The Zen of Improvisation: Permission to Play in Class!

“You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”   Plato

Improvisation, known as “the Jazz of the Theatre,” is an acting tool that asks us to use our intuitive self first, before thinking; it requires us to respond spontaneously to unexpected circumstances without previous thought, judgment, or preparation. Most often in collegiate life, we are called upon to use our thinking selves. We are asked to research a topic, write it, edit it, think it over and re-edit it. After we turn it in, we edit ourselves. Did we do enough? Are we enough? In improvisation, we are always enough, because we create everything in the moment.

In this Seminar, you are given permission to play in class! Through the use of theatrical warm-ups, exercises, games, and improvisations, you will learn physical and emotional techniques to free, stimulate, and cultivate your creative impulses. This is a hands-on, heads-off workshop. Zen philosophy, “enlightenment by means of direct, intuitive insights,” will be applied with improvisational techniques to unlock the natural impulses that must surface to discover truth in acting. We all start from the beginning; therefore, no previous acting experience is necessary or required. This seminar is especially helpful for individuals who suffer from “stage fright” or consider themselves “painfully shy.”