Student members of our ongoing narrative improvisation classes invent dazzling stories for your enjoyment.

The Unscripted Plays & Films group is an ongoing class that performs full length narrative shows completely improvised in the style of various genres. Learn more about the Unscripted Plays and Films Class.

Reviewed by Anthony Brandon Wong
May 2007

Improvisational brilliance reached new heights on Saturday night at the OUT OF BOUNDS WEST improv festival. SHAKESPEARE UNSCRIPTED is a side-splitting Shakesperean play that has never been written, until the moment that its talented ensemble utter the Bard-like words that issue forth from their verdant imaginations and eager tongues. In short, yes, it’s improvised, but because many of the 9 cast members have been working together for 10-20 years, the result is a level of virtuosity and polish that is rarely seen in improv on stage. I loved every minute of it, laughed my ass off - as did the rest of the audience. These actors listen so well to each other and pick up on each other’s offers with the skill that can only come from working as an ensemble for so long. I dearly hope they get their own theatre venue - I want everyone to see them. Aye, me doth think they are really kewl!

With an international background, Tracy Burns has been teaching and performing improvisation since 1984. In 1999 she was the Co-Recipient of the Best Improviser Award in the European Theatresports Championship. A founding member of London Theatresports, Tracy was the Co-Artistic Director for Theatresports U.K. and helped introduce Theatresports to Germany. Tracy believes providing a safe environment and helping people let go of their inner critics is all most people need to access their own unique creativity and humor.

Jo McGinley specializes in narrative improvisation, creating improvised stories in classical and popular genres. “Improvising Plays & Films” is the product of over 15 years of research and exploration.

Jo performs and teaches improvisation internationally, performing fully improvised plays in the style of Tennessee Williams both in Amsterdam and Paris. Her home base of improvisation is Impro Theatre, Los Angeles.

Jo joined the faculties of the American Conservatory Theatre and Academy of Art College teaching actors and artists how to use improvisation in order to access their creativity. She has taught at USC, Pepperdine University, University of San Francisco (School of Business), College of Marin and for hundreds of corporate clients (American Express, Method, Consumer’s Energy to name of few) using improvisation as a way to teach basic skills of listening, staying positive, supporting ideas, and connection. She most recently facilitated Focus Groups for The Hewlett Packard Foundation using improvisation as a way to inspire social change.

She created improvisation programs for ACT’s Young Conservatory, Marina Middle School, Brookside Elementary, and taught improv to teens and kids (ages 6-18) privately in both Los Angeles and San Francisco for over 10 years.

Theatre credits include “Dancing at Lughnasa”, “Jake’s Women”, “Laments for the Living”, and Television credits include Boston Public, ER, and Close to Home.

Currently the director of “Unscripted Plays & Films”, past directing credits include “Beat Baby Beat” and “Laments for the Living” bringing the inspired works of Dorothy Parker to the stage.

Jo is a member of SAG, AFTRA, and AEA.

Lisa Fredrickson has been an ensemble member of many Improv companies including Seattle TheatreSports, SAK Comedy Lab Orlando, Disney’s Comedy Warehouse, LA TheatreSports, Inflatable Betty and Shakespeare Unscripted. She is the resident Improv teacher at California Luthern University. She was an original cast member of “Fellowship:The musical” in Los Angeles, she performed at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival with Seattle’s Unexpected Shakespeare and she has often appeared in “Boo” the Improv show at New York, New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Her TV credits include “Greek”, “Desperate Housewives” and “The Tick”. She has been in numerous TV commercials, usually as some sort of uptight mother. She is currently in a masters program studying Spiritual Psychology. She is married to an amazing Banjo player and she loves babies…and Banjos…and babies who love Banjos.

Instructor: Lorne Green
When: Saturdays 1 - 3pm
Duration: 6wks
Cost: $120

Students work on advancing the use of character development, and scene dynamics. What makes a scene “Pop”, how to tell longer narratives, and how to be emotionally connected in the immediacy of an improvised scene. Prerequisite: Completion of F2 or by permission of instructor.

This class will:

• Build strong ensemble work
• Ask you to keep the work simple
• Make you realize how little you have to do to be engaging

Prerequisite: Completion of Foundation II or permission by instructor.

Duration: 6wks
Cost: $120

This class builds on the basic skills learned in Foundation One, and adds a focus on becoming comfortable and articulate with the body.

Areas that will be explored:

• How the body can be a source of inspiration for emotional, character and narrative choices
• How to understand the subtle language of non-verbal communication
• How to instantly “physicalize” choices by dropping into the body and out of the head.

Prerequisite: completion of Foundation I or permission by instructor.

Duration: 6wks
Cost: $120

A great workshop for someone who has never taken improv, as well as someone who is looking to learn a new improv style. This class focuses on the basics of improv, how to give simple, clear information to get a scene started, how to be changed by information given to you, and mostly to get out of your head, leave your inner critic at the door, and have fun on stage.

There is no pre-requisite for this class.

Instructor: Rotating faculty starting with Tracy Burns.
Prerequisite: Instructor approval to move on from Scene Study or Dean’s approval.
Performance Opportunity: Student Shows in the workshop space.
Tues 7p-10p
OR
Thurs 7p-10p
A new Studio class is currently taking registration. Start date and time are TBD
Duration: On-Going
Cost: $150/month

Even though this class is a monthly class, we are looking for those students who are committed to learning our style over a long period of time. It is an ensemble based class and the students who start the class will stay together and build the strong levels of trust necessary to improvise. This class will dramatically hone your improv skills. All areas of improv will be taught by a revolving faculty of Impro company members. Here are just some of the subjects that will be explored: character, status, scene building, narrative, emotional response, playing for the moment and not the joke, turning mistakes into gifts, finding the game, and most importantly becoming a master of CROWE (character, relationship, objective, where and expectation.) As the class progresses, longform narrative storytelling will become one of the main focuses. This class contains the opportunity to put your abilities to the test in front of an invited audience because we believe that the stage is the best way to advance your technique. The class will eventually move into genre work.

New classes start regularly.
Please check back for updates.

Click on the class names for descriptions and instructor bios. Or to find out more about signing up, give us a call at 323.401.6162

Impro Theatre Weekend Intensive
Instructor: Dan O’Connor
Duration: Two days, 10-4pm.

Film Noir
Based on Impro Theatre’s recent hit show LA Noir
Instructor: Brian Lohmann and Dan O’Connor
Duration: 8 weeks. At the end of the class, the students perform in front of an invited audience.

Shakespeare through Improvisation
Instructor: Dan O’Connor and Brian Lohmann
Duration: 8 weeks.
This class will explore how Shakespeare can actually help you to be a better actor and a more versatile improviser. Whether it is creating a character or establishing the “where” of a scene, the Bard is a great tool for improvisers. We will also look at how to improvise a play using style and story together and sustaining over 90 minutes without a script. Teachers, actors and directors can deepen their own experiences with rhetorical devices, character motivations and storytelling by adapting techniques that Shakespeare employed in his scripts through the art of spontaneous play.

Commercial Audition Intensive
Instructor: Jo McGinley
Duration: 4 weeks
This is an on camera workshop. Learn improv tools that can save your audition. Slating, Group Scenes, Partner Scenes, speaking to the camera, and Solo Scenes all broken down into how each one is different and what you can do to make them work. We will hone in on the trickiest scenarios and how to slow the ball down and make it work for you. You will see your work on tape throughout the class. Learn the technique of improv so you can build a foundation on which to be spontaneous.

Soap Opera Intensive
Instructor: Jessica Jimenez-Perry (daytime emmy award nominee for Guiding Light)
Duration: 8 weeks. At the end of the class, the students perform in front of an invited audience.
In this students will learn how to improvise an episodic Soap Opera.

Focus
Instructor: Jo McGinley
Once a Month on Sundays, 2-5PM
Quotes from former students about the Focus class:
“Jo’s Focus class is a truly holistic, interdisciplinary approach to removing clutter from our lives and our minds — the accumulated stuff getting in our way, stuff we could be dealing with but often don’t address due to avoidance or delaying tactics or piling up blame on ourselves because… we’re not getting things done. Clearing out even the smallest, most mundane obstructions can create a flow, making a space for other things to start in motion. Through class exercises, breathwork, sharing and support, it’s clear just doing stuff, like looking at where we are and stating what we intend to change, can make other stuff start to happen in our lives.”
“This class has, honestly, changed my life by clearing several areas where I have been stuck for years. Jo keeps you on track with kindness and you won’t ever forget that.”
This four session workshop is for those who want to tackle a specific goal, and then see improvement in that area over the course of our working together. Come to the first class with a specific goal in mind, or at least an idea of one, and we’ll create a game plan for you to follow over the following 3 months.
Special Notes:
1. You must attend each session as they build on each other.
2. There is a weekly check-in that is due to the Instructor via email.
3. There may be follow up phone calls with the instructor if the student needs extra information in between the once a month meeting.

Click the link below if you are interested in donating to Impro Theatre:

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If you like what we do, and feel like donating, we greatly appreciate your support.

323.401.6162

improlosangeles@gmail.com

Contact us and sign up for the next round of classes today.

By Terry Morgan
Backstage West, 7/13/04

Jo McGinley is the managing and educational director of Impro Theatre, a company she says has evolved over the years. “We’ve morphed into many things,” she says. “We started out as Los Angeles Theatresports in 1988, definitely that short-form improv competition sort of thing. What we discovered was, that was a great starting point, but all of us being actors first and improvisers second, we really love improvising full-length scenes–and not just having to go for the laugh, but letting the moment be whatever it is. We’re open to whatever the moment is rather than just pounding out the funny. We tend to appeal to actors. I teach the improvising plays and films class, and they improvise full-length, an hour or hour and a half, play or film style, and we really study time periods and film and playwright genres. You are the writer and the actor and the director, all in the moment, working with other actors creating these long stories–cutting from scene to scene if it’s a film style, it might have lots of short scenes; if it’s a Tennessee Williams [piece] it tends to be longer. You learn how to self-direct. How you fit into a bigger picture of what your scene would need…. You’re sort of creating shape of show on the fly. You really have no time to question your impulses; you’re just completely focused in on your scene partners. When it all comes together, it’s just so satisfying because you didn’t have to wait to be cast in something or for someone to write a great script, you just did it there. When you go back to scripted work, it’s like, ‘Oh, this is easy, I just made up an entire play.’”

When asked what a working actor can expect to gain from improv training, McGinley replies, “A ton of things. What you learn on your feet is what’s holding you back. For example, someone who’s not interested in performing improv onstage, they just wanna see how it applies to an audition or being on the set; it’s a confidence you get, and you learn what your stage presence is. [You’re also] practicing your listening and your focusing skills. When you go to an audition you’ve got to be in the moment, learn what environment your character is in, and connect immediately with whoever you’re reading with. It’s almost like therapy on your feet. In commercial auditions people tend to go negative right away because of nerves and trying to look good. You learn to really engage in the game and play, and with negative situations you can kind of work them around, you can work with it, be sort of charmed with whatever your partner says. Learning to use mistakes as gifts is a big deal; things don’t have to go perfectly, you can adjust to a crappy room. You’re strong and malleable, all at the same time.”

As a teacher, McGinley’s recommendations for good improv are as follows: “Letting go of control, and making eye contact with your partner, trying not to plan ahead. It all comes down to control. They wanna come to loosen up and feel like they’re malleable, and then when something happens onstage that they didn’t plan, you can see their faces sort of drop. It really encourages you to fail. We give the analogy of: In the circus, when someone’s going across the tightrope, if they fall into the net, they don’t slink off in shame and leave the tent, they get out of the net and throw open their arms with a big smile to the audience, and what does the audience do? They applaud. They’re not applauding that you fell into the net, they’re saying, ‘Look what you just did,’ they’re celebrating the risk. I think as people get older they get more and more shut down because they’ve made more mistakes. So you try to think, ‘Well, I’ll never make that one again,’ when really you need to get back up there and say, ‘Woo-hoo! I failed, I learned something, I’m moving on.’ It does carry on into real life, where you’re hopefully looser.”

While the virtues of improv training in voiceover work and CGI have been mentioned, McGinley adds a third category in which the skills are useful–videogames. “In The Sims videogame, Stephen Kearin and Gerri Lawlor, they’re both improvisers and they created the language, they’ve done all the voices for them for the last five years. It’s a gibberish language. I did one day of recording last year for eight hours; we were improvising the gibberish language to match the animation they’d already done. You’d be in the sound booth, and all you’d see is [an image of] ‘girl receiving flowers,’ her hand going up to her heart, and you’d go, ‘Yip-badika-da,’ and they’re, like, ‘Great, keep going!’ By the end of the day I was insane, I didn’t even know what English was. It was so fun, a crazy intense experience. There’s actually some college group that studying the phonetics of it, they thought there was all this meaning in it.”

Reviewed by Lovell Estell III
LA Weekly, 10/5/00

Shakespeare Unscripted is an improvised vamp on the Bard’s linguistic stylings that runs just over an hour. Never repetitive or dull, the show uses a rotating cast which takes the stage only after audience members have suggested a title for the production. Once that choice is made, the actors do the rest, employing Elizabethan literary conventions. On the night I attended, the troupe did a creditable job with “The Shipwreck of Love,” a tale of adventure, mishap, romance and mistaken identities - all salient aspects of the Bard’s work. The real fun lies in anticipating where this patchwork story is going to go next, and in watching the actors doing whatever it takes to keep the narrative afloat, a necessity that gives rise to some hilarious moments. Tracy Connor, Justin Bowler, Joseph Limbaugh, Doreen Remo, Katharine Mills, Mark Tracy, Susan Peahle and John Rosen deserve praise for their energy and creativity that made the evening so enjoyable.