Beginning & Intermediate Improv with Otis James Gates
 

This combined level improv class teaches the groundwork for becoming a great improviser and progresses into more advanced improv and character development. Improv boosts creativity, confidence, flexibility and spontaneity. It promotes teamwork, helps with communication and active listening. Improv helps you to get out of your head and trust your instincts.  Not only does this help with your acting and auditions, but it is also a great tool for business, other art mediums, and even as a way to better communicate with others in any aspect of your life. Improv is also very commonly used in commercial auditions and is one of the primary classes that agents and casting directors look for on an actor’s resume.  This class will use the same “Yes, And” rule as our other improv classes with an emphasis on movement, space work, and improv games.

 

Beginning students will learn the basics of Stage Performance and Presentation Theater, including stage directions, how to perform for a live audience, and how to react and interact with audiences. Beginning students will also gain new tools for creating and developing characters. Intermediate students will learn and practice more advanced theater games and deepen their practice of the six fundamentals of improv theater, while focusing on “gifts”- tools improvisers use to make scene partners look good and give them something fun to play. This class will have a strong focus on reacting to scene partners and new information, while also adding new information to scenes and increasing the “stakes.” Intermediate students will also focus on more advanced character development.

 

This class is open to brave, adventurous actors (and non-actors!) who want to break free of their comfort zone, which is where the real amazing work begins.  And the best part is that you’ll have a blast doing it in the most safe and supportive environment.  No experience is necessary, and this class is appropriate for students who have taken any of Otis’ previous improv classes.  Otis will customize the class for the more advanced students. 

 

There are 6 classes in this mixed level session and the class will cover:

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• The 6 fundamentals of improv, and the one improv rule, “Yes, And”

• The other suggestions (not rules) for beginning and intermediate improv actors

• How and when to break some of the suggestions above

• Movement, space work (pantomime) and stage directions in improv

• Practicing the art of reaction

• Theater and Improv games

• How to work in teams forming a singular idea without forethought, but instead using trust, action and non-verbal communication

• Applying improv tools and “Yes, And” theory in show preparations and life

• Sharing space with other performers organically without having a script, direction or blocking

• Accepting created circumstances and problems and solving them as a group

• The art and hilarity of being “obvious” - making choices because we feel them in the moment versus planning in advance or reacting in a way that we think we are “supposed” to react

• How to progress a scene along (moving closer to “long form” improv)

• Character development - creating mannerisms, speech and behavior for the purpose of playing multiple characters in long form improv

• Introductory long form improv and beat improv
   

This class begins on Tuesday, March 18th and will meet on Tuesday evenings from 6:30pm to 9:30pm and Saturday mornings from 10:00am to 1:00pm.  Classes will meet every Tuesday and Saturday from Tuesday, March 18th through Saturday, April 5th.  

 

*There is very minimal work outside of class and no written homework.

 

The final class will include a presentation for invited friends and family and the Empowerhouse Acting Studio artistic community.

 

Tuition for our Spring Improv Class is $480. A non-refundable deposit of $240 is required to reserve your spot in the class and the balance is due on or before the first day of class.  We do not require an interview for acceptance into our improv classes.

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ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

 

Otis James Gates is an entertainer. He started in Melodrama and Vaudeville in his teens in Campbell, CA (although his mother would say he started melodrama well before that). He performed with Festival Theater Ensemble, traveling to far off places like Humboldt, CA and Sunnyvale, CA, to perform in Shakespearean and contemporary outdoor theater. When he was in his 20’s Otis traveled to Oregon to join the Upside Sketch Comedy troupe and traveled the college and university circuit performing sketch comedy. 

 

Later Otis moved to LA and worked on various TV pilots and shows and also began studying at Groundlings. Otis took a break from acting to pursue a 10 year career at Sony Electronics, where he did some of the best acting and comedy of his life. He was finally let go in 2011 after 10 years, when it was discovered that someone had hired a Comedian with no MBA to work as a National Sales Trainer for an Artificial Intelligence Robotic Animal.

 

After leaving Sony, Otis co-founded the Heart On Comedy Group, a show that lasted for 5 years and had a revolving door of great talent. Otis’ day job at this same time was teaching children K-8 Theater and Theater Tech at Starting Arts, bringing after school theater to kids at a time when schools were cutting funding for performing arts programs.

 

Currently Otis is the adult and youth Improv instructor at Empowerhouse Acting Studio in Berkeley. He is a member of several acting groups, including Grand Artique, a group of artisans that create unique installations at festivals and then create live entertainment and interactive performances throughout the festivals and shows they attend. 

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