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Course Catalog

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PHILOSOPHY

Mission Statement

The Upright Citizens Brigade Improvisation and Sketch Comedy Training Center's mission is to foster the evolution of comedy by providing its students with the highest quality of professional training in both long form improvisation and written sketch comedy.

Through study and practice, we aspire to instill in our students a passion for the creation of their own unique comedic voice and their continual evolution as comedic performers and writers. The training center's relationship with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre enables it to serve as a laboratory for both accomplished comedians and new students to stage their craft. The Training Center enjoys a symbiotic relationship with the UCB Theatre, a major comedy venue. This allows the Training Center to use the theatre as a laboratory for new students to stage their craft.

The Upright Citizens Brigade Improvisation and Sketch Comedy Training Center (referred to for the rest of this document as the UCB Training Center) provides our students with instruction based on a distinct, proven, "game-based" improvisation and sketch writing curriculum. Our curriculum, originally developed by the UCB, is constantly reviewed and improved by some of the most respected comedians and instructors in the industry.

The Upright Citizens Brigade Training Center is located in the heart of Manhattan, the entertainment capital of the world. In addition to its reputation as one of the most lauded comedy theaters and training grounds in the nation, our location helps us offer our students opportunities to both make valuable connections with other comedians and practice their craft onstage.

We offer our students a myriad of opportunities to learn as students, practitioners, and spectators of our style of comedy. The training center and theater work in tandem to foster this goal, most notably through our policy of allowing students free access to those shows at our theater that illustrate the concepts taught in our classes.

The UCB Training Center is committed to being a vital cultural force in the diverse performance communities of New York City, Los Angeles, and the world.

Goals & Objectives

COMEDIC METHOD

The UCB Training Center, as an institution, shall break down the basics of comedic writing and performance for our students through the teaching of a proven comedic method.

  1. By offering affordable courses on improvisational and sketch comedy, we provide our students instruction in the basics of comedic performance and writing.
  2. By ensuring opportunities to perform on our stages in New York and Los Angeles, we shall help our students hone their voices and take risks before a live audience.
  3. The faculty members of training center shall encourage our students to apply the skills they've learned from our courses in their own projects.

QUALITY INSTRUCTION

The UCB Improvisation and Sketch Comedy Training Center shall offer our students with instruction utilizing a distinct curriculum, built around our proven, game-based comedic method.

  1. All of our courses will be driven by carefully constructed curriculums built around our unique philosophy on comedy.
  2. The principles and rules taught in our courses will help students to better consistently produce comedic material, both when writing and improvising.
  3. Our course curriculums will be periodically reviewed and improved by our faculty adviser and senior faculty members.
  4. Changes and improvement to our course curriculums will be driven in part by feedback from our student body.
  5. The instruction students receive as they move through our core curriculum will be fluid, with lessons organically building on the skills and concepts taught in earlier courses.
  6. The instructors of higher-level courses shall be dedicated to helping our advanced students improve as individual writers and performers.

RESEARCH

The UCB Training Center shall be dedicated to using research as a means to constantly improve our instruction and the learning experience for our students.

  1. The Academic Supervisor will review historic, current, and new comedic content related to the performance or instruction of improvisation and sketch writing in order to make improvements and adjustments to our curriculum.
  2. Students in the improv program will be encouraged to make research a part of their learning experience by reading selected instructional books in conjunction with their courses.
  3. Instructors in the writing program shall refer to and present celebrated sketch comedy in class and will encourage their students to improve their own writing by viewing as much sketch as possible.
  4. The UCB Training Center shall be home to a library of books, magazines and other publications written about comedy performance, writing, acting, directing, etc.

PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITIES

The UCB Training Center shall uphold its belief that performance is an essential part of training for comedy writers and performers.

  1. Our belief in the importance of learning as active practitioners of the comedic arts will be reflected in the many performance opportunities given to current and former students that the UCB Theatre.
  2. Most courses in improvisation and sketch shall include at least one performance on the UCB Theatre Main Stage.
  3. Some former and current advanced students shall be given a chance to perform regularly on house teams as a part of Harold Night (for improvisers) and Maude Night (for writers and sketch actors.)
  4. Students of the writing program shall be encouraged to workshop their material in exhibition slots set aside specifically for them on our main stage.
  5. Students of the improvisation program who take it upon themselves to create new improvised shows shall be able to submit these shows for consideration to the Artistic Director. Many of these shows shall be given exhibition slots on the main stage.
  6. The theater hosts shall continue to hold monthly open-mic nights for improvisation and sketch so that students can perform with different people in front of an audience.

CONNECTIONS

The UCB Training Center shall remain committed to maintaining our reputation as a meeting ground for working professionals in comedy.

  1. Many students shall be given unique opportunities to perform for the casting directors, agents, managers, and other industry professionals who also frequently attend shows at our main stage.
  2. The Training Center is committed to ensuring that many of its graduates and current teachers are working comedy professionals who will maintain connections with the Training Center, returning to either teach or perform at the Theatre.
  3. Those studying at the UCB Training center shall be able to benefit from the excellent reputation we have established among working professionals in the entertainment industry.

COMMUNITY

The UCB Training Center shall remain devoted to remaining the center of a thriving community of performers and students of comedy.

  1. The staff of the UCB Training Center shall continue to work in order to ensure the Training Center's reputation as a destination for like-minded individuals who are serious about receiving professional training in comedy to meet each other.
  2. The presence of the administrative offices on site at the training center will help reinforce our open-door policy in regards to communication between our students, staff and administration.
  3. Our on-site student lounge shall continue to foster a sense of community by serving as a meeting place for all students and teachers, regardless of level.
  4. Students shall be offered free admission to many of the improv and sketch shows at our theater, making it another place for all members of the community to interact.
  5. Our open mic shows, :improv jams," and shows where students can apply to perform shall continue to cultivate a community where most students feel that they belong.

SELF-EXPRESSION

The Training Center shall make one of its primary objectives to help our students learn how to use our methods to develop their own comedic voices.

  1. Our courses in improvisation and writing shall serve as laboratories for our students to experiment with their own ideas and performance or writing style.
  2. Our teaching staff shall actively encourage our student body to use our proven methods to create new, unique, and original comedy.
  3. We shall be dedicated to offering quality instruction to everyone interested in learning the basics of comedy writing and performing, helping those people who may not necessarily be interested in making a career out of comedy find ways to express themselves.