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Improv 201 — Game of the Scene

Wednesdays 3-6pm starting May 07, 2008
Prerequisites: Completion of Improv 101
Cost: $300

The UCB Theatre Training Center bases their curriculum around the idea that all quality individual comedic scenes focus in on one central comedic idea – this idea is referred to as “The Game” of the scene.

This course will focus on teaching students how to use the idea of “The Game” to create their improvised scenes. Students will be taught how to identify “games” within their scenes, and how to use the concept of heightening to properly play out their scenes once they have them. (Heightening is finding new ways to make your scenes get funnier from start to finish.) The class will heavily focus on learning how to use patterns to fill out comedic scenes based around one central “game.”

Students will also be introduced to the idea of “second beats,” or returning to scenes, characters, and concepts from earlier in an improvised piece.

This course meets for 8 sessions that are each 3 hours long. At the end of the course, students will take part in a class performance at the UCB Theatre. Graduation is also contingent upon students seeing at least two improvised shows at the UCB Theater before the end of the course.

Class Size: 14 Students

Class meets at MetaTheatre in West Hollywood

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."