A balanced immersion into the craft of performing primarily through the skills of improvisation. At the Improv Retreat, participants work daily in small group sessions with improv instructors Gary Austin (founder of L.A.’s The Groundlings) and Larry Rosen (faculty, Second City); playwright/author Jeffrey Sweet; L.A. vocal coach Wenndy MacKenzie; New York actor, director and performance coach Carol Fox Prescott, actor/physical comedian Kenny Raskin (Cirque du Soleil, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast) and Michael J. Gellman (senior faculty & director, The Second City). Evening sessions include Song Improvisation with Noel Katz (Second City), as well as lecture/demonstrations, round table discussions, and an improvisational extravaganza for the whole group.
These people are FAMOUS! There will be real actors in my class! Holy crap! I'm starting to wonder what the heck I was thinking when I signed up. I mean Song Improvisation? I don't even like to sing Happy Birthday. I was lip-syncing way before Milli Vanilli.
Here's the deal - I'm a speaker. I'm kind of funny. People like it when the speaker is funny. I want to be more funny. Thus - improv. Sometimes the only way to get better is to do something that scares you. It might be asking for help or going back to school - there are many things that scare us, but they are what help us grow.
So either I'll be really funny after this or just bitter.
I'm going to try and blog during the class, but hang in there if I get slack. I feel like I'm going to summer camp. Maybe summer prison camp. Public singing? God help me.
Speaking of summer camp, my friend Karen (the one I visited in PA) has a son at summer camp. And look at these cool art projects they did:
Those are like a beautiful dream. Can you imagine having a Crunch Bar that size? Or a Reese's Cup? Maybe a Peanut M & M the size of your head? Yay!
Maybe there will be s'mores at my Improv Retreat.
1 comment:
Knock 'em dead, girlfriend!
You rock!
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