WORKSHOPS
#MCIF2017
Improvisors wanting to immerse themselves in character play, or long form scene work, or get their musical improv on, can do it at MCIF with experienced, fun international instructors. Jump in for a week full of diverse courses for the beginner or advanced improviser alike. All in the comfort of the most beautiful city in the world - Cape Town.
with Connor Thompson
Level: All
1 Day (6HRs/day)
Improv bootcamp
with Connor Thompson
This one day bootcamp will get you all loosened up and ready to go for the festival! Come play, learn some games, warm ups, get some side coaching, meet the peeps, warm up those improv chops.
The easiest way to improvise it to speak from a moment of truth, and connect on emotions. This workshop teaches you how easy it can be to connect with your scene partner on positive emotions. We'll be working on heavily agreeing and like for our "and" in the "yes, and"
HOW TO MAKE
IMPROV EASY
with Stefan Andersen
SHORT-FORM INTENSIVE
with Alastair Forbes
Learn the best improv games and how to succeed at them. You'll learn a ton of the basic improv games you'll see in theatresports/bars around the world and you'll have a toolbox of skills you can take to any improv game anywhere.
INTRO TO
MUSICAL IMPROV
with Misch Whitaker
In this beginner's level, students of all experiences and backgrounds will have a great time exploring rhythm, rhyme and basic song structures. Participants will have a ton of fun and maybe even surprise themselves as they work as a group to come up with fun and organic songs - right on the spot!
HONEST
2 PERSON SCENES
with Stefan Andersen
Improv is not about trying to be funny, but reacting honest on stage. This workshop will focus on responding and reacting honestly to your scene partners. How to stay true to the present moment without having to pre plan the scene. This is a 2-day course for improviser with some to lots of experience.
SEINFELDING
with Kevin Miller
Scenes about nothing: Do you struggle with the very beginning of a scene? Take Larry David’s advice: do nothing. Start a scene by talking about the weather, or your coffee, or any other boring thing. Kevin Miller will teach you how to let your scenes grow organically, without worrying about the “who, what, where.” You’ll end up with a funnier scene than you could ever think up on your own.
THE 7 DEADLY SINS
with Alastair Forbes
Have you ever been in a scene that is stalling out, failing miserably and you don't know why? This full day workshop answers the why and gives you the tools to get your scenes back on track. Based on principles from Keith Johnstone's 'Impro for Storytellers' participants will learn to deal with a dying scene and to develop a greater awareness of pitfalls that will help give your improv an overall level up.
SERIOUSLY SILLY
with Connor Thompson
What happens when your improv goes to the moon? Our characters don’t know that they’re in an improv scene - their world is their world, no matter how ridiculous. This workshop deals with making and taking wacky offers, and using the power of “yes-and” to make sense of even the craziest situations. It’s easy to give up on scenes that seem to go off the rails, but in this workshop, students will learn how to take silly seriously.
THE MATH
OF IMPROV
with Bill Binder
Left-brained thinking is great for analytical, logical, critical thinking. But it can also be a bit judgmental, which is why beginning performers turn it off for a while so they can learn to embrace the imaginative, creative parts of their brains without self-doubt. Once that creative part of the brain learns to thrive, however, most of us never allow the left brain to come out to play. That's only playing with half the tools available to you. Improv - like any art - is filled with beautiful patterns and symmetries; volume, stage position, and status - they're all variables which can be toyed with in a beautiful equation. This workshop teaches players not to be ashamed of their analytical gifts, but to learn how to apply them in all of their work to build stronger more cohesive shows.
OPENINGS
WORDS GET IN
THE WAY...
with Misch Whitaker
with Stefan Andersen
This workshop we'll focus on different openings, and work on how to identify a theme in the opening for a long-form piece. We will work with “Organic Openings” “Scene paint, Object Paint, Character paint” “Invocation” “Narrated Opening”.
An introduction to the Chicago Long-Form style. If you've been focused on the short -form style but would like to expand your improv to deepen your characters, scenes and formats but are not sure where to start - try this! A great continuation from Stefan's course "Openings".
INTRO TO CHICAGO LONG-FORM
with Stefan Andersen
SAYING MORE WITHOUT SAYING.
We are all constantly communicating nonverbally through facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Tap into an awareness of the way you are using your body and bring your choices on stage to a new level of strength - through silence! We'll play with a variety of techniques designed to boost your nonverbal stage game, and explore how much more you can say without speaking a single thing.
Learn to discern where words are necessary, when they're optional, and when you may just want to do away with them altogether!
Shhhh!
ALL THE FEELS
with Connor Thompson
Get out of your head and into your heart! Every day we feel hundreds of complex emotions - they guide our decision-making and determine how we treat each other. If emotions guide our real-life choices, why shouldn’t they guide our improv choices as well? This workshop focuses on using emotional offers to advance stories and raise the stakes. Once more, with feelings!
LONG-FORM NARRATIVE
with Connor Thompson & Alastair Forbes
Learn the small town format, one of the easiest and deepest longform formats to practice and perform. Enhance your storytelling techniques and deepen your emotional relationships without having to think about it.
Level: All | 6HRs | R600
Level: All | 3HRs | R360
Level: Int 3HRs | R360
Level: All
| 3HRs | R360
Level: Int-Adv | 12HRs (2 Days) | R1440
Level: All | 3HRs | R360
Level: Int | 6HRs (1 Day) | R720
Level: All | 3HRs | R360
Level: All | 3HRs | R360
Level: All | 3HRs | R360
Level: All | 2.5HRs | R300
Level: All | 3HRs | R360
Level: Int | 3HRs | R360
Level: Int | 3HRs | R360
TEACHERS
2017 WORKSHOP
STEFAN ANDERSEN (DEN)
ALASTAIR FORBES (CAN)
CONNOR THOMPSON (CAN)
BILL BINDER (USA)
MISCH WHITACKER (USA)
KEVIN MILLER (USA)
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS
Level: All | 3HRs | R360
with Alastair Forbes
This one-day intensive will take your scenes from a stick of butter to a butter sculpture - with all the accoutrements. This course will teach you to rely on the small details - taking mundane offers and turning them into robust, explosive ideas that will shape your scenes and transform your characters.