Advanced Improv: Playing Longer Scenes

Improvising longer scenes takes a patient and slower play style, creating a depth of world building that can be rewarding for both the performer and the audience. In this seven week class, students will practice the skills and develop the confidence to sustain longer scenes, establishing fuller characters and environments that can be fully lived in for longer than two or three minutes. Students will learn how to establish a scene layer by layer and then play within those layers for ten minutes or more. This class includes a student showcase. The prerequisite for this class is completion of Level Five Improv at Stomping Ground Comedy Theater or graduation from an equivalent program with permission from the Training Center Director.

Students who have not completed Level Five Improv at Stomping Ground Comedy Theater should email the Training Center Director (education@stompinggroundcomedy.org) with their previous experience.

Topics in the Class Include:

• Deeper Listening in Scenes
• Initiating the Dynamics of a Scene through Behavior and Small Talk
• Allowing Scenes to Breath and Living in the Natural Beats and Silences
• Using Specific Tools for Digging into Character
• Layering Scenes for Longer Play and Sustainability

About the Instructor:

Greg Mihalik is a performer and instructor who has been teaching and performing improv since 2002, studied improvisation at the Magnet Theater in NYC and has been seen using these techniques in both his one-man improvised musical, Fugue State at Stomping Ground Comedy Theater and since 2016 with his improvised duo, Too Shy Guys, at theaters throughout Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Tampa, Florida.

This is a 7 week recurring course held Mondays, 7-9:30pm starting Monday, April 27. This class includes a showcase. The instructor is Greg Mihalik. All sales are final. Classes are non-refundable but enrollment may be deferred to a future class with TCD approval. All students must adhere to policies in the Stomping Ground Student Handbook. Must be 18 years or older.