SUSPENSE-PROV! with Troy Miller
Sunday, October 18, 4:30-7pm
Are you a “talky” improviser? Do you find yourself not moving much on stage? Does panic rise up inside you at that moment you realize you’ve got nothing? What if, instead, you could create a scene so loaded with subtext that the audience is on the edge of their seat, hanging on your every word or action? I like to think of “suspense” in improv as the space between and under what our characters say. This workshop will help you embrace and actively use silence, movement and economy of words to slow you down and ground you in the moment. It will help you develop a keen awareness of where the “heat” in the scene is, when to stick in the proverbial knife, and how to keep twisting it (i.e. ratcheting up the tension) to supremely grip and delight the audience.
TROY A. MILLER has been teaching and performing improv since 2002. Since his beginnings as an original member of the Heroes of Comedy at the Hideout Theatre, Troy has specialized in producing and directing improvised genre narratives, including the critically acclaimed shows “Hitchcocked!” and “Start Trekkin” (selected to perform at the 40th “Star Trek” Anniversary in Las Vegas), and audience favorites “A Penny Dreadful” (gothic horror) and “Scene of the Crime” (murder mystery). His comedy group “Confidence Men” (improvised David Mamet) is a two-time winner of the B. Iden Payne Award for Best Improvisational Theatre (Austin’s version of the Tony’s) and has toured comedy festivals nationwide. When not improvising, Troy is an accomplished screenwriter and filmmaker — his comedy “Severance” toured film festivals in 2005-2006, and his thriller script “The Hitch” is being developed as a feature film by Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption”, “The Green Mile”, “The Walking Dead”).
$35 / 2.5 hrs / Limited Space