TIPS, TRICKS, AND TECHNIQUES… Workshop W/Gary Jacobs

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Click here to purchase BOTH of Gary’s July 9 Workshops!

Gary Jacobs is founder of The Center for Narrative Improvisation and Precipice Improv Theater in the Washington, DC, area. He has taught improvisational theater all over the U.S. and internationally and is author of the upcoming book The Third Wave of Improv. During his 36-year career in improv, he apprenticed for 10 years with Second City director and teacher Michael Gellman, coiner of the term “long-form improv.”

Gary’s book The Third Wave of Improv explores these questions: Can improvisation create great theater, theater as good as the best scripted work? If so, how? It includes interviews with leading improv teachers, directors, and troupes, as well as the latest cutting-edge exercises and techniques.

In 1996, Gary founded Precipice Improv Theater, dedicated to performing only improvised plays. Upon hearing of his plans for Precipice, Gary’s mother said, “This will either be the most brilliant contribution to Western Civilization since the invention of scientific one-point perspective by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1413, or theatrical suicide.”

Twenty years later, Precipice Improv Theater is still improvising plays for delighted audiences. Gary teaches the tools they’ve developed for keeping scenes strong and audiences engaged!

Saturday, July 9 10am – 1pm

Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Starting Scenes, Maintaining Excitement, and Saving Scenes in Trouble

The hardest and most exciting part of any scene is the opening. Because at the start, the improviser confronts a dizzying array of possibilities. Improvisers in this workshop will learn three sure-fire ways to start scenes, guaranteed to generate chemistry with your scene partners and grab the audience’s attention. Gary Jacobs will also work with each participant to identify their unique ways of starting scenes, evaluate their effectiveness, and invite them to explore other options and possibilities.

After a scene has started, what then? How do you keep it going? One of the dirty little secrets of improv is that most scenes will stall eventually, even if you follow all the rules of good scene structure. This is why improvisers have created so many ways for transitioning to other scenes, and so many formats for keeping the scenes short. But, what if you were confident that your scenes would maintain their initial excitement until you decide on an artistically satisfying ending? In this workshop you will discover the principles that reliably produce the thrill always present in great improv. And, if the scene does stall, you will know what to do because Gary will show you four techniques for addressing this issue.

This workshop is open to everyone, regardless of experience.

Maximum number of students for the workshop is 16. Students must be 18 years or older. Tuition is non-refundable.

Workshop sales end July 9 at 9am

Unscrewed Theater is located at 3244 E. Speedway Blvd. Tucson, AZ 85716 (across from The Loft Cinema, next to Fronimo’s). Parking and entrance are located in the rear of the building. Turn in to the Walgreen’s parking lot and go to the left around the building.

Unscrewed Theater is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching, performing, and producing all forms of live improvisational theater in Tucson, AZ.