s Comedy Studies Program. Jet was a faculty member of The Second City Conservatory, the iO Theater and is the co-artistic director for the Chicago Improv Festival.
Holly Laurent is a writer, actor and teacher hailing from Michigan. She is a member of the Chicago improv group The Reckoning, with whom she recently completed the pilot Ditch Mitchem: Writer Detective. Film credits include The Strip, Bicentennial Curious and American Legacy, and writing credits include I Live Next Door to Horses and Sitting at the Grown Up Table. She has been featured as part of Serendipity Theatre Collective’s Second Story series and is a member of the National Touring Company of the Second City, where she frequently understudies their resident stages. Holly holds a MA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College and her BA in Acting from Anderson University. She teaches at i.O. Chicago and the Second City. Her strengths as an instructor are in fostering group work and offering personal diagnostic feedback for performers. Her vision is to help students elevate their acting and improv skills, and in the process she also hopes to bolster your spirits!
Matt Craig began his career at Washington University with the troupe Mama's Pot Roast. Previous theater credits include The Annoyance, iO, iOWest, Disney Cruise Lines, Brave New Workshop, The Second City Touring Company, The Second City ETC, and The Second City Mainstage. Recent television credits include According To Jim and The Office. He is currently a member of the faculty at the Second City Training Center in Los Angeles, taught for the Second City Conservatory in Chicago for five years, and the Brave New Institute in Minneapolis in addition to teaching workshops all over the United States. He currently works for Norwegian Cruise Lines writing and directing sketch comedy that is performed all over the world. Matt is pleased to be returning to the Twin Cities where he happily lived and performed for several years during the Clinton administration. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his lovely wife Rebecca and his baby daughter Phoebe.
Frank Caeti has taught and performed improvisation for over 10 years. He is currently on the faculty at The Second City Hollywood. Frank has taught improv for ComedySportz (Chicago), Second City (Chicago, LA, Las Vegas), and workshops in many cities including Seattle, Charleston, Dallas, and Beijing, China. As a performer, his credits include: series regular on MADtv, a resident company alum of The Second City Chicago, io Chicago, Reno 911, DITKA, io west, UCB, CSz Chicago, and one half of the duo FrankenMatt.
Nels Lennes and Jill Bernard are founding members of HUGE Theater. Jill has played ComedySportz since 1993 and has toured all over the country with her solo show "Drum Machine" and taught improv in over 30 states. Nels has extensive experience with nationally recognized improvisational theater groups including The Groundlings, Annoyance Theater, and The Upright Citizens Brigade in addition to his Twin Cities collaborative experience since 1995. In addition to his extensive improv teaching experience, Nels is also an accomplished screen actor, appearing in several films as well as commercials for national marketing campaigns.
SATURDAY JUNE 26th
•11AM-2PM SAT AM: JET EVELETH - "Being A Human - An Improv Workshop for Honest Play"
•11AM-2PM SAT AM: MATT CRAIG & FRANK CAETI - "Scenic Improvisation"
•3-6PM SAT PM: MATT CRAIG & FRANK CAETI - "Scenic Improvisation"
•3-5PM SAT PM: NELS LENNES & JILL BERNARD - "Beginning Improv"
SUNDAY JUNE 27th
•11AM-1PM SUN AM: FRANK CAETI - "Using Scenes to Inspire New Scenes"
•3-6PM SUN PM: HOLLY LAURENT - "Exploring a Form: JTS Brown"
•3-5PM SUN PM: NELS LENNES & JILL BERNARD - "Beginning Improv"
Two hour classes are $40 ($30 for festival performers)
Three hour classes are $60 ($50 for festival performers)
A four-pack of classes is $180.
BEING A HUMAN - AN IMPROV WORKSHOP FOR HONEST PLAY with Jet Eveleth (3 hours - offered only once)
Having a difficult time playing clever? Try playing real. Let go of feeling robotic on stage and speaking in unnatural tones. Instead of playing a fairly convincing human, be a human. What you are trying so hard to play is what you are all the time, now take out the effort. This workshop will focus on being truthful to your internal experience on stage. We will utilize emotional information in the breath and eyes of the performer to work from a deeper place. We will also explore ways of bringing more of yourself to the stage. With such work we can connect to the audiences’ humanity rather than just their intellect. We will use techniques that focus on: playing from an unforced place, breaking the habit of over thinking and indicating, connecting to your scene partner from a place that is more emotional. Once you play this way you may never want to go back to standing on stage and saying witty things.
SCENIC IMPROVISATION with Matt Craig and Frank Caeti (3 hours - offered twice)
The foundation of great improvisation is good scenes. In this workshop we will focus on improvising solid two-person scenes utilizing emotion, character, and point of view. The ultimate goal of scenic improvisation is the discovery and manifestation of relationship. This workshop is a great opportunity to learn the ropes of building a rich and layered scene from the ground up. Great as a transitional workshop between forms, as a introduction to the fantastic world of scenic improvisation, or as a touch-up for you experienced improvisers out there.
IMPROV DIAGNOSIS with Matt Craig (2 hours - offered only once)
Discover what type of improviser you are using a simplified structure that will enable you to approach scene work in a whole new way. In this comprehensive workshop, we will categorize your strengths and weaknesses in a method that I have been developing for over ten years. You will leave this workshop able to identify yourself as either a proactive or reactive improviser, and why, and then be able to take away the positive and negative implications of both. After this workshop, participants will be able to pinpoint their strengths as an improviser, but also determine their weaknesses so that all who take it will become fully-rounded, unstoppable, improvising juggernauts.
USING SCENES TO INSPIRE NEW SCENES with Frank Caeti (2 hours - offered only once)
You have just performed the first couple scenes of your long form, now what? This class will focus on using scenes you have performed early in any long form structure to inspire new scenes and make strong connections. Students will learn techniques that go beyond just following plot and heighten the ideas you originally explored. Time-dash, analogous situation, theme, character, location, game of scene, and following the fun - are all worthwhile threads to pursue for the second beat and beyond.
EXPLORING A FORM: JTS BROWN with Holly Laurent (3 hours - offered only once)
JTS Brown is a 12-year-old form created by some of the best long form players of i.O. Chicago. It’s patchwork style combines a pallet of moves deigned to highlight solid scene work within its highly transformational and almost dream like string of characters, relationships and realities. It elevates long form to a higher level of theatricality by combining sophisticated scene work with playful and experimental group work. JTS produces an exciting hybrid of fresh comedy and downright good theater.
Holly Laurent has been teaching JTS in the upper levels of the i.O. training center since 2006. She enjoys helping groups take the fundamentals of JTS and develop new moves based on its inspiration. In her JTS workshop you will develop original moves and invent long form pieces that reflect the distinctive personality of YOUR group.
BEGINNING IMPROV with Nels Lennes & Jill Bernard (2 hours - offered twice)
Does improv look fun? Would you like to try it? Nels Lennes & Jill Bernard from HUGE Theater offer this class to absolute beginners. Come give improv a try with simple exercises that will train you to be more fearless and spontaneous from the get-go.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS
Jet Eveleth is a member of The Reckoning and recently toured in I Live Next Door To Horses, winner of the 2008 Del Award for Best Scripted Show. She can also be seen in Ted & Melanie, Pleasant Valley and The Armando Diaz Experience. She received her M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College and is an instructor at Columbia’s Comedy Studies Program. Jet was a faculty member of The Second City Conservatory, the iO Theater and is the co-artistic director for the Chicago Improv Festival.
Holly Laurent is a writer, actor and teacher hailing from Michigan. She is a member of the Chicago improv group The Reckoning, with whom she recently completed the pilot Ditch Mitchem: Writer Detective. Film credits include The Strip, Bicentennial Curious and American Legacy, and writing credits include I Live Next Door to Horses and Sitting at the Grown Up Table. She has been featured as part of Serendipity Theatre Collective’s Second Story series and is a member of the National Touring Company of the Second City, where she frequently understudies their resident stages. Holly holds a MA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College and her BA in Acting from Anderson University. She teaches at i.O. Chicago and the Second City. Her strengths as an instructor are in fostering group work and offering personal diagnostic feedback for performers. Her vision is to help students elevate their acting and improv skills, and in the process she also hopes to bolster your spirits!
Matt Craig began his career at Washington University with the troupe Mama's Pot Roast. Previous theater credits include The Annoyance, iO, iOWest, Disney Cruise Lines, Brave New Workshop, The Second City Touring Company, The Second City ETC, and The Second City Mainstage. Recent television credits include According To Jim and The Office. He is currently a member of the faculty at the Second City Training Center in Los Angeles, taught for the Second City Conservatory in Chicago for five years, and the Brave New Institute in Minneapolis in addition to teaching workshops all over the United States. He currently works for Norwegian Cruise Lines writing and directing sketch comedy that is performed all over the world. Matt is pleased to be returning to the Twin Cities where he happily lived and performed for several years during the Clinton administration. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his lovely wife Rebecca and his baby daughter Phoebe.
Frank Caeti has taught and performed improvisation for over 10 years. He is currently on the faculty at The Second City Hollywood. Frank has taught improv for ComedySportz (Chicago), Second City (Chicago, LA, Las Vegas), and workshops in many cities including Seattle, Charleston, Dallas, and Beijing, China. As a performer, his credits include: series regular on MADtv, a resident company alum of The Second City Chicago, io Chicago, Reno 911, DITKA, io west, UCB, CSz Chicago, and one half of the duo FrankenMatt.
Nels Lennes and Jill Bernard are founding members of HUGE Theater. Jill has played ComedySportz since 1993 and has toured all over the country with her solo show "Drum Machine" and taught improv in over 30 states. Nels has extensive experience with nationally recognized improvisational theater groups including The Groundlings, Annoyance Theater, and The Upright Citizens Brigade in addition to his Twin Cities collaborative experience since 1995. In addition to his extensive improv teaching experience, Nels is also an accomplished screen actor, appearing in several films as well as commercials for national marketing campaigns.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
improv class for writers
Guys! I am teaching an improv class for writers. Check it out! http://mnfilmtv.org/mnhotline/?p=1530
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
HUGE Theater Fundraising - challenge grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council
Dear Friends:
The Metropolitan Regional Arts Council has issued HUGE Improv Theater a challenge, and there isn't much time. If we raise $4,000 by January 24th, they'll honor our commitment to improvisational theater with a $5,000 grant to create a season of original improvisational theater.
Our plans are big. HUGE is actively working toward establishing a theater space for improvisational theater, and every show we produce increases awareness, raises money, and adds equipment to get us closer to that goal.
HUGE's new production for 2010 is Overheard in Minneapolis, inspired by the website of the same name where users submit conversational snippets overheard throughout Minneapolis which strike the casual observer in a memorable way. The show will consist of these dialogues, randomly chosen to start scenes which will weave together to create a theatrical improvisational show filled with depth and texture, unifying themes and memorable characters. We'll employ staging and lighting technology to create a scripted, rehearsed feel to an unscripted production and showcase the possibilities of unscripted theater.
We need your help. In improvisor dollars, $4,000 is an awful lot of money. Here's just a few examples of where your donation will go for Overheard and the future HUGE Improv Theater
You may donate online with your PayPal account or credit card at
http://tinyurl.com/hugedonation
Or send check by mail to:
HUGE Theater
296 Norman Ridge Drive
Bloomington, MN 55437.
We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so you will receive a receipt for your taxes.
On behalf of the board of Huge Theater - Nels Lennes, Jill Bernard and Butch Roy - I thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Jill Bernard
Secretary & Director of Education
Huge Improv Theater
http://www.hugetheater.com
P.S. Mark your calendars for the March 5th Fundraiser Bash, hope to see you there!
The Metropolitan Regional Arts Council has issued HUGE Improv Theater a challenge, and there isn't much time. If we raise $4,000 by January 24th, they'll honor our commitment to improvisational theater with a $5,000 grant to create a season of original improvisational theater.
Our plans are big. HUGE is actively working toward establishing a theater space for improvisational theater, and every show we produce increases awareness, raises money, and adds equipment to get us closer to that goal.
HUGE's new production for 2010 is Overheard in Minneapolis, inspired by the website of the same name where users submit conversational snippets overheard throughout Minneapolis which strike the casual observer in a memorable way. The show will consist of these dialogues, randomly chosen to start scenes which will weave together to create a theatrical improvisational show filled with depth and texture, unifying themes and memorable characters. We'll employ staging and lighting technology to create a scripted, rehearsed feel to an unscripted production and showcase the possibilities of unscripted theater.
We need your help. In improvisor dollars, $4,000 is an awful lot of money. Here's just a few examples of where your donation will go for Overheard and the future HUGE Improv Theater
| Item | Estimated Cost |
| Lightboard and dimmers | $3,000 |
| Soundboard and cables | $750 |
| Marketing | $1,500 |
| Space and Equipment rental | $5,000 |
You may donate online with your PayPal account or credit card at
http://tinyurl.com/hugedonation
Or send check by mail to:
HUGE Theater
296 Norman Ridge Drive
Bloomington, MN 55437.
We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so you will receive a receipt for your taxes.
On behalf of the board of Huge Theater - Nels Lennes, Jill Bernard and Butch Roy - I thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Jill Bernard
Secretary & Director of Education
Huge Improv Theater
http://www.hugetheater.com
P.S. Mark your calendars for the March 5th Fundraiser Bash, hope to see you there!
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