Advanced Improv Skills: Location, Location, Location!

In improv, as in real estate, location is everything! Object work and environment can be a performer’s inspiration for character, point of view, and finding the next move when words fail, as well as creating more engaging and interesting stage pictures for the audience.

In this advanced five-week class, we’ll take a deep dive into the worlds improvisers create on stage and the skills involved in bringing them to life. Students will learn and practice the skills needed to create richly detailed objects and environments that bring meaning and depth to their scenes, as well as how to use the where of the scene to inspire the who. This class includes a showcase. The prerequisite for this class is Level Five Improv at Stomping Ground or permission from the Training Center Director.

This course will focus on:

• Performing object work that looks and feels real
• Creating environments that bring gifts to the scene
• Bringing purpose and intention to pantomiming
• Finding props and other accessories that enhance your character
• Exploring “Chekhov’s gun” – a narrative principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed.

This is a 5 week recurring in-person course held Wednesdays, 7-9:30pm starting Wednesday, March 20th. The instructor is John Gerhardt. All sales are final. Listed price of class does not include Eventbrite’s service fee (3.7% + $1.79) and payment processing fee (2.9%) which will be added to the total price at checkout. 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.

About the Instructor:

John Gerhardt is a performer and instructor who developed their environment and object work at Rose State College in the purely pantomimed show “Our Town” and at the University of Central Oklahoma in Oklahoma City while pursuing their BFA in Theater Performance. They have been seen using these skills in their one man show, Last Call at Stomping Ground Comedy Theater, as well as their other ensemble shows, KEVIN, Broadwayish, and Spaghetti Confetti.