"This is one of my all-time favorite games"

“This is one of my all-time favorite games.”

We’ve gotten used to hearing these words every Friday morning when we meet for The Stage’s Improv for Advanced Beginners Workshop. Under the instruction of Uri Lifshitz, a member of the Lamabati Improv Ensemble, we have been honing our improvisation skills for the past 8 weeks. We have a fairly large group with many different levels of theater and improvisation experience, yet Uri’s well-planned exercises and classes make improv accessible to everyone, regardless of their previous experience.

Not just a repeat of last year’s Improvisation Workshop, we’ve been introduced to new improv games and exercises, like “Harold,” When Harry Met Sally,” and “A dialogue in numbers,” which is exactly what it sounds like: players’ “dialogue” is restricted to successive numbers (ex: from 1 to 30). We’ve also revisited old friends like “Freeze Tag” and “La Ronde” and done some good old-fashioned object work.

(Uri Lifshitz, our Advanced Improv workshop instructor Credit: Steven Winston Photography)

The classes also work on group dynamics, helping us to focus and improve our concentration and observational skills to work better with our collaborators.

(participants of the 8-week Advanced Improv workshop)

This Wednesday (April 1st), we will have the opportunity to show off our improvisation skills in The Stage’s Spring Workshop Showcase. The members of the Improv Workshop will kick off the show with about 40 minutes of different short- and long-form improvisation games. Following this, members of the Musical Theater workshop will present their own showcase of musical theater standards.

Participants from The Stage’s Musical Theater workshop have been studying a variety of pieces chosen from such great American composers as Sondheim, Rogers and Hammerstein, and Gershwin. Their instructor, Dan Schwartzman, holds degrees from top institutions in America and Israel, and has spent the past 8 weeks nurturing the participants’ development and performances of their pieces.

The showcase starts at 8pm at Beit Yad Labanim (Pinkas 63) and is free to everyone!

See you there!

(Daniel Shwartzman, our Musical Theater workshop instructor Credit: Steven Winston Photography)