Always Be Closing

Always Be Closing
with Troy Anthony Miller
Saturday, September 3, noon-2:30 pm

Coming onto the stage with something, anything, is one of the hardest hurdles to overcome in improv. Why wait, be hesitant, slog through the mire until you have it? Attack the stage fiercely, latch on to a point of view, and engage your partner with such electricity you hook an audience from the word go. In this workshop, Troy will share techniques and exercises honed from his work with the award-winning Confidence Men (improvised David Mamet): connect to your partner with rapid-fire dialogue, create shady characters that the audience will love, and be willing to “go dark” if that’s where the scene is headed. Expect an immensely energizing improv workout that will give you the tools to fully engage your fellow players and the audience at all times — or as Mamet would say, “Always be closing.”

TROY ANTHONY MILLER is an accomplished screenwriter and improviser, performing and teaching improv since 2001. Starting in Austin at the Hideout Theatre, he played in and directed such shows as Maestro, Theatresports, Scene of the Crime (improvised Agatha Christie), Hitchcocked!, Twilight Zoned, A Penny Dreadful, and the critically acclaimed Start Trekkin (selected to perform at the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek in Las Vegas). His comedy group Confidence Men (improvised David Mamet) was a two-time winner of the B. Iden Payne Award for Best Improvisational Theatre. Currently, he is a member of the premier performance Lab at the renowned Impro Theatre in Los Angeles, having performed such genres as Chekhov, Tennessee Williams, Film Noir, Dorothy Parker, Rom-Com, and Twilight Zone. As a screenwriter, he has the distinction of twice winning the Austin Film Festival’s Feature Screenplay Competition, ghost writing the Mira Sorvino thriller Beneath the Leaves, and being named one of the “Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch” by Moviemaker magazine. He is the co-writer of two series currently in development: T-Minus Zero, a limited about the Challenger disaster, and Area Unknown, an episodic that takes place at Area 51.

2.5 hours / Limited space / Class held at The Hideout Theatre (617 Congress Ave)