In person
BEING A DREAM PARTNER
Improv is rarely a solo endeavor. This workshop will focus on how you can become the best possible partner your teammates could imagine. Games and exercises showing how to listen to what your partner really wants, and turn them into a rockstar. If we’re all doing this for each other, we’re a team of rockstars and we all win!
SOLO IMPROV (Note: This workshop should be four or five hours long and no more than eight students)
There are no "schools" of improv - we are each our own school, which means your solo piece is the ultimate expression of that school. Work with Jill to practice the skills that are universal to most solo pieces - character snapping, stage pictures, and aggressive choices - and also tease out what will make your solo piece unique.
TURNING THE CORNER
This workshop is a survey of methods to turn the corner on a scene that has stalled out and is struggling to progress.
THE OTHER CONFLICTS
We spend too much time on Man vs. Man. What other conflicts are there? Man vs. Nature, Man vs.Society, Man vs. Himself, etc. In this workshop we will do some scene stwhat we can do besides bicker with each other. Please wear closed toe shoes to this workshop.
MINDFUL IMPROV
This workshop will focus on making your mind calm and clear before you step onstage and whenever things get out of hand, so that you can listen, react and make purposeful choices. We will play with clearing our minds, opting to notice rather than judge, and choosing states of energy.
CREATING REALISTIC CHARACTERS
In recent years in the United States, improv teachers such as Joe Bill and TJ Jagadowski from Chicago, David Razowsky from Los Angeles, Greg Tavaras from South Carolina, and Jill Bernard from Minneapolis have begun working with the idea that improv can contain realistic characters who are vulnerable. Having the ability to create improv that is honest and vulnerable adds another layer to your work, a little bit of cake underneath your frosting to take your work from light entertainment to something with resonance. In this module, we start with your true self as a completely valid and powerful launchpad to creating original improvisation. We will explore emotion as a driver. We will practice letting your relationship, and how your partner sees you, define your character. We will learn to trust assumptions in place of inventions.
TRUTH & BEAUTY (Note: better for mid-sized groups of experienced students)
In this workshop, Jill Bernard will take you through a series of exercises that inject your work with a little bit of truth and beauty. Having the ability to create improv that is honest and vulnerable adds another layer to your work, a little bit of cake underneath your frosting to take your work from light entertainment to something with resonance. Please wear closed toe shoes to this workshop.
THE FIREBALL THEORY
This workshop presents Jill Bernard's Fireball Theory and offers exercises to help you improvise faster and harder than you can judge yourself. You will learn to metaphorically hit the scene running and outrun the explosion of self-loathing and doubt like an action movie hero outruns a fireball thus defying the laws of physics. Please wear closed toe shoes to this workshop.
VAPAPO: CHARACTER TOOLKIT
Jill Bernard offers a character toolkit to give participants the ability to create strong, compelling characters that they can hang onto through the whole scene. This session will focus on using Voice, Attitude or Posture, and Animal, Prop or Obsession to build instant characters. Participants will use these tools to fearlessly initiate scenes, create relationships and find agreement. Please wear closed toe shoes to this workshop.
IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY
Too often improv feels like a chore, filled with right decisions and good and bad choices. In this session with Jill Bernard, participants will learn the joy and success that follows doing exactly what tickles them. Please wear closed toe shoes to this workshop.
DUOS or TWO-HANDERS
This workshop is an invitation to connect with just one other improv partner, connect with each other, and practice an improv form for two. Bring your own partner or one will be provided for you.
YOUR VOICE AS AN ARTIST
Not a traditional voice class, instead, we want to look at how you as a human being can create art that reflects what you want to say to the world. Of course we can do improv scenes about anything, but a playwright is able to choose their subject. This class guides you to examine what you really would like to improvise about.
MIXER FORMAT: "SECRET MONOLOGUES"
Participants will learn the skills and form of an improvised piece created by Jill Bernard called “Secret Monologues". Players write each other monologues before the show. Read for the first time onstage, we meet these original characters and see a scene or two in their world.
There are no "schools" of improv - we are each our own school, which means your solo piece is the ultimate expression of that school. Work with Jill to practice the skills that are universal to most solo pieces - character snapping, stage pictures, and aggressive choices - and also tease out what will make your solo piece unique.
TURNING THE CORNER
This workshop is a survey of methods to turn the corner on a scene that has stalled out and is struggling to progress.
THE OTHER CONFLICTS
We spend too much time on Man vs. Man. What other conflicts are there? Man vs. Nature, Man vs.Society, Man vs. Himself, etc. In this workshop we will do some scene stwhat we can do besides bicker with each other. Please wear closed toe shoes to this workshop.
MINDFUL IMPROV
This workshop will focus on making your mind calm and clear before you step onstage and whenever things get out of hand, so that you can listen, react and make purposeful choices. We will play with clearing our minds, opting to notice rather than judge, and choosing states of energy.
CREATING REALISTIC CHARACTERS
In recent years in the United States, improv teachers such as Joe Bill and TJ Jagadowski from Chicago, David Razowsky from Los Angeles, Greg Tavaras from South Carolina, and Jill Bernard from Minneapolis have begun working with the idea that improv can contain realistic characters who are vulnerable. Having the ability to create improv that is honest and vulnerable adds another layer to your work, a little bit of cake underneath your frosting to take your work from light entertainment to something with resonance. In this module, we start with your true self as a completely valid and powerful launchpad to creating original improvisation. We will explore emotion as a driver. We will practice letting your relationship, and how your partner sees you, define your character. We will learn to trust assumptions in place of inventions.
TRUTH & BEAUTY (Note: better for mid-sized groups of experienced students)
In this workshop, Jill Bernard will take you through a series of exercises that inject your work with a little bit of truth and beauty. Having the ability to create improv that is honest and vulnerable adds another layer to your work, a little bit of cake underneath your frosting to take your work from light entertainment to something with resonance. Please wear closed toe shoes to this workshop.
THE FIREBALL THEORY
This workshop presents Jill Bernard's Fireball Theory and offers exercises to help you improvise faster and harder than you can judge yourself. You will learn to metaphorically hit the scene running and outrun the explosion of self-loathing and doubt like an action movie hero outruns a fireball thus defying the laws of physics. Please wear closed toe shoes to this workshop.
VAPAPO: CHARACTER TOOLKIT
Jill Bernard offers a character toolkit to give participants the ability to create strong, compelling characters that they can hang onto through the whole scene. This session will focus on using Voice, Attitude or Posture, and Animal, Prop or Obsession to build instant characters. Participants will use these tools to fearlessly initiate scenes, create relationships and find agreement. Please wear closed toe shoes to this workshop.
IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY
Too often improv feels like a chore, filled with right decisions and good and bad choices. In this session with Jill Bernard, participants will learn the joy and success that follows doing exactly what tickles them. Please wear closed toe shoes to this workshop.
DUOS or TWO-HANDERS
This workshop is an invitation to connect with just one other improv partner, connect with each other, and practice an improv form for two. Bring your own partner or one will be provided for you.
YOUR VOICE AS AN ARTIST
Not a traditional voice class, instead, we want to look at how you as a human being can create art that reflects what you want to say to the world. Of course we can do improv scenes about anything, but a playwright is able to choose their subject. This class guides you to examine what you really would like to improvise about.
MIXER FORMAT: "SECRET MONOLOGUES"
Participants will learn the skills and form of an improvised piece created by Jill Bernard called “Secret Monologues". Players write each other monologues before the show. Read for the first time onstage, we meet these original characters and see a scene or two in their world.
The style of play is light and love and silly. This is a celebration of characters and also features nice stage pictures. Prepares a group of 8 to 16 students for a short performance.
MIXER FORMAT: "BETWEEN JOKES"
Participants will learn the skills and form of an improvised piece created by Jill Bernard called “Between Jokes". The format is based on a Spanish saying: "Entre broma y broma la verdad se asoma/Between a joke and a joke the truth arises." A classic children’s joke appears on the screen behind the performers (or from a slip of paper), they read it aloud and then create a scene based in the reality the joke proposes. A skeleton may mourn the loss of its ghoulfriend, or a bicycle might quit its job because it’s two-tired, all with loving playful gravitas. Very silly but very sweet. Prepares a group of 8 to 16 students for a short performance.
CUSTOMIZED AS NEEDED
Give me a topic and I'll build you a workshop.
On Zoom
CONNECTING ANYWAY
Let’s be honest – improvising online is strange. There are technical obstacles, we’re surrounded by distractions, and more than anything, we’re simply not in the same space. In this workshop we will run a few exercises that give us a chance to connect despite those difficulties, to prepare us for whatever style of improv we plan to do.
SOLO IMPROV
There are no "schools" of improv - we are each our own school, which means your solo piece is the ultimate expression of that school. Work with Jill to practice the skills that are universal to most solo pieces - character snapping, stage pictures, and aggressive choices - and also tease out what will make your solo piece unique.
TURNING THE CORNER
This workshop is a survey of methods to turn the corner on a scene that has stalled out and is struggling to progress.
DUOS or TWO-HANDERS
This workshop is an invitation to connect with just one other improv partner, connect with each other, and practice an improv form for two. Bring your own partner or one will be provided for you.
MIXER FORMAT: "BETWEEN JOKES"
Participants will learn the skills and form of an improvised piece created by Jill Bernard called “Between Jokes". The format is based on a Spanish saying: "Entre broma y broma la verdad se asoma/Between a joke and a joke the truth arises." A classic children’s joke appears on the screen behind the performers (or from a slip of paper), they read it aloud and then create a scene based in the reality the joke proposes. A skeleton may mourn the loss of its ghoulfriend, or a bicycle might quit its job because it’s two-tired, all with loving playful gravitas. Very silly but very sweet. Prepares a group of 8 to 16 students for a short performance.
CUSTOMIZED AS NEEDED
Give me a topic and I'll build you a workshop.
On Zoom
CONNECTING ANYWAY
Let’s be honest – improvising online is strange. There are technical obstacles, we’re surrounded by distractions, and more than anything, we’re simply not in the same space. In this workshop we will run a few exercises that give us a chance to connect despite those difficulties, to prepare us for whatever style of improv we plan to do.
SOLO IMPROV
There are no "schools" of improv - we are each our own school, which means your solo piece is the ultimate expression of that school. Work with Jill to practice the skills that are universal to most solo pieces - character snapping, stage pictures, and aggressive choices - and also tease out what will make your solo piece unique.
TURNING THE CORNER
This workshop is a survey of methods to turn the corner on a scene that has stalled out and is struggling to progress.
DUOS or TWO-HANDERS
This workshop is an invitation to connect with just one other improv partner, connect with each other, and practice an improv form for two. Bring your own partner or one will be provided for you.
