Script Writing for Actor/Improvisors with Jeffrey Sweet
Tuesday (2/7) - 12:30pm-5:30pm
$95

Playwriting and screenwriting don’t have to start with you pounding a keyboard. Jeff, the author of award-winning stage and TV projects that have starred Oscar and Tony winners often develops material improvisationally. This workshop is designed to give you concrete techniques to start building scripts – comedy or drama – on your feet. Bring a (legal) stimulant and a recorder.

Limit: 12 Students
Requirements: None
To apply – contact ANDReserve@aol.com

Jeffrey Sweet is most closely associated with Chicago theatre. He has premiered plays at the Victory Gardens Theatre since the late seventies and is a member of its Playwrights Ensemble. Among his plays are Flyovers (Joseph Jefferson Award, best script), the Action Against Sol Schumann and American Enterprise (both American Theatre Critics Association prize-winners), Porch, Bluff, Berlin ‘45 and With and Without. Mr. Sweet wrote Something Wonderful Right Away, an oral history of Chicago’s Second City company (a book which in turn inspired the creation of two other Chicago theaters) and two texts on playwriting, The Dramatist’s Toolkit and Solving Your Script. He co-wrote two musicals, I Sent a Letter to My Love (with Melissa Manchester, based on a novel by Bernice Rubens) and What About Luv? (With Howard Marren and Susan Birkenhead, based on a play by Murray Schisgal). He serves on the Council of the Dramatists Guild, teaches at Wagner College, and guest lectures frequently at universities and theatres around the country. Mr. Sweet has also written for television.

Scotty Watson's Big-Ass Workshop in Improvisation
Wednesday (2/8) - 12:30pm-6:00pm
Performance/Jam on Wednesday (2/8) - 9:15 pm
$50
An all-levels-of-experience total improv workout. Just like Scotty's regular Wednesday workshop...but bigger-assed!

Workshop attendees are invited to perform in a late-night improv jam that very same evening. Get that stage time you so vitally need!

Focus is on the basics! You'll learn to make active positive choices and to support and honor the physical and verbal reality of the scene. You will also learn that as an actor, it's your job to justify the stuff that goes wrong. Finally, you will learn how to apply these basic principles to both long-form and short-form improvisation.

While more experienced improvisers can work-out and stretch their improv muscles, those starting out can learn by playing with the pros. If you have never improvised before, Scotty will have you up and improvising within the hour with his Harold w/ Training Wheels Form, as developed at The Artistic New Directions Summer Improv Intensive in The Catskills. This wildly popular form is being utilized by The Great Gary Austin on stage at The Groundlings in LA! But you can do it with Scotty right here in NYC!
This Workshop is a safe space to grow and experiment. There is no performance pressure. Scotty focuses on the positive so that participants learn to repeat the good-stuff avoid the bad-stuff.

There is no pressure and no yelling. There is laughter. You will learn to improvise and you will feel good about yourself.

Limit 16 students.
This workshop is open to improvisors of all levels.
To apply – contact ANDReserve@aol.com

Scotty Watson teaches long and short form improvisation, as well as improv for actors and character development through physicality. He has been improvising professionally since the ripe old age of 16 and is an alum of The Second City Canadian National Touring Company. For Artistic New Directions in New York, Scotty teaches a very popular workshop in Improvisation as well as a drop-in class for Luna Stage as part of The Valley Arts District in New Jersey. Scotty taught sketch writing for The Second City NYC and Improvisation for Actors for The University of Toronto. He is an active member of ComedySportzNYC where he often runs workshops for the regular cast. Onstage, Scotty was the dis-embodied head of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton in the Off-Broadway musical Walmartopia! and served as an alternate for "Bebe" in Cirque du Soleil's Mystere. He has done feature films with Ed Asner, Eric Stoltz and Gerard Depardieu.

Character to Scene Improvisation Workshop with Michael J. Gellman
Thursday (2/9) 12:30 - 6:00 pm
$95

Improvisation is a craft started by actors for actors. Exciting and inspired performance comes from the ground up, and this one-day intensive workshop focuses on the importance of character in creating scenic improvisation. Character is the DNA of our craft. Scenic improvisation is the cornerstone for all our work; short form as well as long form. By focusing on the tools necessary for performance, actor/improvisers will explore techniques used to create unique and truthful characters. We will also explore many of the tools used at The Second City and developed for the book Process: An improviser’s Journey to create performance level scenes. Participants will also be able to apply the skills developed in this workshop to auditions, text work and play development.

Limit: 16 Students
Requirements: AND Improv Intensive Retreat or Regular Attendance at Scotty's Wednesday Workshop (comparable to UCB/PIT/Magnet Level 2), or Equivalent Improvisation or Theater Experience.
To apply, contact ANDReserve@aol.com with your resume or list of qualifications.

Scenario to Stage Improvisation Workshop with Michael J. Gellman
Friday (2/10) 12:30 - 6:00 pm
$95

From Comedia del Arte to Mike Leigh, Christopher Guest and Larry David, improvisation from scenario is how we will make a living in the craft we love. In this one-day intensive workshop participants will explore the techniques early improvisers used to create improvised scenario-based one-act plays for the theater. The work will focus on both the long form methods described in the book, Process: An Improviser’s Journey as well as new applications developed by The Process Theater Group in Chicago. Participants will start with a simple scenario and end with a performable piece. Come ready to play and bring your workout shoes!

Limit: 16 Students
Requirements: AND Master Retreat (comparable to UCB/PIT/Magnet Level 4), or 4 Year Theater Degree or Equivalent Theater or Improvisation Experience.
To apply, contact ANDReserve@aol.com with your resume or list of qualifications.

Michael J Gellman is currently a Senior Faculty Member at The Second City – Chicago. He is an Alum of the Second City Main Stage and was a resident director there for 25 years. He is also an Adjunct Faculty member at Columbia College teaching in Comedy Studies and co-author of the book Process: An Improviser’s Journey, published by Northwestern University Press. He is also the Artistic Director of The Process Theatre Group. He has taught, directed, and/or performed with Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Gilda Radner, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Farley, Steve Carrell, Steven Colbert, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler,
Dave Pasquesi, Charna Halpern, Mick Napier, Ali Faranakian, and Armando Diaz among others.

Visit our website for details on all upcoming workshops:
http://www.artisticnewdirections.org/classes.html

Improvisatinal Techniques for Actors with Gary Austin
Thursday, April 19 - 6:30p-10:30p

Audit Gary Austin's Solo Exploration Workshop ("48th St Exercise") with Gary Austin
Friday, April 10 - 6:30p-10:30p

The 15-Second Scene and Beyond with Gary Austin
Saturday, April 21 - 1:00p-6:00p

Characters and Their Voices with Wenndy MacKenzie
Sunday, April 22 - 1:00p-6:00p

David Razowsky Workshops for Actros who Improvise
Friday, April 27 through Sunday, April 29 - Details TBD

Scene Gym I - Extreme Listening with Rachel Hamilton
Thursday, May 10 - 6:00p-10:00p

Scene Gym II - Taking Risks with Rachel Hamilton
Saturday, May 12 - 1:00p-5:00p

Wednesday Night Improv Workout
led by Scotty Watson

To thank the actor/improvisers who give of their time by reading new works at our Anything Goes Open Rehearsals, for the 2008-09 season, we will be providing a FREE workshop in improvisation for actors who are attending Anything Goes. Scotty Watson (The Second City & AND) will run the workshop so that it is fully harmonious with the work of Gary Austin and of Michael Gellman... with some good old fashioned short form improv thrown in just for fun. It's a great workout for improvisers, a wonderful introduction to improvisation for actors and a darn good warm up for all of us attending Anything Goes. Attendees of the workshop will give a 15 minute performance at the beginning of Anything Goes, performing short scenes based on suggestions from the writers and other artists in attendance.

Wednesdays, 6:00p-7:15p - Check Calendar page for confirmation of dates.

This Workshop is free, to register contact info@artisticnewdirections.org

Payment by Credit Card is via Paypal with ArtNewDir@aol.com as the Payee. For more information please contact info@artisticnewdirections.org.