Weekly Special Topics

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Weekly Special Topics

Every Wednesday the Hideout brings you a workshop on a special topic in improvisation with the top improv instructors, directors and players in Austin. Our second session of 2018 classes will be focusing on Narrative with each week covering a different technical skill or tool for bringing professional improv comedy and theater to the stage. You can register for all 8 classes for the crazy cheap price of $100 or you can register each week à la carte for $25.

SPECIAL TOPICS IN NARRATIVE:

 

5/23 – Megan Sherrod – Super Support – We’ll focus on finding ways to support our scene partners while discovering delightful moments for ourselves. If you’ve ever felt bored in a support role or struggled to find the fun when you’re the odd one out in a scene, this class is for you!

5/30 – Kareem Badr – Villainy – We love to hate a villains. Learn techniques your whole ensemble can use to ratchet up and maintain the tension needed to create truly terrifying and magnetic villains on stage.

6/6 – Kaci Beeler – Genre: Tennessee Williams – Troubled men, spellbinding women, and a touch of magic come together to create characters, relationships, and scenarios both hilarious and heartbreaking. Inspired by the work done to create The Hideout’s 2017 hit show The Kindness of Strangers.

6/13 – Ace Manning – The Science of Memory and Improv – How do we remember while staying in the moment? How do we trust the moment when we need to fill an hour? How does the audience process our work? We will explore these questions and how memory functions is crucial to the process.

6/20 – Andy Crouch – Instant Protagonist – Get 10 instantly effective tricks for identifying and nailing down your hero. These are quick, dirty and incredibly effective. We’ll drill the crap out of short scenes in which you figure out who this story is about over and over and over again until it’s muscle memory.

6/27 – Roy Janik – Directing Through Narration – Narrating is an act of joyful observation and discovery, wherein by saying what your mind is already seeing, you call it into focus and make it real. It’s also a great chance to mess around. Let’s do that.

7/4 – NO CLASS for FOURTH OF JULY

7/11 – Sarah Marie Curry – Pulling From the Protag – Improvisers will practice the basic techniques of reading and being inspired by their protagonist to shape the overall narrative of the show. Expect a healthy dose of both lecture and application of narrative theory, interactive theatre technique and slow scene work.

7/18 – Katie Dahm – Heart-Driven Narratives – This workshop is all about developing the emotional heart of your story. We’ll play with techniques to tap into your emotional range as a performer and explore how the practice of allowing ourselves to be open and earnest on stage invites the audience to connect with our stories.

$100 for the 8-session pass / 16 hours total / Workshops limited to 12 students / Class held at the Hideout Theatre downtown unless otherwise noted

Or $25 each week for any open spots not claimed by passholders

***Fine Print: 8-class pass holders will reserve their preferred classes ahead of time and any unclaimed spots each week will be sold to the general public. If you purchase a 8-class pass but then get cast in an upcoming Hideout Mainstage show that conflicts with Wednesday nights, we will refund the prorated remainder of your class purchase.