Improv Classes

In this fun and exciting interactive process, you will gain self-confidence, sharpen your communication skills, and learn the type of teamwork necessary to create something original and brilliant from scratch. Right from the start, our students are on their feet exploring hilarious exercises and skill-driven games in an incredibly supportive and fun environment under the guidance of our caring and experienced faculty,

Unexpected Productions’ teachers instruct the basics of improv, which are not only useful to improvisers, but to anybody wanting to work with others, as a member of a team, as an effective communicator, as a good listener, or simply as a friend!

All 100-600 classes are for ages 18+. Get ready to:

• Discover the joy of spontaneous storytelling
• Conquer fears
• Improve your job skills
• Spark creativity
• Meet people/make new friends
• Become a better listener
• Be a better problem solver
• HAVE A BLAST

Our celebrated education program is the most established improv school in the region. We host classes online. We offer 6 levels of classes with 4 quarters a year. We also offer specialty improv classes, storytelling, sketch and stand-up comedy classes from renowned teachers from around the globe.

Unexpected Productions’ Market Theater

1428 Post Alley
Seattle, WA 98101

The Improv School – Georgetown Studios

650 South Orcas, Suite 101
Seattle WA 98108

Redmond Community Center at Marymoor

6505 176th Ave NE
Redmond, WA 98052

Introducción a la Improvisación en Español. ¿Cómo lo hacen? Aprende lo básico de la improvisación. Descubra y practique el cómo escuchar mejor, usar su propia experiencia de vida para crear historias y trabajar en los principios fundamentales de la improvisación. La clase se centrará en la formación de equipos y en el concepto de que “si tu compañero se ve bien, tú te verás bien”. Se hará hincapié en comprender y utilizar las habilidades básicas de trabajo en escena y, lo que es más importante, divertirse. Muchas risas y clases muy activas. Bajo la guía de nuestra increíble de instructora, aprenderás a:

• Ser un mejor oyente
  • Conquista los miedos
  • Espontaneidad
  • Conoce gente nueva / Haz nuevos amigos
  • A ser un mejor solucionador de problemas
  • Desarrollar confianza en ti mismo
  • Aceptar equivocarse con más facilidad
  • Decir más “si” en tu vida
  • Salir de tu zona de confort
  • Conviértete en un mejor orador público
  • Descubre más sobre ti mismo

Estar en el aquí y ahora

Todos los estudiantes comienzan en este nivel. Es un requisito para los otros niveles.

Developing Your Voice: for Singers, Actors, and Storytellers

Thursdays 5/13 & 5/20  from 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Find your voice, understand how it works as an instrument, and learn tools to become a better singer, speaker or performer.
This online class is open to anyone who wants to learn to sing and speak with control and confidence. All levels are welcome, no experience necessary.
Here’s what students are saying about the class:
“Thank you, Sarah and Guy! I learned more about how my “instrument” works with various vowel and consonant sounds than I did from the vocal training I’ve had. Very illuminating and helpful to both speaking and singing. Sarah and Guy work beautifully together in this digital format. Bravo!”
“Guy and Sarah are extremely pleasant people to take class from with excellent attitudes. I also had no concern as a student about your levels of expertise on the subject and I felt I learned much about the technical parts of singing and using the voice.”
You’ll learn to create a full, resonant sound and project your voice as a performer in any style. The instructors use fun, playful and proven techniques that encourage exploration without judgment or failure. You’ve always dreamed of being a real singer or speaker, right? This class is the perfect way to make that happen!

Classes: Two 90-minute classes taught on Zoom. Thursdays May 13 and 20 from 7:00-8:30pm.
Class size: No limit
Level: Basic-Intermediate with Advanced performers welcome to attend. No experience needed.
Content:
How the vocal apparatus produces sound
Breathing and tone production
Resonance and projection
Singing on vowels, emphasis with consonants
Simple daily exercises
Examples and analysis

Online Movement Class with Felipe Ortiz

Dates: June 5, 12, 19 & 26 – 4 Saturdays
Time: 11-12:30 PDT

Movement just for the pleasure of connecting with your body. Improve the possibilities of your body in motion as you develop your mobility, strength, and flexibility.

Through some dance, physical theater, acrobatics, martial arts and movement techniques we will dive into a deep connection with our body and it´s possibilities. We seek for a type of body that is expressive, available, and ready to react.

All bodies are different so we will explore what our possibilities and limits are.

This workshop is designed for actors, improvisers, dancers, circus artists and in general to everyone that is interested in exploring and connecting to movement

Dates: June 5, 12, 19 & 26 – 4 Saturdays
Time: 11-12:30 PDT Check your time here: https://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/
Location: Online
Maxium Students: 10
Cost: $150
Prerequisite: Some movement experience or active in general

Teacher Bio:
Felipe is a founding member of La Gata Cirko and PICNIC impro. Has been working on improvisation theatre, clown, and new circus from a physical approach since 1995.

He´s a reference in the improv world for his skills and experience with improv, physical theatre, and clowning.

Contemporary dance, stage fighting, acrobatics, capoeira, mask, clown and buffoon are part of his background studied and trained with wonderful teachers such as: Keith Johnstone, Patti Stiles, Shawn Kinley, Phillipe Gaullier. He´s part of the Orcas Project, an improv research group directed by Randy Dixon.

Felipe has worked in South America, North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia, teaching and performing with different schools, festivals, and improv companies.

Creating Stage-Worthy Personal Narrative Stories Online Workshop

6 Sundays June 13 – July 25 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm (skipping July 4)

Learn to tell a “Moth-type” story or any story on stage, online, at work and with friends. Get comfortable on stage. This workshop explores the art of oral storytelling including story creation, enhancement, and presentation. Learn simple practical story guidelines and step-by-step tools, to create incredible honest stories from your life experience. Kent’s personable presentation style on the creative process combined with small groups, large groups, and individual writing and improv exercises will take you through a fun process of developing a stage-worthy story over 6 weeks. Learn how to share stories that are genuine, generous, and vulnerable in a fun creative space. We use the writing tools from Natalie Goldberg’s book, Writing Down the Bones, narrative improv games, the use of sense memory, and unique storytelling techniques to create a “stage-worthy” story. This workshop is perfect for novice storytellers, or a chance to add to the skillset of a seasoned performer. Come share your story.

Attendance at the first session of your class is mandatory as it sets the agenda for the entire class. If you think you will have to miss the first class, please consider registering for the next quarter.

Skills offered in class:
Successful storytelling techniques
How to identify story arc
identify the difference of scenic detail versus narrative description
How to create story stakes
How to identify story-worthy material
How to gain audience trust
Become comfortable on stage or online
Objective: To create a stage-worthy to be presented in front of a live audience

Dates : 6 Sundays June 13 – July 25 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm (skipping July 4) Chechk your time here https://www.thetimezoneconverter.com NOTE: Attendance at the first session of your course is mandatory as it sets the agenda for the entire quarter. If you think you will have to miss the first class, please consider registering for the next time the class is offered.

Location: Zoom Performance: Class participants are invited to tell their stories at a live online performance showcase (not required) on the
Maximum Students: 8
Cost: $200
Prerequisite: None
Ages: 18+

A Room Tells Many Stories with Beatrix Brunschko

Sundays, June 6, 13, 20 & 27, 11-12:30 PDT

Discover fantastic stories in your workspace and in those of others. All you need is the willingness to let your imagination run wild, and to connect with the imagination of the other participants.

The rooms in which we sit, all connected to each other online, serve as inspiration. These screen windows reveal details, both fascinating and banal, that can be the source of fictional stories.

In the past year we have all taken a peek into the rooms of our Zoom partners and curiously imagined little stories. In this workshop we consciously serve our curiosity and make our rooms available to each other, in order to improvise new stories in them.

These stories can only arise if we are flexible and free from judgment. Improvising means adapting immediately to constantly changing situations. If we look at our rooms with new eyes, we free ourselves from what we know. We don’t presuppose anything, we start to shape it.

Every room tells a story … and maybe has many more stories hidden within. How many will we find out together?

Dates: June 6, 13, 20 & 27 – 4 Sundays
Time: 11-12:30 PDT Check your time here: https://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/
Location: Online
Maximum Students: 10
Cost: $150
Prerequisite: Students who have taken Improv 200 and up

lysis

Spontaneous Myth with Randy Dixon

Mondays June 7, 14, 21 & 28, 11am-12:30pm PDT

Spontaneous storytelling is a place where mythic thinking and archetypal images are allowed to live. The myths and images of the imagination arise from the emptiness in improvisation. We have to rely on each other, or we will fail. Improvisation uses image to connect with story and archetype. Images from the imagination are allowed to breathe and the archetypes allowed to live.

The workshop will focus on the creation and use of images to invoke ancient stories as well as the ones emerging today. What was happening thousands of years ago can influence what happened today. We are living myth. Through the use of image work, ritual, personal storytelling we will try to create a safe space to explore the stories that touch us at our cores. We will “get out of our skins” and learn to about the honesty of play. We will use our dream images to create plays. It will be hard work and a high level of risk will be involved.

Any format of improvisation is the container for mythological imagination. Improvisation allows us to explore the uncharted, unmapped territories of our stories and live explore another day. We can see our myths and tell the tale together.

David Mamet in Writing in Restaurants says, “The theater is not a place where one should go to forget, but rather a place where one should go to remember”. To remember our stories, to remember our origins, to see through a mythical lens that can enhance our lives.

Dates: June 7, 14, 21 & 28 – 4 Mondays
Time: 11am-12:30pm PDT Check your time here: https://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/
Location: Online
Maximum Students: 10
Cost: $150
Prerequisite: Improv 100
About the Instructor, Randy Dixon

“On top of being an art form, improvisation is a force for good encouraging people to listen, cooperate, and stimulate their imagination, their creativity, and their generosity without imposing some kind of ideology on them. This force needs to be spread, and I believe Randy Dixon deserves to be at the core of this venture.” Mignon Reme, Artistic Director of Hidden Shakespeare in Hamburg, Germany.

Randy Dixon is one of the most experienced improvisational artists in the Northwest. He has extensive experience in teaching and directing the Harold format. He is considered the creator of the “Seattle Harold.” He has appeared on television, film, and local stages. In 1983, he was a founding member of Unexpected Productions, home to Seattle’s longest-running show, Seattle TheatreSports™. Randy has served as the Artistic Director of Unexpected Productions since 1988. He has conceived, directed, and acted in thousands of shows. He is also the founder of the international improvisation group, Orcas Island Project.

Randy teaches, performs, and directs improvisational theater all over the world. His book on improvisation, Being Present: Spontaneous Storytelling and the Art of Improvisation was published in German. In addition, he consults with many companies and corporations using applied improvisation. Randy has a B.F.A. in Drama and a Master’s Degree in Mythological Studies.

Exploring Creative Roots with Yuri Kinugawa Lecture/Discussion

Thursday, June 17th Time: 7-9:00 PM PDT

Why does the fire that burns in the core of my heart continue to burn? As a Japanese woman and a theater artist, I think about why I continue to improvise in the context of Japanese culture and my own identity. In this lecture/discussion, we explore the origins of expression and the mechanism of creativity. This exploration is informed by recent findings in cognitive science research on creativity and mastery, as well as my own research. I will be assisted by Randy Dixon, Artistic Director at Unexpected Productions.
Date: Thursday, June 17th
Time: 7-9:00 PM Seattle time PDT https://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/
Location: Online
Maximum Students: 12
Cost: $45
Teacher Bio:
Actor, Improvisor, Director, Writer, Researcher. Yuri has been a professional actor for over 30 years and an improviser for 26 years.
She began her career as a theatre actress in Tokyo and then began improvisation theater under Keith Johnston, Lyn Pierse and Charna Halpern) while moving into film and TV. She has performance and teaching experience of Improvisation in the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Holland, Switzerland, Colombia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. As a writer, she has published 4 books about improvisation & voice training and 2 translated books (English to Japanese).
She is researching improvisation and creativity using Cognitive Science towards a PhD at the University of Tokyo. She graduated MA (1st Class Hons) from University of Auckland & MA from University of Tokyo.
Art director of Impro Works Ltd. http://www.impro-works.info/
A member of Orcas Island Project https://www.facebook.com/groups/148709738485646/
International Theatresports Institute Asia representative. https://impro.global
A member of Auckland Zen Center. http://www.aucklandzen.org.nz
Awards
Best Actress 1998 Stockholm International Film Festival.
Best Foreign Performer 1998 New Zealand Film Awards.
(Memory & Desire, Director Niki Caro).
Best Presentation Award Japanese Cognitive Science Society 2019.

Why Improv for Teens? In Youthprov, students learn the fundamentals of good improvisation through games and exercises. The games are fun and entertaining but they are also a creative process that encourages support, active listening being present, and intelligent risk-taking on and off the stage.
We help teens build self-confidence, public speaking ability, and cooperation all while having a blast! Our classes boost our student’s confidence, curiosity, and creativity.

Improv teaches us to accept mistakes as gifts and communicate thoughts and ideas more effectively. AND, LIKE WE MENTIONED… IT’S FUN!

The focus is on creating ensemble work in a safe, supportive, and fun environment. Students have a blast, make friends and gain incredible life skills.

Students take classes to:
• Improve listening skills
• Improve their public presentation skills
• Gain amazing teaming skills
• Overcome shyness
• Build confidence
• Improve communication skills
• Think on their feet
• Take intelligent risks
• Come out of their shell
• Have a safe place to take risks

Dates: 8 Saturday classes
Time: 10:00am-12:00pm
Location: Online
Cost: $240  ($252.99 including fees)
Prerequisite: None
Ages: 12 and above