307 W. 26th Street New York, NY 10001 (212) 366-9176

Join Our Mailing List
Switch to LA Site

Improv 201 — Game of the Scene

Saturdays 3:30-6:30pm starting Apr 26, 2008
Prerequisites: Completion of Improv 101
Cost: $325

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 three hours a week for eight sessions. 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

No Class May 24th.

Porter Mason

mason, porter
Porter Mason has been performing improv since 1997 and has been performing at the UCBT since 2000. He was a founding member of Duke University Improv, and went on to teach beginner and advanced level improv classes at the DSI Theater in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, as well as workshops at Duke University.

Porter began performing and directing at the UCBT in 2000, and has been involved in a variety of shows and groups, including My Kickass Van, Arsenal, B-Roll, and Anydayville. He currently performs with the Harold team, 1985, and a three-man group, T.J. Monkey's. Over the years, he's trained with a variety of great teachers, including Kevin Mullaney, Armando Diaz, Miles Stroth, Mick Napier and T.J. Jagodowski.

Porter's comic strip, "Bassist Wanted", appears in weekly newspapers across the country and online at http://bassistwanted.com. Porter is happy to have made your acquaintance.

Student Feedback

"Porter was an excellent teacher and was very helpful in explaining ideas and concepts."

"Porter was great at making difficult scenarios easy to understand."