It’s full of guest groups, old favorite shows come back from the dead, crazy experiments, and fun challenges to keep the core eight improvisers on their toes.

The core, or “Crazy 8″ are eight performers who will be in each and every show. They will not sleep a wink, and instead will be performing straight through from 5pm on Friday to noon on Sunday afternoon. And as you can see from the lineup below, they’re in for quite a wild ride.

The “Crazy 8″ for 2012 are Roy Janik, Marc Majcher, Halyn Erickson, John Ratliff, Emma Holder, Eric Heiberg, Jon Bolden and Jill Bernard (from Minneapolis!)

You can buy tickets for any and all of  these shows by clicking this link.

Get your tickets here.

This weekend’s guest troupe and workshop instructors Improv Playhouse are the closest thing to family that the Hideout Theatre has. Regina Saisi is a founding member of BATS Improv in San Francisco and has been teaching, improvising and directing shows with them since 1986, a full decade before Hideout founder and original artistic director Sean Hill brought the BATS brand of improv comedy to Austin.

It was in the mold of BATS that the Hideout was created, embracing Johnstone-style improvisation with classic “shortform” shows (Maestro, Theatresports and Gorilla Theatre) and encouraging the evolution of this naturally story-based strain of improvisation into “narrative longform” in which stories are improvised over a longer period of time, often in a specific genre or format.

The earliest improvised plays at the Hideout were in a show called Six Degrees that was lifted directly from BATS, and our first forays into genre improvisation were with another borrowed format, Start Trekkin’. Since then we’ve explored dozens of new formats and genres, some stolen from far-flung places and some invented for the Hideout mainstage or by local troupes with a yen for some particular challenge of narrative, but throughout the years BATS has been a continued source of inspiration.

After early experiences with Improv Theatre and Pulp Playhouse, Regina Saisi founded the genre powerhouse True Fiction Magazine, currently performing improvised stories on the BATS stage and the internationally syndicated radio program West Coast Live. She’s teaching a workshop this Saturday afternoon on Keeping it Simple, connecting with your partner and letting that connection fuel your storytelling improvisation.

Tim Orr has been with BATS since 1988 and has regularly been the Director of the BATS Long-Form Intensive program that many many Austin improvisers have made the pilgrimage to the Bay Area to attend. I personally spent three weeks in the summer of 2004 having my mind blown by the workshops and performances, including Tim’s troupe Three For All, which might have been the most impressive narrative improv show I had ever seen up to that point and is arguably one of the most influential troupes on Austin improv through their inspiration of generations of troupes including Get Up! and Parallelogramophongraph. Tim is teaching a workshop on Saturday entitled Jump In!, demanding that improvisers create a more dynamic scene or story from the very beginning.

Lisa Rowland has been a guest in Austin in the past and never fails to delight. She came up through the prestigious Stanford Improvisers, joined BATS in 2007 and has been churning out the stories ever since, including Murder Mystery, Shakespeare, James Bond and her two-person side project Awkward Dinner Party. Lisa’s Saturday workshop is Starting the Story, how to craft a multi-dimensional environment that will make for a more truthful and engaging story throughout.

And the three members of Improv Playhouse will be performing two shows in the festival. Friday night at 10pm is the Naked Stage, a fully-improvised, multi-act play. Saturday at 10pm is the Naked Screen, an improvised film with all the special effects and trappings of cinema. Tickets available here.

-Andy Crouch

Roy here.

Bunker 13 is an improv group from Seattle that is coming down for the Improvised Play Festival. They do a completely improvised show set in the midst of the Vietname War. Fatigues, cammo, explosions, and letters from home are the order of the day.

In anticipation of their upcoming show, I asked Mike Christensen, the creator of Bunker 13, some questions. As the director, it’s only fitting that in the show his character is “Sarge”.

ROY: How did Bunker 13 get its start, and what was the motivation behind it?

MIKE: Bunker 13 sprang from my experiences in the military, my fascination with the Vietnam War, and the current wars in the Middle East.  I wanted to create a show that focused on the smallest level of men at war; – the squad.  I was hoping to create some insight into the lives of soldiers deployed overseas and how they deal with the monotony, fear, grime, the Army and each other.

My inspiration and model of sorts was Bassprov – but I also wanted the theatricality of flashbacks and trips downrange into the jungle, along with a flow of characters in and out of the bunker.

We produced Bunker 13 at the Wing-It Theater in October and November 2009 as a full-length improvised play.   What surprised me was how popular the show was with women.  They saw beyond the locker room humor and really became attached to the characters in the show.   I was pleased with the characters that evolved during the rehearsal process, very organically.  In the end, I think the show continues to provide a gritty slice of life of the regular Army grunt, Vietnam War, or any war.

ROY: To what degree does the show reflect your own experiences in the military? Are there elements that wound up in the show/structure that wouldn’t be there without your own history to inform it?

MIKE: The experiences I had in the Army influenced the show a great deal.   Soldiers interact with each other in a completely unique way, part locker room, part board room, part junior high sleep-over; all framed in this olive drab world tinged with menace, or danger.   The language is coarse and profane – with lots of slang, some of it handed down from the occupation of Japan or earlier.

Even in peacetime, the tasks and training are difficult and dangerous – weapons, explosives, large vehicles and lots of things happening at night with little or no sleep.    I had a chance to work on the DMZ in Korea, carrying live ammo and knowing that I was being watched from observation posts in the North.  In addition, many of the NCO’s I served with in the Army were Vietnam vets, real characters with plenty of hairy stories to tell.

The devil is in the details, and only soldiers would know to place a C-Rations spoon in their pen holder slot on their pocket to have it when ever needed, or hang a P-38 can opener on their dog tag chain so you always have access to it.

All of this helped bring a sense of realism to Bunker 13, for us and the audience!

ROY: I find the ultra-specific details you just mentioned fascinating. Do you ever have to fight the urge to direct from within the show, and say “No, that’s not quite right” or “Actually, it was like this?” And do you find it a challenge to maintain that sense of tension and danger up in the midst of an improv show?

Mike: There is a little Director’s voice that you need to suppress – in early rehearsals I remember that voice popping up occasionally, but it didn’t take long for the cast to gel and for the show to flow very naturally.

The sound effects are there to remind the audience (and the actors) of where we are – jets fly over, choppers thrum by, artillery (incoming and outgoing) thumps in the distance and occasionally a machine gun, both ours and theirs.

It all helps to build atmosphere and keep the tension up.

Bunker 13 plays Saturday at 9pm. We fully expect the show to sell out, so get your tickets here.

Here’s a long overdue official announcement of The Improvised Play Festival, happening in just a few weeks at The Hideout.

The Improvised Play Festival is a celebration of narrative and/or theatrical improv in all its forms.

Last year was the very first festival, and it was a great success.

First, our out of town headiners:

Improv Playhouse of San Francisco

This project is straight from Bay Area Theatresports in San Francisco.

They’ll be doing two shows for the festival: an improvised one-act play and an improvised movie. No gimmicks… just 100% committed, experienced, incredibly well connected narrative improv from people who’ve been doing it a long time.

cast: Tim Orr, Regina Saisi, Lisa Rowland

Bunker 13, from Wing-It Productions in Seattle

I saw this show when I was in Seattle a few years back, and I’m thrilled they’re coming down for the festival.

Bunker 13 is a personal look at the lives and friendships of five soldiers during their downtime in the Vietnam War, as they await orders, get letters from home and combat their homesickness.

cast: Steve Lange, Conor McNassar, Mike Christensen, Ryan Miller, Dan Zertuche

Festival-wise, there will be a party/gather each of the 3 nights of the festival. The performers from Improv Playhouse will be teaching workshops, and there will be t-shirts for sale, like in this mockup:

Here is the complete schedule:

Thursday, April 12th:
8PM: Furiously Missing / The Escorts
The official kickoff show of The Improvised Play Festival. Come for the ribbon cutting, and stay for two theatrical groups made up primarily of performers who got their start at The Hideout.

9PM: GrimmNoir / Local Genius Society
The darkness of fairy tales meets the darkness of film noir. Then, Local Genius Society presents Beach Cops! Your head may explode from the wild variety in this set.

10PM: Spirited
The wildly popular Hideout Mainstage show from 2011 returns: Improvised dreamscapes in the style of Lewis Carroll, Sendak, and Miyazaki

11PM: Steam, Rose-Colored Goggles, and the Flight of the Victoriana
The Victoriana finished its inaugural flight in early 2012, as a multi-week serial improv epic, created by Gnap! Theater Projects. Now it returns for one more steampunk adventure story.

Friday, April 13th, 2012
8PM: After School Improv
Just like those After School Specials you used to watch as a kid, except this time it’s funny on purpose.

9PM: PGraph Presents Dick and Jane
Parallelogramophonograph presents an improvised noir story set in the world of Jane Austen. When manners and murder collide, chaos is the order of the day.

10PM: Improv Playhouse, from San Francisco, present The Naked Stage
This award-winning, highly praised theatre company from San Francisco presents an improvised one-act play in the truest sense of the word: one scene and no set changes… just 100% entertainment.

11PM: Available Cupholders
Austin improv legends The Available Cupholders return to show what a group that keeps pushing the envelope can accomplish. Always hilarious and surprising.

Saturday, April 14th, 2012

7PM: Process
The Hideout’s current mainstage show seems like it was created for this festival. Process takes an insider look at the act of creating live scripted theatre. Follow the cast and crew of an imaginary play all the way from bombing and nailing their auditions, rehearsing their lines, blocking out their staging, to performing their parts big and small on opening night. The egos! The drama! The drama in drama!

9PM: Bunker 13, from Seattle!
A personal, improvised look at the lives and friendships of 5 soldiers during their downtime in the Vietnam War, as they await orders, get letters from home and combat their homesickness. From Seattle, and the renowned Wing-It Productions.

10PM: Improv Playhouse, from San Francisco, present The Naked Screen
This award-winning, highly praised theatre company from San Francisco presents a completely improvised movie on stage. Genre, characters, action, and plot are all pulled forth from the ether.

11PM: Confidence Men
Improvised plays in the style of David Mamet. This touring, highly praised group is from right here in Austin, TX.

MIDNIGHT: The World’s Only Narrative Improv Jam
You’ve never seen a jam like this before! Cast members from all the various shows in the festival, other improvisers, and audience members are invited to perform in this narrative improv jam, where we’ll experiment with making up stories on the spot together, with absolutely no previous prep. Alcohol might also be a story trope we utilize. FREE!

You can find out more information, and get your tickets at:
http://www.improvisedplayfestival.com

or get your tickets directly at http://hideouttheatre.com/improvisedplayfestival

Roy here. This Saturday at 6pm we’re launching After School Improv, our first ever student mainstage show.

Cat Drago is one of the cast members, and in this post, she talks about how the rehearsal process has been so far.

Cat: When Jason emailed me saying I got cast in this show- I had to read it twice.

Well, maybe three times. I was so excited I couldn’t wait to tell people! My first big improv show, directed by one of the first improvisors I ever saw, Jason Vines. What could be better? After School Improv. A show inspired by those old episodes that used to offer up “Life Lessons” to naive and wayward kids alike.

Then it hit me- the big scary “offer” in the room… NARRATIVE.

Could I even DO narrative improv? I mean, that’s intense, right? To make up an entire continuous story on the spot… You have to be REALLY good to do that!

The fear set in, and by the first rehearsal, my excitement had turned to insecurity and fear.
But right from the get-go our cast just clicked. Rehearsals went so well, as Jason guided us through intense scenes varying in everything from secret agents to a kidnapping by that creepy coach everyone avoided in school. Week by week we learned not only how to create a continuous story, but how to forget about the plot, what comes next.

“The story will happen on its own,” Jason said. “Just focus on what is right in front of you.”  By reacting naturally to whatever was presented to us, we discovered that the story literally arises from our own reactions. “Don’t talk about what you’re going to do, just do it! Less volley, more spike!” Jason would say, and while it has taken us a while to figure it out, I think we have all surprised ourselves at what we were capable of.

Our cast has worked together to create something awesome, and shockingly true to life. We have delved into real and difficult issues that have plagued a lot of teens, including ourselves.

The end product, I think, is not just a cool made-up story that’s fun to watch. It’s something that we have all felt. That first time you’re rejected by the one you like, pressure to be better and greater, the zit you discover on the morning of prom! It’s all a part of life, and thanks to an incredible cast, tech crew, and awesome director- it’s presented to you in living color at the Hideout Theatre.

I am so blessed to be a part of it. Come see the show! All the cool kids are going…

After School Improv is running March 10th, 24th, 31st, and April 7th at 6pm. Tickets available here.

Roy here.

This Sunday marks the final show of Underground Improv, a joint project between The Hideout Theatre, The Dive Bar, and Local Genius Society.

When the opportunity to put a show up at The Dive Bar came to the Hideout, I immediately thought of turning it over to Local Genius Society. They’re a newer troupe, made up of recent graduates of our improv classes. They’ve got drive, and an infectious style.

The shows have been super successful. As we come upon the last one, local genius Kayla Freeman tells us what it’s been like for the group:

Kayla: We got the offer from Roy on a Sunday night, only a few weeks after Andrew had moved to L.A. and we had just welcomed Ryan on board. We had heard barprov horror stories of apathetic audiences, sound issues and drunken hecklers. Despite this, we did exactly what you’d expect improvisers to do:

We followed the fear; we said yes.

The next day, Nicole and I met with Roy and the folks from the Dive Bar. The moniker “Underground Improv” was created during that initial meeting, and it stuck. The name fit the setting and captured our aspirations. With this show we aimed to foster the independent spirit by hacking the barprov model, bringing improv to non-theatergoers, and giving newer players stage time.

We surveyed the location a few weeks before we opened. Nicole, Karen and I went on a Wednesday evening and unknowingly walked into the middle of a “Dark Fantasy” book signing. Forgetting our chainmail and furry handcuffs at home, we were obviously underdressed. A few days later, we sent Ryan to assess the Sunday crowd instead… and discovered there wasn’t one. The Dive Bar was like a ghost town on Sundays. It was liberating, in a way. If we crashed and burned, at least it would be for an empty room.

We were so wrong.

Each show played to a full house with effusive reception. We played for birthday and bachelorette parties, people who claimed to hate improv before seeing our show, students in a college improv class, out of towners from NYC and Minneapolis, unsuspecting bar patrons, and of course, our fellow imps. The intimate space and the opportunity to grab a drink with our audience right after the show added a further level of immediacy and connection. It’s invigorating to get people excited about an art form that they previously knew little about or had an ill perception of.

This has also been an incredibly educational experience. We were not without growing pains. Each week we strived to try new things while aiming to squeeze in rehearsals and meetings in our already busy schedules. Because of this, Local Genius Society learned a lot about navigating the obstacles of a non-traditional performance space, communication styles and conflict management. (Our Level One improv training certainly came in handy here!) Roy told us that by the time we figured it all out, it’d be over. And he was right. Bring on the next challenge; we’re ready.

As this run is coming to an end, we want to express our gratitude to the Hideout and the Dive Bar for this experience. Many thanks to all of our guest players and the supportive improv community for coming along for the ride. Your patience and support has been invaluable. We look forward to taking the lessons we’ve learned to tackle bigger, crazier projects and new locations. So don’t be surprised if you see Underground Improv spring up in some other unconventional venue. Improv is fertile ground for pioneering new artistic, interactive, and performance methods. The possibilities are limitless!

And for those of you non-improvisers who stumbled upon Underground Improv by chance, let me just say, as always: if it looks like fun, that’s because it is.

The Dive Bar is located at 1703 Guadalupe St. at 17th St. Show is at 8:30pm.

The final Underground Improv show is this Sunday, March 11th, 2012. Details via this link.

Having recently moved back to Texas after 5 and a half years in my native New York City, I’m in the market for one of those bumper stickers.

I first came to Austin as a UT undergrad in 2001. I found my way into the burgeoning improv scene during my freshman year of college and am fortunate to have belonged to the community (from near and afar) for more than 10 years. Though New York City will always have a claim on my heart, I feel more at home and at ease here in Austin, in the sunshine. Over the years, the Austin Improv community has furnished me with many dear friends, strengthened my sense of self, enriched my sense of humor, deepened my appreciation for the power of storytelling, clarified my day-to-day worldview, and led me to my husband!

The recipient of all these gifts, I have the further good fortune to be a cast-member in the March/April mainstage show, Process: An Unscripted Scripted Play, directed by aforementioned husband. The cast has been rehearsing for the show for almost two months now and I continue to be blown away by the level of commitment, creativity, talent, openness, and positive energy that exists within the group. Being part of this show contrasts sharply with my experiences doing improv in New York City—where comedians and actors go to make it.

Trying to pursue theater in New York, in my limited experience, involves lots of networking, hobnobbing, capitalizing on your connections, pounding the pavement, selling yourself the right way to the right people, and performing shows at weird times on weeknights in the backrooms of bars to audiences of 5-8 people. I feel incredibly grateful to be back in a community where folks are more interested in making compelling art together than they are in making money. I am awed and humbled and excited by how much Austin Improv has grown in the last five years, how it continues to expand to include more people and more forms. I feel lucky to be a living, breathing part of it again—no longer a sad Facebook stalker 1,700 miles away.

One of the best things about Process (in which we put up a “scripted” play from auditions through opening night) is that we get to poke some fun at those people who take theater too seriously or are overly concerned with the business. I met some people like that in New York and prefer playing them onstage to playing with them onstage. So, thank you, Process cast-mates for inspiring me with your talent. Thank you, Hideout Theatre, for continually experimenting with new and exciting formats. Thank you, Austin audience members, for coming on down to see the show and welcoming me back to the stage I so sorely missed.

Process runs on Saturdays in March and April at 8pm. Get your tickets here.

The Hideout Theatre in Austin, TX is hosting the 2nd annual Improvised Play Festival… an improv festival focusing on and showcasing narrative and theatrical improv.

Improv is funny. Improv is spontaneous. Improv is delightful. At The Hideout, we believe that improv is also theatre. Over the years The Hideout has built its reputation on producing full-length improvised plays in a wide range of styles: Shakespeare, Dickens, Star Trek, Film Noir, and more.

The Hideout certainly isn’t alone in its approach, and it’s time to bring like-minded improv companies together to celebrate and show off the more theatrical side of improv.

Hence, the Improvised Play Festival.

The festival will be held  from Thursday April 12th through Saturday, April 14th.

Last year’s festival featured Code Duello as the headliner, as well as groups improvising in the styles of Film Noir, Shakespeare, Star Trek, French Farce, David Mamet, and the 1960s Batman TV show.

Benefits for performers include:

• No Application fee!
• Photos of shows in digital form
• Your own hour-long show block
• use of an Austin-based technical improviser (well versed in our sound and light equipment)
• use of a musician (should you need one)
• fancy lights (multiple ‘specials’, RGB-spectrum wash)
• access to all shows and after-parties

Final decisions and notifications (one way or the other) will be sent out no later than March 8th. Applications are welcome up until March 6th, but the longer you wait, the less likely there will be an available slot.

For more information, and the application form, go here:

http://www.improvisedplayfestival.com/

Thank you,
Roy Janik
Artistic Director
The Hideout Theatre

Starting Sunday, Feb. 12th, The Hideout is teaming up with Local Genius Society for a brand new weekly show called Underground Improv. It’s free, and takes place at The Dive Bar, located at 1703 Guadalupe St. at 17th St., across the street from the Dog & Duck Pub.

Local Genius Society is made up of former Hideout students: Kayla Freeman, Karen DeWitt, Zac Grantham, Nicole Beckley, and most recently, Ryan Austin.

They love to improvise full-length stories, which is not an easy thing for a relatively new group to do. But they’re passionate about improv, and they’ve been firing on all cylinders. I chatted with the geniuses to discuss the group, where they see themselves progressing, and their plans for Underground Improv.

Are you up for the challenge of doing a weekly show? How do you think it’ll affect the troupe?

Karen: I’m always up for a challenge! I think getting to perform weekly will help us grow closer as a troupe and help us discover abilities we never even knew we had. Hopefully mind reading is one of those abilities.

Nicole: We felt really lucky to get to do a run of Threefer shows at the Hideout in December. Getting to perform together consistently each week helped us feel confident as an ensemble and helped strengthen the way we tell stories. From mid-November until the beginning of January, I think we performed nine shows in 10 weeks. Doing this new kind of show will force us to use some different muscles. We sort of can’t rely on typical theatrical conventions — there’s no backstage, there’s no lights up/lights down. I think, as a troupe, we’ll have the opportunity to build some new skills.

Ryan: Absolutely. I think everyone’s really ready for it by now, we’ve been preparing for it for a while so we’re ready to jump in. I think it’s going to result in a lot of Gmail activity. Haha. It’s requiring us to communicate wildly often which has really got that group mind effect pumping even during the days we’re not performing. I dig it!

What do you hope a typical “Underground Improv” show will be like?

Zac: I hope it is closer to a fun rehearsal with friends than a typical staged improv show. So, more laid back and loose with the chance to hang out afterwards. I’m hoping to enjoy being with the other Geniuses and guests more than I want to do great improv.

Kayla: When I invited the first crop of guest players, I said that I wanted it to be like “the Sundance institute, but for improv”. To me, that’s the biggest thing — I love the idea of playing with unexpected combinations of people or giving budding improvisers a place to stretch their wings. I hope this show can foster that independent, underground spirit.

Karen: I hope a typical show will involve laughter from the audience. And an audience.

Does this show fill a need or a niche in the Austin Improv scene?

Nicole: It’s absolutely amazing how expansive the Austin improv scene is — getting to offer another venue and another type of audience is really terrific. The great thing about the Austin improv community is that improvisers want to get the chance to play together. And we definitely want this to be an outlet for that.

Ryan: Definitely. I saw a show in Vegas last month that had these acrobats performing incredible stunts inside a tiny tent with folding chairs. I’m talking wooden folding chairs. Yeah. It was a huge theatrical performance but done in a very casual and intimate setting. It gave me a slight glimpse of what Underground Improv might feel like, theatrical entertainment but in a more familiar or casual setting. It’s definitely a from of entertainment that doesn’t come to mind often but makes so much sense once you experience it.

How do you think you think you’ll have to change your style to fit The Dive Bar?

Zac: When performing on an actual stage, I separate that from “the real world” in my head. The lights are down and the audience is quiet (and actually there to see you). All that allows me to get more in the moment. In a bar, obviously, is is completely different. So, I will have to figure out how to be in the moment while dealing with lots of distractions. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Kayla: We’re approaching the show more like a get-together hangout in the Dive Bar; we’re leaving out a lot of typical theatrical constructions or presentational hosting style for fear of alienating the audience. By approaching it casually and just offering the most authentic performances that we can, we hope to get people to buy in to this whole “improv” thing. Like improv missionaries! Haha.

Karen: We’ll have to be LOUD! Other than that, I think we’ll have to work on kicking up the energy so that the audience stays with us. I think if we can get people out to our shows, though, we can feed off their energy. The biggest challenge will be keeping focused on each other despite all the distractions that a bar environment presents.

Who is your ideal audience member for the show? Improvisers? Normals? Someone else?

Zac: My mom. I generally approach every show I do asking if my mom would enjoy it. If the show entertains normal people, I’d be happy because (for the most part) improvisers are normal people too!

Nicole: Libras. We’d love to have an all-Libra audience. That’s the easy-going, sociable astrological sign, right? Really I think we’d like to see a mix of improvisers and folks who maybe have some familiarity with improv, but haven’t done it themselves.

Kayla: I’d love to see a nice blend of imps and non-imps, all sort of mingling together. Since the show takes place in a bar, we don’t expect people to sit silently throughout the performance. It’d be awesome if some people who’ve never met start up a conversation, and by the end of it the non-imps are convinced to take a class or come out to a see a show at any of the awesome improv venues in town.

And one question specifically for Ryan: You’re new to the troupe. How is it going so far, and what do you like about it?

Ryan: I’m in love with these people. I was a BIG fan the first time I saw them and to now be one of the Local Geniuses is a huge honor. My head is still exploding.

I had my first show as part of the Local Geniuses the other night and we’ve been busy prepping for Underground Improv so we hadn’t had the chance to rehearse a lot since I joined. I was a little nervous and unsure how I would fit into their dynamic, but they’ve been so genuine and loving to me that it all melted away. I’m in and I’m not letting go.

Also, they’re really hot.

Underground Improv begins Feb. 12th and runs at least through March 18th. 8:30pm at The Dive Bar. 1703 Guadalupe St. at 17th St.

Find Local Genius Society on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/localgeniussociety

Seattle’s Randy Dixon is coming to Austin for a weekend of workshops. He’s the artistic director of Unexpected Productions and has been improvising and teaching since the late seventies.

We are excited to be moving back into our 220-seat venue. The last six months we have be in a 500 seat venue! The current show is Blank Slate, where the audience writes the show. They make all the key decisions. It’s a great form to train actors to trust story. In general, I am especially excited about Unexpected Productions bringing theatricality back to improv through metaphor, symbol, movement and ritual. Trying to get away from talking heads.

Register for Raising the Stakes in Your Scenes and Stories Saturday, Feb 11, 1-4pm

I grew up interested in myth. As I began traveling to teach and direct, I noticed a lot of the same material kept coming up again and again. I recognized this as mythic, and it was the same everywhere I went. I knew I wanted to go deeper into this material, so set about to study systems of myth and belief, which is really about how story lives in us.

Register for Personal Storytelling Through Myth Sunday Feb 12, 3:30-6:30pm

Great question. Well, off the top of my head, I think they overlap as two paths to the same destination. I think they mingle well and are very. very useful to each other. The differences in very general terms is the Chicago style seems very broad and general, big strokes of structure. Johnstone’s work is very specific and geared towards giving the improviser focused skills.

The audience comes to TELL a story, not WATCH a story. Our job is to give them the means to do that.

Register for The Mechanics of Great Scenes Monday, Feb 13, 7-10pm

For a more in depth interview with Randy Dixon, check out this excellent podcast.