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Zen and the Art of Improvising Kurosawa

April 2, 2014 kbadr 0

When preparing to direct Kenjutsu: The Art of the Sword, the first thing Shannon McCormick and I did was discuss what makes the samurai genre unique or distinct. What would we need the cast to do to make an audience member feel like they are watching the kind of story […]

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Improv Classes Will Change Your Life

August 30, 2013 andy 2

At the risk of sounding grandiose, I’m here to tell you that taking an improv class will change your life for the better, give you a positive philosophy for navigating the world and quite possibly get you laid. These are undeniable FACTS. Over the last decade as an instructor and […]

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Inside Fakespeare

July 11, 2013 Roy Janik 5

Why Shakespeare? The Hideout’s big show this summer is Fakespeare. We’re doing eight performances of improvised Shakespeare in August and we’re building up to it with three weekends of scripted Shakespeare in July – the first scripted theatre that the Hideout has ever produced.* (GET YOUR TICKETS) And we’re not just […]

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Improv Playhouse is Coming for a Visit

April 13, 2012 andy 0

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 […]

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Zen and Improv: Fingers Pointing at the Moon

August 29, 2011 andy 14

[Thoughts from Ryan Hill, zen practitioner and current Level Two student] “All instruction is but a finger pointing to the moon; and those whose gaze is fixed upon the pointer will never see beyond. Even let him catch sight of the moon, and still he cannot see its beauty.” — […]

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Nude Rangers…ASSEMBLE!

July 14, 2011 Roy Janik 1

Thoughts from a Live Nude Improv cast member about the unique powers and gifts of each member of the ensemble, and how their talents combine to create a strong and diverse group.

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Student Testimonials

January 13, 2011 andy 0

We’ve been teaching classes at the Hideout since 1999, but in the fall of 2008 we started sending surveys to each graduating Level One class.  On the survey (which included several questions engineered to help us optimize the Hideout’s student experience) we invited them to give us a brief quote […]

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One Student’s Experience

December 2, 2010 andy 0

University of Texas RTF student Kayla Lane Freeman put this short video together about Hideout student Ariel Dang-Tran and her experience with classes at the Hideout. “A typical day at improv, we’ll come in and do some warm-up exercises — make random noise and start getting comfortable again with everybody […]

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Summer Camp!

June 18, 2010 Jessica 0

The Flying Theater Machine’s first summer camp is going extremely well.  It is exciting to see the kids playing and learning on stage.  Kristin Henn is their teacher and she is amazing with the kids.  They like the basic improv games, but they also really enjoy the organic morphing.  My […]