Summer School: Set the Scene

About This Course

In the first ten seconds of a scene, you make ten thousand decisions. How do you make them count? After a decade of chewing on the problem, this is our best, current guess.

We’ll explore how starting scenes with a combination of techniques from TJ & Dave’s Improv at the Speed of Life and Dave Razowsky’s A Subversive’s Guide to Improvisation can get us to better, richer scene starts now. We’ll learn how the first ten seconds of a scene is an opportunity to get your conscious mind out of the way so you can be present to the scene that is already there.

The best choice you can make is the one you’ve already made. The best scene you can perform is the one you’re already performing.

Places for Summer School courses are capped at twelve to ensure everyone gets time to play.

We place a high value on community, diversity and inclusion. We endeavour to create a safe space where people can explore improvisation without fear of oppression or discrimination. Learn more about diversity & inclusion at OTH and explore the Core Behaviours we use to look out for each other.

Date: Saturday, 11th of January, 2025.
Time: 10:00am to 3:30pm, including break.
Place: Centenary Park Main Hall (105 Daly St, Belmont)
Teacher: Aden Date

FAQ

Why should I learn to improvise?

Improv is a social experience and a great opportunity to build interpersonal skills in a group setting. We learn that being a good improviser is often just about being a radically excellent human: We need to be able to be vulnerable, confident, supportive, and empathetic. Improvisation has a long history of being used not only to train actors and comedians, but as a self-development practice. Don’t worry if you’re not an aspiring actor or comedian — our courses are designed for people who are starting fresh. You can read more about our teaching philosophy here.

We do our best to make all students feel welcome, accepted & included. When you take a course with us you’re also joining a community with plenty of opportunities for further learning, play and performance in the future. If you choose to pursue improvisation as an ongoing practice, this intensive provides a solid foundation for our term-based introductory course.

Finally, there’s the science: Improv is effective in helping bosses become better leaders, improving mental health, and has even helped recently released prisoners adjust to life after release. Whoever you are, we are sure there’s something in Improv for you.

What can I expect to learn in this course?

This course focuses on simplifying the two-person scene with a focus on platform building: How we establish a credible, real world and relationship between our scene partners. We often get bogged down in complexity with scenes, but this workshop will focus on our best understanding of the basic elements needed to build a realistic foundation for our scenework.

If you’re an advanced improviser, you can consider this a substitute for our newly developed Intermediate class - our best, current approach to two-person scenes. It draws on themes from a few of our advanced courses, particularly Scenius (Aden) and Self to Stage (Jay).

If you’re a newer improviser, this is an effective way to start building a solid foundation in two person scene work, which is the core of all longform improvisation.

We recommend you’ve completed at least one term-based improvisation course (with us or elsewhere) before taking this course.

Do you offer scholarships?

We offer two partial scholarships for each course to students who face marginalisation, discrimination or financial hardship. These scholarships are offered on a no questions asked basis - just enter the code “HELPSS02” at checkout and a 50% discount will be applied automatically. And, if you’re in a position of significant financial hardship and half-price is too expensive, email us and we’ll see what we can do.

Can I register for a friend?

Absolutely! When you register, just say “It’s for someone else,” and add their details. We will reach out to them separately to confirm and keep them across our class communications.