Workshops for improvisers and ensembles, led by Curt Mabry. Each one lists its purpose, level, length, group size and whether a show is included.
Formats are a guide. Hours are totals, and longer workshops can be split into a series. Most workshops can be shortened or adapted to your group, so lengths and group sizes here are indicative, not fixed bookings.
Levels. Experienced improvisers have about a year of performing short form and long form. Intermediate improvisers have about six months of training and at least two performances. Beginners have no experience.
Long-form improv that follows the fun. Relationship-based, character-driven scene work and playful heightening exercises, built around Bill Arnett's Detours structure.
Develop a duo's shared dynamic and a distinctive style. Coaching, larger group work and peer feedback lead to a 15-minute long-form set.
Create a brand-new form with your ensemble. Experiment with audience involvement, mindful breaking of the fourth wall and the game of the show.
Another way to the improv stage. Mixed-level groups explore devised improv structures, then perform The Feed, a show about the audience.
A participatory theatre-for-social-change workshop, developed by Augusto Boal. Participants build scenes from real-life situations involving social pressure or conflict, explore different perspectives and consequences, and step in to test alternative choices. It can be adapted to the group and context.
A playful, curiosity-led long-form playshop. Players tag out to follow impulses, details and mistakes into new scenes, without forcing connections or callbacks. Inspired by the Beer Shark Mice format.
Personal stories inspire truthful scenes. Participants turn real moments into character and relationship scenes, then perform an ensemble show built from what they found.
Character archetypes and relationships inside an improvised sitcom, with short-form commercial breaks. Based on a successful Zmack Shanghai show, now offered as a workshop in two formats.
A train-the-trainer workshop for improvisers. Learn to design, facilitate and sell applied improv workshops to corporate clients. Includes two follow-up Zoom coaching sessions with Curt.
Connect without words. Physical storytelling, object work, gibberish and emotional embodiment build trust and clarity across languages and cultures. The day ends with an ensemble piece made from sound and movement.
Scene diagnostics with personal coaching. You play duo, group and montage scenes and get sidecoaching, individual feedback and exercises.
A performance workshop on how ordinary awkward moments can reveal character, and how performers recover and keep playing. It is an improv workshop, not therapy.
Designing a winning show. Hosting, audience warm-ups, transitions, editing and venue choices that make a short-form show feel coherent and fun.
Improvising in other cultures. Practise listening, supporting and finding common ground in mixed-cultural ensembles, and connecting with intercultural audiences.
Improv beyond logic, inspired by the work of David Lynch. Explore dream logic, emotional truth, silence and nonlinear scenes. An optional performance format called the Red Room plays like a waking dream.
Radical self-expression through co-created micro-plays, inspired by the Neo-Futurist tradition. Participants write from honest prompts, shape fragments into short pieces using simple forms, and perform as themselves rather than as characters.
Empathy, intentional safety and relationship-driven scene work, using interpersonal skills that also help off the stage.
Curt also joins theatres and festivals for residencies, develops new shows with ensembles, and teaches The Working Improviser, a separate facilitator-training offer.
