Electives

Improv4Kids Summer Camp: Do you know a funny kid just itching to get on stage? Loves playing? Creative thinker? Lots of energy? Smart, thoughtful, kind? Do you want that child to thrive by learning collaboration and feeling joy by co-creating with others? Improvisation is the way! Welcome to The Nest Theatre’s Summer Camp, a one week experience for kids 14-18 to try improv and play their hearts out.

The Sketch Project: Second City etc performer and touring company/boatco/theatrical director, Andel, will be assisting Nesties through their first beginning sketchwriting & performance class!

Beyond all the cool parts of this completely innovative course, you will have material you’ve made to keep and implement or pitch for sketch shows of your own at The Nest, as well as new tools to get you there for starting to create your own voice and work.

Four classes will run each Tuesday evening
Jan 7, 14, 21, 28 6pm-8pm
Tech weekend will be Sat Jan 31 2-6pm & Sun Feb 1, 12-3pm,
with a 3pm mini revue on Sun Feb 1!

Improv4Kids Fall Camp – Age 10-14:

Do you know a funny kid just itching to get on stage? Loves playing? Creative thinker? Lots of energy? Smart, thoughtful, kind? Do you want that child to thrive by learning collaboration and feeling joy by co-creating with others? Improvisation is the way! Welcome to The Nest Theatre’s Improv4Kids, a five-week experience for kids 10-14 to try improv and play their hearts out.

ComedySportz High School League – Ages 15-18:
Do you know a funny kid just itching to get on stage? Loves playing? Creative thinker? Lots of energy? Smart, thoughtful, kind? Do you want that child to thrive by learning collaboration and feeling joy by co-creating with others? Improvisation is the way! Welcome to The Nest Theatre’s Improv4Kids, presenting ComedySportz shows and now it’s High School League – a five-week experience for high schoolers to try improv and play their hearts out via the ComedySportz format.

The Nest will be holding a Musical Improv-immersion camp (MIC!)

*10am-3pm classes each day
*all lunches provided
*passes to ALL shows included
*$40 off new airbnb bookings for out of towners
*Nest SWAG for fun & camp show
*class capped for maximum work
*class showcase 2pm sunday on our mainstage

During the weekend, amongst other shows, our musical ensemble will do one of their forms (Mixtape) and HERE the Musical (touring now & headlining in 20 countries/60+ cities) will perform on the mainstage. You will be taught by Tara & Rance of HERE, along with the musical direction of our MD David Schmoll (Boom Chicago Amsterdam, The Nest Theatre). …Then, YOU will have a show!

This is open to all musical improv abilities, especially novice and intermediate practice.

The Canvas: An exciting new form at The Nest, this comedic and dramatic longform improvisational show takes a blank stage and uses multiple scenepainting techniques to draw a location the for audience. We meet the inhabitants of each location, and to move the show from scene to scene, the actors swiftly assist one another to make new locations within which to play. An exciting blend of comedic improv, dramatic moments, and breaking of all fourth walls – this show is a great longform show to see!

PREREQUISITE: Completion of Level 2

The Movie: We’ve all been to the movies, but have you created one on the spot? In this classic Chicago improv form you will!

Long time Chicago improv veterans, and owners of The Nest Theatre will guide you through the skills to create improvised movies based on audience suggestions of titles or even genres. This form will take the skills you’ve already learned at The Nest and add in new editing techniques.

This two-night immersion on the form will ideally lead to a show or two at The Nest playing for audiences. 2 nights of classes…AND A SHOW!

PREREQUISITE: Completion of Level 3 and Signed Up for Level 4

Storytelling with Janna Sobel: Janna Sobel has been in the world of Storytelling for years. She’ll be coming to Columbus from Chicago to help you find your voice, and write for the purpose of storytelling. If you’ve wanted to do Word or get more out of your stories, take this. Trust us.

BEER, SHARK, MICE/Slacker Dash: This freeing form begins with a group scene, then continues to be built around the use of tag-outs to transition to new scenes. It is similar to a La Ronde, but with no restrictions with regard to the order of tag outs or the number of characters one might play. The form has been attributed to the team Beer Shark Mice who made the form famous in the 90s, with many teams to follow utilizing the same formula. If you like fast-paced, character-rich, fun play, this is a great fit for you. This two-night immersion on the form will ideally lead to a show or two at The Nest playing for audiences. 2 nights…AND A SHOW!

PREREQUISITE: Completion of Level 3

The Harold Elective: Ever wanted to learn Chicago-style improvisation and its classic form – from two Chicago improvisers? Now you can! The Harold was designed by Del Close as an unplayable exercise, and is now the most popular improv form in the world. This 3-day boot camp will put you through the paces of the form, and give you keys to a Training Wheels Harold.

PREREQUISITE: Completion of Level 4

The Harold Elective (ADVANCED): Breaking the form and following the bliss of Harold is every veteran team’s main objective after years of playing the style. Find out more tools to undoing the strict format of the construct, and going for the pure magic of an electric art form. 3-day bootcamp…AND A SHOW!

PREREQUISITE: Completion of The Harold Elective

JTS BROWN & The Philosophy of Play – This was a mainstay show in Chicago, designed for a large cast, to involve as many players as possible at a time. This form was one of the first shows to convince critics improv was an artform, and strived for a higher level of theatricality and polish than a typical show. Generally, one encourages any move to be made at any time, with the idea that anything that happened was the perfect thing to happen. There is structure, several rules, and “gimmicks” that assist the theatricality – though it is complex, it strangely allows a lot of free will and opportunities for confident moves. Touched upon in level 4, this will be a 2-day exploration into the form and will ideally lead to performing a few shows at The Nest after we’re done if we are feeling great about it – chances are, we will.

PREREQUISITE: Completion of Level 4

Musical Improv: The Fundamentals – Musical Improv is now one of the most popular types of our artform, worldwide – so, how do we do it? This workshop will address the basics of improvised singing – making or joining a song, forming a chorus, the confidence of stepping through lyrics, and most importantly what we must have to DRIVE the improviser to sing in the first place. Good scenework begets good songs, and we’ll look at all the structure around making a well-rounded musical performer. 2-day boot camp!

PREREQUISITE: Level 3 OR enrollment in Level 3

Musical Improv (ADVANCED): Making A Show – Now that you have a few reps in forming songs and scenes, how can we put it together? There are all types of musicals – the Hero’s Journey, Narrative/Linear, Lateral-Harold, etc. – and in this class, we will put together an easy version of a musical show for us to practice. After we play a bit and get comfortable in the form, we will have a show to celebrate as a class! 2-day boot camp…AND A SHOW!

PREREQUISITE: Musical Improv 1

Writing for Late Night: Writers gather in this six-week class to study style and craft their own jokes in the style of a classic late night show. We do course evaluations of monologues, desk bits, and sketches, then try writing our own one-time late night show and hire actors to do our bits “on-air” (a one-time live show in front of an audience at The Nest)!

PREREQUISITE: Completion of or current enrollment in Level 3