Not At All Human
From gods to gremlins; parakeets to pencils, when improvisers try to play characters so wholly unrelated to themselves, they can get stuck. It can sometimes be difficult to fully commit to an unfamiliar reality, which can cause abandoned ideas and flailing scenes. In this workshop, players will exercise both the physical and not-so-physical skills it takes to sustainably play non-human characters, opening up new worlds for scenes and longer narratives.
- Prerequisitessome improv training/experience required Request this class
What People Are Saying:
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Amanda’s ‘Not At All Human’ class provides tips and techniques to help improvisers create nonhuman characters that not only reflect the physical features of the character, but also their personality, point of view, and objects of their desire. There are exercises which help the student get grounded in the different body type (e.g., where is the new center of gravity, how does it feel to have wings or a tail, how do the sedentary natures of rocks and trees differ). There are also exercises that focus on what makes a nonhuman character tick. ...While there is lots to learn, Amanda focuses on the fun. There isn’t much point of playing a 'fantastical fungus with sensual spores' if you’re not having fun. So, come for the instruction, stay for the fun, and then look for reasons to bring nonhuman characters to your improv play.
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Amanda has proven to have a sixth sense about what Improv formats work brilliantly as online workshops. I’ve loved all her pandemic classes. But “Not at All Human” may be my favorite. It sparked my imagination unlike any other Improv class I’ve ever taken before. It’s far easier to play a pencil than a person, because you know nobody knows how a pencil’s supposed to act anyway. It’s liberating.
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Amanda has a knack for making learning fun more than any other improv teacher I've worked with.