SPRING CLASSES for Teens & Kids start April 2.
QUICK LINKS FOR REGISTRATION
(with 20% discount included)
Saturdays 10am
April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 May 7, 14, 21
Bonus/Make-up Class May 28
SHOW June 4
Each class students will play Improv games to warm-up, develop technique and prepare for a performance showcase. The final 30-40 minutes is an open mic where students share stories and develop original stand-up comedy routines.
NO DAYS OFF – unless there is a major weather or other situation that prevents call from occurring. We run straight through. Families travel for different holidays and occasions. This is why our 8-week program runs 10 weeks. If you have a family vacation or get sick, there is a built-in make up class.
PERFORMANCE SHOWCASE – The final day of class is a show. Students come on time to warm-up and make final preparations. Please invite family and friends to attend the show that starts about 30-45 minutes after normal showtime (unless otherwise told by teachers). We love having a big audience for our students.
JOURNALS – Students are encouraged to keep a journal of their experiences. Brainstorm ideas for stand-up routines, record how to play games, creating your own text book. Record how you feel as you play games and discover your talents. Record your best Improv Scenes. Who knows, they become a great book or play someday. Track your own progress. Journal-ing – and reviewing our entries – doubles our rehearsal time. We process our subjective experiences. Record the good, the bad and the ugly or our experiences. If you have any questions, bring your journals to your teacher. At home keep your journal bedside and record fun or scary dreams. As you observe life in New York, record crazy characters and events. Like a library for a school research paper, your journal becomes your personal research and discover tool.
STUDY GUIDES – For all students we recommend you print and present these study guides before all workshops and shows. Extend the educational experience while we create the laughs.
Join us every Saturday at 3pm for EIGHT IS NEVER ENOUGH. Public live interactive comedy show at the Broadway Comedy Club for the whole family. CLICK HERE for a full calendar of shows. Select the date/time you wish to attend. Select discount options in BLUE. For registered students you and a guest are welcome at any time FREE of charge. Additional guests just $10 each. RSVP when you would like to attend eightimprov@gmail.com.
SPRING CLASSES for Teens & Kids start April 2.
HAVE FUN but never at anyone else’s expense.
If your first FOCUS is on having fun, you will forget to be nervous. Focus on the moment. Don’t worry about “messing up”. There is no way you could do wrong in Improv. Make big choices and never fear failure. When in doubt, SMILE. If you are having fun, your audience will have fun.
“YES! AND…”
The number one rule of Improv is always say and/or think “YES!” to every suggestion given by your scene partner. It is our job to make our team look great. When we block our scene partner by saying “NO!” to their choice, the scenes – along with trust and comfort – fall apart. We accept our team’s offers. “AND…” means we add on to what our partners give us. We add details that support what has previously been established.
WHO
Every scene begins with choices about WHO we are (characters) and how we know each other (relationship). The RELATIONSHIP is most important to establish a common focus between players and the audience.
WHERE
Equally important is establishing location. The exposition of every play, novel or short story develops characters and setting. As writers of our Improv scenes we work together to accomplish the same task. The setting includes everything in the world your characters see, hear, smell, feel or taste. Use PANTOMIME (physical performance) to make imaginary world come alive. The stage is a 3D canvas for us to create new worlds. This world is knew to us and the audience, but our characters have lived their forever.
WHAT
The action of a scene, we create an entire plot of a story as a team. Create a physical activity for every scene. Create obstacles and conflict for your characters, then work together to solve the problem. Start in the middle. Our scenes are short but our characters’ story long before we created them. Your character know more than you do about their world and past. Together, with your scene partner, discover that story and write it together.
LISTEN & RESPOND
The most important job of any artist is to listen. We become hyper-focused to our surroundings. Listen with your eyes and ears. We don’t just hear the words and sounds, we absorb our characters’ worlds. We then respond to everything in that world, virtually ignoring anything outside the world (audience, backstage, what we had for lunch, where we are going after class/show, etc). Stay IN THE MOMENT. Improv then becomes an easy organic procedure. Stop thinking ahead. Simply LISTEN and RESPOND.
BIG CHOICES – BIG VOICES
Be bold. Be fearless. Face the audience and project your physical and vocal energy throughout the room. Speak clearly. Make big bold choices about WHO & WHERE & WHAT. Improv becomes a series of choices that support all previous choices. Our team and audience both have to hear our choices. Oh, yeah and remember my number one rule, “HAVE FUN!”
Since 2002 EIGHT IS NEVER ENOUGH has delivered hilarious interactive musical comedy shows improvised based on audience participation and suggestions. IMPROV 4 TEENS and IMPROV 4 KIDS programs presents shows and classes to K-12 students.
Improv is fun. We play together, so we call ourselves players. Each PLAYER (actor, comic, singer in an Improv show) serves the role of performer, writer and director.
To create an original story, players work as a TEAM to create the WHO (characters/relationships), WHERE (setting/location) and WHAT (plot/action). We make BIG CHOICES. We LISTEN to our teammates and RESPOND thinking, “YES! AND…”
“YES! And…” is the number on rule of Improv. We always say and think “YES!” We never BLOCK our scene partners by saying “NO!” to their ideas. Instead we RESPECT their CHOICES and respond with DETAILS that support their choices. We create TRUST and CONFIDENCE by making our team look great. And the entire team makes us feel and look great.
Improv reflects real life. When we support each other we feel great about ourselves. Sometimes we can get a quick laugh as a BULLY, but we soon feel empty inside. We are all different. We all make choices. We should all respect each other’s choices and DIVERSITY. We should never hurt others. And if you are hurting, for any reason, talk to someone – parent, older sibling, teacher, community leader etc. When we open up and share our troubles we begin the path to finding solutions. You have the power to make choices that support your health and wellbeing. EMPOWER yourself. One should never live in FEAR. If you have a friend in trouble, step up and ask for help. If you have a friend bullying another, don’t support that behavior.
Remember this simple phrase, “Nothing is HARD!” Perhaps we have not figured out how to complete a particular task yet. We have not learned a skill or researched for information. The second you label something as “hard” you throw up the walls of impossibility. You shut down. You might even give up. Every challenge is achievable with time and effort.
HAVE FUN!
Improv Comedy Class for Adults Starts April 2
New York Improv Theater 
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