Making a Scene: an Introduction to Improvisation

“Come as you are, take a breath, be ready to relax, have fun, go home.”

‘Making a Scene’ is a grounding in the core principles and techniques of improvisation. In a supportive, fun environment, you will be guided through improvised scenes and games in a way which is accessible and friendly, whatever your background. You will create characters and stories both realistic and bizarre and find how the fun can come slowly and organically or quickly and impulsively. And you will laugh long and hard. Guaranteed.
By the end of this course, you will be able to create relaxed, delightful scenes, using a variety of techniques to create quick agreement and playful, hilarious cooperation with your partner. You may also find yourself more confident, creative and open outside the class as you discover how the application of improv principles makes life just a little more easy and fun.

And no, you don’t have to be funny. Come as you are and we’ll do the rest!

“Open, flexible, and light!”

Skills learnt during this course include:

Playing boldly, clearly and without self-conciousness
Getting to the fun fast
Playing in a light and easy way to delight your partner and the audience
Using both choices and happy accidents to make the laughs come effortlessly
Using basic stagecraft to make yourself more charismatic and appealing to the audience
A variety of scene techniques and structures, including emotional connection, point of view and game
Using point of view, physicality and vocal change to create delightful, inspiring characters
The Nursery style of improv is founded on an emotional, theatrical style of play. You don’t have to be an actor to play like this, though it might make you into one! We believe that everyone can be an artist and it will add to your life whether you are a programmer, a nurse, a homemaker, a student or none of the above! You don’t have to have any experience of comedy, theatre or any art-form to begin. The Nursery improv courses will help with your creativity, confidence and performance skills. You will meet new people and have a tonne of fun!

At the Nursery, we are heavily influenced by the emotional truth of iO (Chicago, IL), the delight and theatricality of the Hideout (Austin, TX) and the freewheeling play of Will Luera’s freeform as performed in Boston and more recently in Florida.

This course is suitable for those who have done some improv before and would like to ground themselves in a different style of scenework. It is also a great refresher for those who have done some improv before. If you are unsure whether this is the course for you, or have any questions drop us an email on [email protected].