This year Out of Bounds is expanding it's workshop and enrichment component in order to better educate local and out of town performers in a wide variety of important techniques for improv and sketch comedy. Registration and other class details can be found below the schedule.
You'll find descriptions of each class and biographies of the teachers below.
HERE ARE YOUR WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS:
Patient Scenework with Bob McNichol and Erika May: If you resolve to do grounded scenework and characters, only to find yourself mid-scene and playing Baron Von Pantytrousers for the third time in as many shows, this class is for you. Bob McNichol and Erika May (The Frank Mills, McNichol and May) will help you harness your scene energy into grounded, character-based interactions.
Erika May is happy to be back in her home state after four exciting (but cold) years in Chicago. A graduate of the The Second City Conservatory, she performed regularly at ImprovOlympic on house teams Mr. Sir, Hall of Presidents, and the independent ensemble Bevy. Most recently, she also wrote and performed weekly in the critically acclaimed, open-run of the "Late Night Late Show with Mark Luge" and was a resident member of the Comedy Sportz. ensemble. Prior to performing in Chicago, she played at the Vortex and in the short fringe at several FronteraFests at Hyde Park Theatre.
Bob McNichol is a newly minted Texan, after having been a Chicagoan, a Baltimoron, and a Philadelphorousk. He has been studying and performing longform improvisation for 5 years at the ImprovOlympic and The Annoyance Theater in Chicago, where he performed with IO house-team Johnny Roast Beef for the last 3 and a half years. He also performed in such shows as Concept Album, Barbershop, and most recently, TAG at Second City Unhinged. He is very excited to bringing this little slice of Chicago to Austin.
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Flying Solo with Jeremy Lamb Improv is terrifying. Improv by yourself is liberating. This workshop will cover many useful exercises for improvising by yourself. You'll learn how to stay calm, keep the audience's attention, and how to check in to make sure people still care about what you're doing. This class is not just for people interested in pursuing solo improv for performance. The principles and guidelines transfer directly to improved group work and general ease in front of an audience.
Jeremy Lamb is a native Austinite who has been performing comedy for nearly ten years at various venues around town. He graduated from UT with a film degree in 2002 and currently books and performs improv with the nationally touring ensemble Available Cupholders. He has also toured as Bearded Lamb, a solo improv act, winning many awards for his efforts along the way. He has produced and released a solo album, directed and starred in a full-length feature sketch comedy film, and is a member of the Applied Improv Network. Jeremy also founded and Co-Executive Produces Austin's Out of Bounds Improv Festival and Miniature Golf Tournament now in its fifth year. He may be best known locally for his work directing and performing with nouveau Austin improv legends, Well Hung Jury, 1998-2003. He has just returned to Austin after a brief in Chicago's comedy community where he trained with Second City and folks from Improv Olympic.
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How To Make Good Sketch Comedy, Even When You Don't Want To with Mike D'Alonzo You have a show coming up, and the deadline for getting your sketches to the table is coming. The theatre is booked, the posters are done...the only thing missing is the comedy. How can you get inspired to write sketch comedy, even when your mind won't work? What tricks are there to making a good sketch great? What if you only have a concept or a character, but can't round that into something stageworthy?
Mike D'Alonzo has been working in the sketch comedy field for the past 17 years. His sketches have been performed live on stage in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Austin, Los Angeles, and Seattle. He has written sketches that have been made into films which have played at Sundance and South By Southwest. In addition, his work has been on Comedy Central, ABC, and the BBC. Currently, Mike is a producer for G4 Television in Los Angeles.
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Co-ed Improv with Karen Herr “Guys are more physical, women are better at endowment, etc. etc.” This is just one generality of many that improvisors hear all the time. After 13 years of improvising around the world and across the country, Karen Herr has developed a co-ed improv class that breaks down gender barriers and gives the sexes the best of what they both have to offer as performers. If you’re a woman tired of playing the secretaries, mothers, girlfriends and hookers in every improv scene, or a guy who wishes you could be in a scene with another guy and NOT have it set in the office, or a garage or a bar, or if you just want to push yourself in ways that you haven’t been pushed before, then this class is for you. Through exercises and scene work, this intensive class is designed to unlock new skills, enabling each student to break through to higher levels of mastery by erasing gender-bias in their work. This freedom leads to deeper honesty, humor and presence on stage. The class will focus on physicality, characterization, relationships, and scene work. In addition to group direction and instruction, Ms. Herr will give each participant personalized notes and direction, based on their level of ability and their individual strengths and challenges. Please note, this class will be highly physical so please wear comfortable clothing, bring a notebook and be prepared to move!
Karen Herr has been teaching and performing improvisation in New York since 1993, and has been a featured performer and teaching artist in improv festivals internationally, including the highly respected Chicago Improv Festival, and the Melbourne International Improv Festival. She founded the group, goga, and has received critical acclaim for her work both on and offstage. “Divine sirens!” Said academy award winner Geoffrey Rush, of Ms. Herr’s goga group during their tour of Australia in 2002. Her show "Teen Movie High" is currently running in New York City, and “goga” is now in development for television.
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Directing Improv with Asaf Ronen Improv might be the most challenging of the performing arts for a director to skillfully mold, and this class will show you how to get the most out of your improvisers whether in a class or a rehearsal. Techniques for creating lesson plans, orchestrating rehearsals, and giving notes will be explored. Participants will be given the opportunity to apply the directing techniques through hands on experience, and at the end of the session there will be a Q&A to address personal concerns of the attendees.
Asaf Ronen has been involved in improv for 14 years, starting in college and working with NY Theatresports, NY ComedySportz and directing his own Longform improv troupe, Hiatus, where he helped create original longform formats. Currently, he is directing the all-girl group goga and has produced critically acclaimed productions of The Mock, The Sickest F***ing Stories I Ever Heard and Death in the City, a dramatic longform improv piece, at the NY Fringe Festival. Asaf has taught throughout NYC's public schools through LEAP and New Horizons and as part of Weist-Barron's ACTeen program and is a resident teacher at The Peoples Improv Theater. He teaches improvisation nationally at festivals, through regional theaters and visiting with troupes to hone their skills. Asaf has also worked with Cirque du Soleil as a talent scout. In addition, he is Editor-in-Chief of YESand.com and has recently written the book Directing Improv,: Show the Way by Getting Out of the Way. In his spare time, he likes to breathe.
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Thou Art Hilarious with Karen Wight A class which will introduce students to the joys of improvising Shakespeare. As a classically trained actress with a background in both performing and studying Shakespeare, Karen will break down the Bard for use on the improv stage. Relevant history regarding Elizabethan society and the Bard's plays/language will be shared. Techniques for creating characters and situations that are "Shakespearean" shall be learned . Fear not, wanton rogues, thou shall spend the majority of thine time on thine feet immersed in improv work, and not putting pen to paper in earnest note-taking!
Karen Eleanor Wight is a NYC-based actress, dancer, and singer, and is one-half of the improv duos imp and goga. Recently she has been seen at various comedy festivals including CIF, Melbourne's Int'l Comedy Festival, the TV2 Laugh Fest in New Zealand, the Toronto Jamboree, and the Seattle Festival, as well as at the Oberlin Improv Conference. Karen has studied clowning with Christopher Bayes (of Julliard, Kennedy Center, and YU) and corporel mime with Christopher Eaves (student of Marcel Marceau). As a dancer she has extensive experience in jazz, musical theatre, and modern dance and has begun dabbling in Argentinian Tango. For several years she has taught improv at the various festivals where she performs and at the arts outreach program Arts for All in NYC. In the past year she has also worked on several Columbia grad student films, joined NYC's First Look Theatre Company , got married and moved to Brooklyn.
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Improvised Singing with Shana Merlin Learn how to rhyme, harmonize, use song structure to your advantage, communicate with the musical improviser and sing with commitment and power--off the top of your head! By the end of this workshop, you will sing an improvised song with live musical accompaniment and backup singers. No singing experience required.
Shana Merlin has been a professional improviser since 1995, performing from Calgary to San Francisco to Atlanta to Las Vegas to London, and a trainer with her company Merlin-Works since 2003, where some of her clients have included PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sea World, and The University of Texas McCombs School of Business. Shana has trained with most of the masters in the field of improvisation including Keith Johnstone, Paul Sills, Gary Austin, and Charna Halpern. You can see Shana perform in the improv troupes Girls Girls Girls Improvised Musicals, Get Up, Whirled News Tonight, and Cops and Lawyers.
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Breaking Through Your Personal Blocks with Dave Buckman. A master scene skills class that is really 10 one-on-one simultaneous personal skills assessments, where the entire class focuses on what's holding YOU back. Class max: 10
Dave Buckman has been directing, coaching, performing, writing and teaching sketch comedy and improvisational theater for the last 13 years. He graduated with a B.A. from The American University with a degree in Cinema and Literature. Dave has trained at The Improv Olympic with Del Close, at The Second City Conservatory with Martin DeMaat and The Annoyance Theater with Mick Napier. For two years, he served as Artistic Director for Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, where he oversaw the production of four successful revues. He also served as a Director and Writer and Teacher for The Second City in Chicago and directed The Second City Cleveland's "Who's Yer Baghdadi?"
Dave has directed, and worked with over a dozen members of the most recent casts and writing staffs of MADtv and Saturday Night Live. He currently resides in Austin, TX where he, teaches a variety of improv classes and performs with his long-form team, The Frank Mills (formerly Tight). He occasioanlly sits-in on The Sinus Show and was a finalist in the Austin Air Guitar Championships, under the name Queef Richards.
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Longform and Character with Rafe Chase of 3 for All: Explore how a longform can come alive through genre, connection and commitment to character.
Rafe Chase began improvising professionally in 1978 with Flash Family at the Old Spaghetti Factory in North Beach. He left three years later to create the group Riot Squad, which performed both improv and sketch comedy. When he joined BATS Improv in 1987, it opened up a world of new colleagues, new ideas and new possibilities. In 1988, while continuing to work with BATS, he became a member of Pulp Playhouse, which performed at the Eureka Theater doing improvised stories in the style of the pulp magazines of the 30's and 40's. The next year he formed Improv Theater, a group that would pioneer the exploration and performance of long form improv. He was a founding member of True Fiction Magazine and worked with the group from 1994 to 1999. Rafe served as BATS Artistic Director from 1998-2000. Currently he is 1/3 of '3 for All', along with Stephen Kearin and Tim Orr. Rafe teaches improv for BATS and ACT, as well as private classes. He has also worked extensively with young people and taught improv at Berkwood Hedge Elementary in Berkeley for three years, to students ranging in age from 5 to 11.
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Transitions with Tim Orr of 3 for All: The art of propelling a story from one scene to the next -- is one of the most magical sides of longform improv storytelling. These ensemble techniques are guaranteed to make your improv even more amazing!
Tim Orr has improvised since 1988 with many San Francisco groups, including BATS Improv, Rafe Chase's groundbreaking troupe Improv Theatre, and with the acclaimed 3-person troupe 3 For All. He has appeared in numerous plays in the San Francisco Bay Area, and received critical acclaim for his roles Brien Burrough's mprovised feature films, Suckerfish and Security. With Stephen Kearin, he co-wrote, and originated the role of Dirk Manly in, An Evening with Dirk & Blaine. He also coaches the local wheelchair sports team, the Bay Cruisers, who won the 2004 National Varsity Basketball Championship. Tim has taught improvisation at the American Conservatory Theatre, BATS, and elsewhere. In 2003-'04, he was the first director of BATS Improv's BATS Long-Form Improvisation Program (BLIP).
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Space Objects with Stephen Kearin of 3 for All: "What are you wearing?" is a provocative question, both onstage and off. Explore the fundamentals of space object work and learn to access the "hidden dimension" of improvisation.
Stephen Kearin was a founding member of Three for All, Improv Theatre, True Fiction Magazine, and performed with BATS Improv for 14 years. His many varied credits include a stiltwalking Iago in the San Francisco Opera's version of Otello, "Karyn with a Y" in The Fuller Family pilot directed by David Steinberg, and Stephen can be heard as the male voice in the popular computer game, The Sims. His television and film credits include "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and the improvised films "Suckerfish" and "Security".
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The 3 Beats of Harold with Dasariski Master Class, some level of familiarity with Harold should be required, even if it's just having read "Truth in Comedy".
Craig Cackowski has been a performer, teacher and director with the IO and IO West theaters since 1992. He also teaches for the Second City Los Angeles, and can be seen around L.A. in such shows as Dasariski, Cog, The Armando Show, Baby Wants Candy, No Net, The Teachers' Lounge, and ASSSSCAT. While in Chicago, he toured with the Second City National Touring Company and appeared in 5 revues on their resident stages. He directed numerous teams and shows at the IO, including the then-neglected, now-legendary, J.T.S. Brown. Film and TV appearances include Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and the upcoming Mike White film "Year of the Dog", starring Molly Shannon. As a member of Dasariski, he co-wrote and appeared in the short film Jakarta Boom Boom, which played at HBO's Aspen and Las Vegas Comedy Festivals. He is excited to be returning to Austin for the first time in 9 years, and is on a quest to find that queso fundido dip he hasn't be able to get out of his mind.
Rich Talarico is a veteran of Chicago's Second City Theater. He worked for the National Touring Company and also created five original revues for SC's resident companies including "The Psychopath Not Taken" and the 40th anniversary revue: "Second City 4.0." Rich started his improv training at Improv Olympic with Charna Halpern and Del Close. He began performing and eventually teaching at Improv Olympic in Chicago during the early 1990s. At IO Chicago, Rich was on the house team "Mr. Blonde" and played with the long running "Armando Diaz Show." Rich also co-created the long form shows "Trio" and "Dasariski." Also at Improv Olympic, Rich co-created and starred in several scripted shows including the musical "The Roof is On Fiddler" in the summer of 2001. Rich has written for Saturday Night Live and is currently a producer/writer on FOX's MAD TV. Rich is also a consulting producer for "The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show" due to hit Comedy Central October 12th 2006.You might recognize Rich from commercials and various film and TV appearances on shows such as HBO's "The Sketch Pad," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" as well as the feature film "High Fidelity." Rich lives in Chicago and Hollywood.
Bob Dassie has been performing and teaching at the IO since the early 90's. While in Chicago he briefly toured with the Second City and co-created and performed in several shows such as Trio, Quartet, and Two, Slow. Now in Los Angeles, he performs regularly at the IOWest and the UCB Theater and can be seen in Dasariski, Baby Wants Candy, The Armando Show, No Net, ASSSSCAT, and alongside his lovely wife, Stephnie, in the two-person improvised show, WeirDass. You may have seen his TV appearances in Monk, Late Night with Conan O'Brien or in the Starz special A Day In The Life of Tim Meadows. Film credits include Global Inc., Grounds Zero and the short Jakarta Boom Boom (co-written with Dasariski).