Even for the finest actors, there are moments where split second choices make all the difference in performance. Learning to be comfortable in those choices is the whole point of learning Improv.

These workshops free the actor to make the right choices-- by committing to the unknown, getting out of her head, and being in the present moment. That freedom allows the actor to create more vibrant, real performance in both improvised and written scenes.

Unless otherwise noted, Gary teaches all classes personally.

For complete class schedules and more information, join our mailing list. list@garyaustin.net

PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP 101 and Beyond: IMPROVISING A SHOW

These workshops are the foundation classes of Gary’s teaching.

Gary’s PERFORMANCE WORKSHOPS each offer an immersion Improv experience, keyed to the skill level of the performer—from beginning, to expert.

We’ll use improvisational techniques and processes to build scenes and monologues, scripted and semi-scripted. We will develop, flesh-out and expand relationships between characters. Finally, we’ll create a show from our work -- and perform it in front of an audience.

Each workshop meets for seven classes. The EIGHTH NIGHT is a PUBLIC PERFORMANCE. Performance 101 is open to all experience levels, however an interview is required for admittance. Performance Level 102 and beyond are by audition or permission of the instructor. Class size is limited.

AUDITION/COLD READING WORKSHOP
Gary Austin

Experience joy instead of dread at your next auditions by discovering how YOU are truly enough. Every second of your audition counts. This workshop takes you through exercises on the interview and the cold reading.

Learn how improv comes into play in the interaction between you and those holding the audition. Do you wish you could maximize those first few seconds of an interview that makes all the difference in the world, or do a brilliant cold reading? This is the workshop that will get you there.

INTRODUCTION TO GARY AUSTIN

A workshop for those who have never worked with Gary or who wish to refresh their knowledge of improv. Using games created in the 50's and 60's and practiced by Chicago's Second City, San Francisco's The Committee and the original LA Groundlings, these games are the foundation of American improvisational theatre. Enrollment is open to all.

SOLO PERFORMANCE ("48th Street Exercise")

The Solo show has become a staple of American Theater. This workshop has helped actors create solo shows that have gone on to staged performance, but it is also a great way to stretch your character-building skills.

In this workshop, we'll explore extreme physical and vocal changes, creative freedom, emotional depth, sub-text and character to create compelling solo performances. Bring an idea or theme, or we'll help you develop one. Memorized text may be used.

In a recent variant (nicknamed "96th Street"), Gary explores these same concepts with two actors interacting with each other.

TEEN WORKSHOP

The teen workshop gives Young Actors an amazing opportunity to get specialized attention, work, exploration and freedom in a nurturing comfortable environment created specifically for this age group. As in all Gary’s workshops, Actors will learn games and exercises to make them more comfortable in those split second choices that make all the difference in performing. That freedom allows the Young Actor to create more vibrant, real performances in both improvised and written scenes.

HAROLD
Gary Austin

The Harold is the ultimate long-form Improvisation Performance piece, that incorporates all of the excitement and skill of performing without a net. A Harold is composed of games, scenes, monologues, songs, and ritual, all spontaneously generated by 9-12 actors working together on stage (The name "Harold" has no significance. That's just what originator Del Close called it thirty years ago. Gary was part of the original acting group that developed it with him. To learn more, go to http://www.improvcomedy.org/hall/close.html)

Participants in this workshop will learn the Harold form, then perform the Harold under Gary's direction. The class will be divided in 2 to 3 groups, and there will be two or three Harolds, each group performing for the other workshop members.

DEVELOPING CHARACTERS & THEIR VOICES*
Gary Austin and Wenndy MacKenzie

Wenndy MacKenzie is one of the top voiceover talents and coaches in the world. In this workshop, Gary and Wenndy work together to help actors create new characters with unique physical and vocal characteristics, mannerisms and behaviors. Learn to be comfortable with dialect, accents, physicality, and other radical character changes. You'll walk away with characters you can use in your work.

VOICE-OVER WORKSHOP (with Wenndy MacKenzie)

Wenndy will work with participants on vocal technique applied to stage performance and voice-overs: animation and commercials (characters and straight voice).

SCENE BUILDING

In this workshop we will use improv techniques to develop, flesh-out and expand relationships between characters and to build scenes, scripted and semi-scripted.  Even for the finest actors and improvisers, there are moments where split second choices make all the difference in performance. Learning to be comfortable in those choices is the key.  This workshop frees the actor to make choices that work by committing to the unknown, getting out of her head, and being in the present moment. That freedom allows the actor to create more vibrant, real performance in both improvised and written scenes. 

For complete class schedules and more information, join our mailing list. list@garyaustin.net

IMPROVISATIONAL BOOT CAMP

Before every season, professional sport teams return to the basics before they play games. Improvisationalists, like athletes, need to return to the basics of improvisation to stay sharp and on their "game". This will be an evening of improvisational exercises culled from Viola Spolin, Michael Chekhov and Gary Austin, designed to build characters and scenes. The goals of the workshop: Give and take, Listening, Laying on information, (LOI), and Commitment (Character and emotional)

ACTING/IMPROV TECHNIQUE
Gary Austin

Even for the finest actors, there are moments where split second choices make all the difference in performance. Learning to be comfortable in those choices is the whole point of learning Improv. This workshop frees the actor to make the right choices-- by committing to the unknown, getting out of her head, and being in the present moment. That freedom allows the actor to create more vibrant, real performance in both improvised and written scenes.

HISTORY OF "THE COMMITTEE" AND "THE GROUNDLINGS"
Gary Austin

What the history of "The Committee" and "The Groundlings" can teach you about success.

What is the relationship of "the industry" to the work we do as actors? How do you find your own voice in a business that seems to inspire more imitation than innovation? How do you succeed by being yourself?

In this lecture and demonstration class, Gary Austin explores the history of these two seminal improv groups, both of which became fantastically successful while being original and true to themselves. Learn about the work of both
companies, how they were created, their relationship with the entertainment industry, and how individuals in both companies moved on to major careers.

GARY AUSTIN performed with the famed improv group, "The Committee" from 1968 to 1971. ("The Committee" performed from 1962 to 1972.) The group included roughly 40 actors during its tenure, including Rob Reiner, Howard Hesseman, Peter Bonerz, Barbara Bosson, Leigh French, Julie Payne, Roger Bowen, Mimi Farina, Hamilton Camp, David Ogden Stiers and Del Close.

After the Committee, Gary founded and was the original director of LA's THE GROUNDLINGS, which will celebrate it's 30th Anniversary in October.

IMPROV WRITING AND SCENE BUILDING
Gary Austin

Work with scene building models to develop scripted scenes and plays through improvisation. Methods are those used at San Francisco's THE COMMITTEE and in the early years of LA's THE GROUNDLINGS.

WHO EXERCISE
Gary Austin

In this workshop, you will improvise scenes in which some of the improvisers know what must happen in the improv, and improvisers WHO don't know. The actors "in the know" create an environment that enables
those "not in the know" to do what they must do. This is the ultimate scene exercise for any actor!

MUSICAL THEATRE WORKSHOP
Wenndy MacKenzie

Wenndy takes you through the development of a specific character from a musical. Each student comes prepared with the memorized text of his or her character from one scene in the musical, and the song memorized from that scene. Other students read the lines of the other characters.

BRAIN GAMES
Gary Austin

Exercise your brain with improv games that require intense mental focus and spontaneous verbal response. Create the illusion that you think fast on your feet whether you do or not.

SHOWTIME
Gary Austin

Develop original material for projects, including scenes, plays, and solo performance. Create a strategy to produce your own projects.

STORYTELLING

Discover how stories about your life can be developed into show material.

SECRET CUE / WHO

The Secret Cue and Who exercises are improvisations in which actors in a scene have secret tasks and cues that others in the scene don't know about. These two exercises help actors learn to be in response to what's actually
happening onstage.

IMPROV AS AT SECOND CITY, COMMITTEE & GROUNDLINGS

Play games created in the 50's and 60's and practiced by Chicago's SECOND CITY and San Francisco's THE COMMITTEE and by the original LA GROUNDLINGS. These games are the foundation of American improvisational theatre.

These games are the foundation of American improvisational theatre, as practiced by such luminaries as John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Martin Short, Peter Boyle, John Candy, Chris Farley, Howard Hesseman, Rob Reiner, David Ogden Stiers, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Laraine Newman, Jon Lovitz, Phil Hartman, Lisa Kudrow, Helen Hunt, Avery Schreiber, Ed Asner, Joan Rivers, Will Ferrell... etc... etc... etc....