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Improv 401 — Harold Workshop

Thursdays 7-10pm starting May 01, 2008
Prerequisites: Completion of Improv 301
Cost: $300

This course offers students the chance to strengthen their own individual skills while simultaneously allowing them more practice with the long form improvisation performance known as the Harold.

One goal of the course is to help students perform stronger scenes. The instructor will use the first half of the course to identify and troubleshoot any weaknesses that the individual players may be demonstrating.

The other goal of the course is to allow students to continue to perform full Harolds. The instructor will use “side-coaching,” or feedback given during an improvised piece as it is happening, in order to facilitate success in the students’ improvised scenes. The instructor will also give notes after each performance in order to enhance and improve the quality of future performances.

This course meets for three hours a week for eight weeks. Students will perform in two class performances at the UCB Theatre – once halfway through the course and once at the end. Graduation is also contingent upon students seeing at least two improvised shows at the UCB Theater before the end of the course.

Class Size: 16 Students

Class meets at Lyric Hyperion Theatre in Silverlake

Billy Merritt

merritt, billy
Billy Merritt has been with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre since its inception, teaching, directing, and performing. He has performed in over 50 different shows at the theater including ASSSSCAT, Killgore, Harold Night, The Real Real World, Immortal Kombat, Robot TV, the Third Degree and Gigantic Man. He has developed such shows as Piledriver, The Sunshine Gang, Brain Town and Rat Radio. Billy was one of the founding members of The SWARM, and improvised most recently in The Stepfathers and with Michael Delaney in Omelette Vision.

Billy's television credits include MTV's Boiling Points, VH1's Best Week Ever, VH1's Sledgehammer, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Comedy Central's Straight Plan for the Gay Man, Bravo's Great Things About..., and most importantly, the Upright Citizens Brigade TV show.

Billy is currently working with the Premiere Radio Network on a new morning comedy radio show called Punch Line Live.

Student Feedback

"Billy is excellent at building group mind and making the entire class take an active role and stake in the class. I looked forward to every class, to working the form and seeing my classmates. it was the most encouraging, open, fun class in recent memory. Billy wants his students to have fun, to learn, to care about the class."

"Billy's energy + enthusiasm rocks"

"Billy is a great and supportive teacher, just the right amount of support and constructive criticism. Very funny and fun too."

"Billy is an amazing teacher! It's easy to tell just how passionate he is about improv, which is inspiring and makes the class more fun and rewarding."

"Billy ran class like a rehearsal and treated us like professionals. His compotence, and awareness made me feel safe and confident. His love for the craft, and sense of play, are contagious. He has an infinite amount of room on his band wagon of fun. He has a great spirit of exploration and enthusiastically includes everybody on his journey. He brings out the best in every actor and at the same time has a great command of the room."