Slapstick
Don't fight dirty, fight funny. This class offers an environment to learn and develop skills in slapstick comedy and the creation of physical gags or "Schtick". Using slaps, kicks, rolls, trips and pratfalls, students will create hilarious situations of comic conflict. Students learn physical comedy elements and structure taken from the classic cinema as well as contemporary physical comedy from modern theatrical clowning and comedy. This class will also explore status as a driving force behind physical comedy. Each class includes instruction on stretching and strengthening, physical technique, and collaboration and creation. Students will develop the exquisite timing and skillful execution required for the performance of slapstick comedy as well as generate original material. No Experience required. All ages and backgrounds welcome. Register now...
Dates: August
Time: 7-10pm for three days
Cost: $125
Dance Chicago Center - 1439 West Wellington - Map
Beginning Mime
This class is an introduction to the art form of Mime. Through a disciplined and playful approach that includes floor and barre work, performance exercises, and laboratory time, students ascend to a new level of physical awareness using the grammar of Mime. In this introduction to the techniques of Marcel Marceau, Etienne Decroux, and Stephen Niedzialkowski, students focus on physical characters, object work, and ensemble performance as they journey beyond words to share silent narrative with an audience.
Date: July 11 - August 29
Cost: $275
Second City Training Center- 1608 N. Wells Street Chicago, IL 60614 - Map
Clown Mime - Live Action Cartooning.
This six week class in physical comedy strips away layers of self consciousness and works with the bare-bones of theatrical clowning complimented with the precision and illusion of Mime. Learn to establish a direct and immediate relationship with your audience and become complicit with scene partners. Using only physicality you'll learn to transform environments and enter into fantasy, dream, and memory. By learning to move Off the Clock you'll begin to perform in Cartoon Time and move with musicality. The class consists of exersizes in Mime, physical performance, clowning, physical comedy, improvisation and creation assignments to prepare outside of class. All classes take place at the beautiful Three Pear studio in Andersonville. Registration for this class is open.
Date: TBA
Cost: $200
Dance Chicago Center - 1439 West Wellington - Map
Clown and Physical Comedy
A Clown and physical theater workshop focusing on ensemble creation and play. Participants will learn to share a physical experience and develop an immediate relationship with an audience and partners. There will be a strong focus on increasing ones sense of play, the generation of new material and being physically precise yet blundering emotionally. Class will consist of exercises in mimetic techniques, clown improvisation and stage presence. After every class there will be additional time for play, exploration and improvisation.
TBA
The Neo-Futurists Theater - 5153 N. Ashland - Map
Register for class here...
Class Discounts:
Discounts apply to local classes only. Discounts are also subject to availability of space in class.
Now offering a 10% discount for:
- individuals registering for more than one workshop,
- performing ensembles of 3 or more taking the same class,
- repeating a class
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