Improv Workshops
The Dirty South Improv Festival is committed to the mission of educating both local audiences and the next generation of improv talent, offering workshops taught by internationally recognized teachers in the field of comedy and improvisation so that both professional and college ensembles can grow and foster an appreciation for the art form at home and back at school.
Festival participants had the opportunity upon acceptance to register for two (2) Saturday Workshops with our festival instructors. Improv workshops and master classes are available during the week, and are cheaper for participants who registered for the package which included Saturday Workshops. Yes, And.
Power Improv Workshops and Master Class with BASSPROV
DSIF offers a full-day of instruction with BASSPROV's Joe Bill and Mark Sutton. Power Improv will hone your skills in the art of longform improv. The "power approach" made popular by Chicago's Annoyance Theater is guaranteed to elevate your scenework and approach to longform improvisation.
Techniques to find out "what you're about" and helping you focus and heighten your choices for the scene. Learn how to take the regular and make it unique. From scene to scene... and ultimately, the entire piece as a whole. Learn how to discover what's important in a longform. Connect with the ideas and themes that can be through lines to a story. Explore different story lines and how you might weave them together.
For more information check the details on the DSI Comedy Theater website:
- Power Improv Workshop, Joe Bill, Mark Sutton
- Power Improv Master Class, Joe Bill & Mark Sutton
Only students taking Power Improv Workshop are eligible to sign up for the three-hour afternoon Power Improv Master Class, working with both Mark Sutton and Joe Bill.
3-Day Advanced Dialogue Intensive
New this year. For the first time in our festival's history, we will be offering a three-day-long intensive in advanced improvisation. Taught by Toronto's Kevin Patrick Robbins, artistic director of the Impatient Theatre Co., this intensive will focus on techniques to improve the dialogue of your improvised scenes.
This course will teach you how to approach everything you say and do in a scene by studying and understanding what is and is not being said in the scene. You will be given tools to help you be a better improviser and provide you with a better, fuller understanding of everything that is happening in your scenes, from initiation to edit.
Directing Improv Master Class
Asaf Ronen, author of the book Directing Improv: Show the Way by Getting Out of the Way, helps directors realize a specific artistic vision while allowing performers to freely create. Focus on how to get the most out of a cast whether in a class or a rehearsal. Techniques will be learned in regards to creating lesson plans, orchestrating rehearsals, giving notes and how to help other improvisers reach their maximum potential.
Directors will learn to create a vocabulary with their group so that they may also get directed. Those who don't direct will learn how to get the most out of their directors and how to better guide their own growth. There will be hands-on work as well as a Q&A to address personal concerns of the attendees.
Directing Improv will run Sunday, Feb. 24, 1–4 p.m. Online registration coming soon.
Ensemble Coaching
Would you like to get some extra coaching with your ensemble or group? DSIF offers ensemble coaching opportunities with some of the best coaches, directors and teachers in North America.