Playback Theatre
Playback Theatre is a form of improvised theatre in which performers take personal experiences from audience members and turn those true stories into theatrical pieces. It is used around the world from public performances to private drama therapy sessions. Students will learn how to use their improv skills in fresh ways, while learning new tools they can apply to all of their improv work. Heightened listening and emotional connection converge in this artistically satisfying story-driven format that builds community for all involved.
- Prerequisitesprevious improv training/experience required Request this class
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It reminded me that improv comes from a place of truth, memory and emotion.
Applied Improv Workshop
The benefits of learning and exercising improv skills can help any group achieve their goals. In this workshop, the instructor will lead students through various enjoyable games which will focus on one or more of the following: confidence, listening, communication, mindfulness, collaboration, public speaking, creativity, thinking on one’s feet, and more. Then, the group will learn how to apply these skills to fit their team’s specific needs.
Contact Amanda if you’d like to schedule your own private workshop.
- PrerequisitesNo experience necessary Request this class
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I really enjoyed the safe environment that Amanda created. I am really a beginner and I never felt like an outsider during the workshop. Amanda made sure that we all walked away with a new skill and ways to think outside of the box!
Advanced Scene Study
Learn how you can nurture the skills needed to create grounded scenes that can sustain themselves for longer than just a few minutes. In this 8-week class for improvisers, we will focus on breaking out of any habits you may have formed that can hinder sustainable work, while we explore the small steps we can make to do truly sustainable, dynamic scenes. This class culminates with a graduation performance.
The Fall 2024 session will be at the Georgia Tech Campus.
- DatesSundays, 11am-2pm, September 22-November 17 (no class Oct. 27)
- Cost$280
- LocationStudent Center at Georgia Tech — 351 Ferst Dr NW, Atlanta, GA 30332
- Prerequisitesprevious improv training/experience required
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Amanda’s Advanced Scene Study Class is not just the best improv class I’ve taken, it’s the best performance class I’ve taken in general. She is incredibly specific with her instruction, pushing and pulling at each performer where they need it. At the end of each class, I walked away feeling challenged. At the end of the session, I walked away a stronger improviser and actor.
Personal Storytelling Workshop
Everyone can tell a personal story, but in this workshop for adults, you’ll learn some of the technical ins and outs of taking true events from your own life and weaving them into an engaging performance. We will touch on personal style, story structure, and different approaches in this introductory workshop. Storytelling skills build confidence, connection, and community.
This workshop is pay-what-you-can! Simply enter the amount you can pay (even if it’s just a dollar) when you register.
Contact Amanda if you’d like to schedule your own private workshop.
- PrerequisitesNo experience necessary. Request this class
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Being in a class with Amanda is never intimidating and always fun. Because the class is based in non-judgment and inclusion on all levels, you feel safe and open to discovery. Her honesty and openness are inspiring and it’s always a joy to be in a room with her.
Talk to Strangers
“Don’t talk to strangers!” Many improvisers treat the concept of avoiding scenes with strangers as an unbreakable rule of improv. But actually, with the right tools and using the right skills, improvisers can create very entertaining scenes between complete strangers. In this workshop, students will exercise those fun and important acting skills, elevating their play to engaging improvised theatre.
- Prerequisitessome improv training/experience required Request this class
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Amanda is not only a great improviser with years of experience, but she knows HOW to teach it.
Love the Suggestions You Hate
Sometimes, improvisers receive suggestions from the audience that they dislike. And even though the first rule of improv is to “yes, and,” they might say “no” and ask for a different idea, or perhpas they take the unwanted suggestion and use it for a joyless and completely uninspired scene. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to embrace and honor any audience suggestion to create engaging scenework.
- Prerequisitesprevious improv training/experience required Request this class
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Amanda’s teaching style was at once relaxed enough that I didn’t feel a need to impress, professional enough so that I felt compelled to do my best, and friendly enough that I didn’t feel it would matter how I did. Thankfully, with her coaching, I did better than my previous best and came away from her workshop feeling more confident in my abilities and able to approach Improvisation in a new manner.
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
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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.
Creating a Character (from the Inside Out) Workshop
In this one day workshop, students will explore what makes a character tick and how to go deeper than playing just a cartoonish caricature. Actors will exercise the techniques that assist in portraying genuine, believable characters who have heart.
- Prerequisitesprevious improv or acting training/experience required. Request this class
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Amanda’s Online Creating a Character Workshop is sensational. I left it with several new ways to find heartfelt and realistic characters, and a handful of specific new characters to summon as needed. I highly recommend this workshop and all of Amanda’s other classes. You need to know how to teach to make a difference, and she surely does.
Build a Form
We will create a new improvised format every single class! Based on the students’ improv experience and preferences, as well as an idea we will draw out of a hat, the director/instructor will lead the ensemble of students in exercises that move into a brand new mid-form or long-form improvisation each week. Students can sign up for just one class, the whole session of classes, or any number in between.
- Prerequisitesprevious improv training/experience required Request this class
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If Amanda offered Build a Forms Class all year long, I would take it every time. Experiment as an improviser with great friends. I’m in!
Improv for Teachers
No matter the age of your students, utilizing improvisation skills and games to supplement your personal teaching approach helps nurture new, dynamic ways of learning in the classroom. In this workshop, you will learn the basic principles of improv and how to apply those concepts to lessons across your curriculum, fitting your classroom’s specific needs.
- PrerequisitesNo theatre experience necessary. Request this class
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Improv is something that has always intimidated me. I’ve always felt that it’s far out of my league. This class opened up my understanding of what improv can be and showed me that I do have something to bring to the table.
La Ronde Workshop
‘The Round’ is a lovely improv format both on its own or as a jumping off point for a broader narrative, in which players explore characters, relationships, and dynamics. Students in this class will hone their character and relationship playing skills through exploring this format and learning all that it can teach us.
- Prerequisitesprevious improv training/experience required Request this class
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There’s a certain level of anxiety when taking an improv class. Amanda gets rid of the “fear of the unknown” with her Southern hospitality and charm. Come in nervous, leave with a great friend and coach. I can’t wait to take a class with her in person.
Scene Doctor
These classes are tailor-made for improvisers to get personal, specific feedback from the instructor on their improvised scenework. Students can inform the instructor of any goals they might have for themselves and/or request that she make her own recommendations based on their performance. Class size is limited.
Students can sign up for just one workshop, all six, or any number in between!
- Prerequisitesprevious improv training/experience required Request this class
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Amanda Rountree’s skill as an instructor is top notch. Her insight is amazing, and it is matched by her succinctness in giving constructive and critical feedback. She offers the learner clear directions on their path of development in the art of improvised theater and a deeper understanding of the nuances of performance.
Relationship Before Words
In this workshop, improvisers will learn how to easily establish relationships on stage before dialogue even begins. Integrating the use of space, physicality, object work and emotional reactions, this class helps put the “theatre” back into “improvised theatre,” creating the foundation for more engaging, sustainable scenework.
- Prerequisitesprevious improv training/experience required Request this class
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Amanda’s class has helped my improv skills grow and blossom more than any improv books I’ve read, or any other workshops I’ve taken before. Her approach to creating realistic and humanistic scenes focus on deep rooted emotional connections and strong relationships between characters…
Improvising Shakespeare Workshop
Improvising in this style might sound impossible, intriguing, or intimidating, but this introductory workshop will put you at ease. Students will gain familiarity and confidence with the language and style, learning the skills to bring this classic genre to life, through fun, improvised scenes.
- Prerequisitesprevious improv training/experience required Request this class
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For those that might see this and think, ‘hmm, sounds interesting, but…’ I have this advice: take the class. It will challenge your improv brain at a whole new level, and while it’s a lot of work to get good, it is also a freakishly fun format to perform.
Talk Like Shakespeare Workshop
If you felt like you could just never “get” Shakespeare in high school, this class will rectify that. In this fun workshop for adults, students will play enjoyable games and exercises to learn the difference between their “thees” and “thous.” Students will be throwing around both compliments and insults, Shakespeare-style, in no time!
- PrerequisitesNo experience necessary. Request this class
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Being in a class with Amanda is never intimidating and always fun. Because the class is based in non-judgment and inclusion on all levels, you feel safe and open to discovery. Her honesty and openness are inspiring and it’s always a joy to be in a room with her.
Dramatic Improv Fundamentals
Scripted theatre expresses all subjects, moods, and styles; improvisational theatre should have the same limitless possibilities. In this workshop, improvisers will learn the techniques needed to create a space in which dramatic improvised scenes can occur, without feeling forced or pretentious. Students will revisit and review acting techniques in a fresh way that is applicable to all improvised play. In this workshop, students can expect individual feedback on their scenework in a safe, supportive environment. Even improvisers who don’t have the goal of improvising dramatic scenes will gain skills to help improve all of their improv.
- Prerequisitesprevious improv training/experience required Request this class
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It reminded me that improv comes from a place of truth, memory and emotion.
Spoon River Workshop
Spoon River is a delightfully dark improv format based off the book, Spoon River Anthologies by E. L. Masters. Students in this one-day workshop will learn and play with the form, while working their character, storytelling, and monologue skills. With monologues as its core structure, Spoon River is an ideal format for online improvised play. We will explore the different approaches individuals and ensembles can make to this mostly forgotten format.
- Prerequisitesprevious improv training/experience required. Request this class
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Amanda’s teaching style was at once relaxed enough that I didn’t feel a need to impress, professional enough so that I felt compelled to do my best, and friendly enough that I didn’t feel it would matter how I did. Thankfully, with her coaching, I did better than my previous best and came away from her workshop feeling more confident in my abilities and able to approach Improvisation in a new manner.
From Online to Onstage
So many improvisers said “yes, and” to staying home and safe during the pandemic by creating and participating in online platforms for shows, classes, and jams. Even though that meant continuing to train and work all of those improv muscles, it also means that a re-entry into in-person improvisation might feel intimidating and even a little scary. If you feel good or confident about the online play you did, but a little nervous or hesitant about how it will feel to return to in-person improv, this workshop is for you.
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There’s a certain level of anxiety when taking an improv class. Amanda gets rid of the “fear of the unknown” with her Southern hospitality and charm. Come in nervous, leave with a great friend and coach. I can’t wait to take a class with her in person.