Austin Improv

Founder and artistic director of Seattle's Unexpected Productions is doing a weekend of workshops in Austin February 11-13.



Randy is one of the most experienced improvisational artists in the Northwest and has been synthesizing the various schools of improv thought since 1988.

Make sure to get in on at least one of these sessions:

Raising the Stakes in Your Scenes and Stories
Learn how and when to raise the stakes in order to make a story more compelling and interesting. Make offers that put the characters at risk and drive a story towards something worthwhile. Make your scenes mean something!
Saturday Feb 11, 1-4pm

Personal Storytelling Through Myth
Use classic mythic motifs to unlock your personal story for use on stage, inform your improvisation and find deeper meaning for your audiences through your work.
Sunday Feb 12, 3:30-6:30pm

The Mechanics of Great Scenes
If scenes and comedy are ultimately stories, then we need to understand the basic structure that makes them tick.
Monday Feb 13, 7-10pm

Workshops are a crazy cheap $35
More details and registration online

This guy runs an improv EMPIRE in Seattle. Really, really cool stuff. This is definitely someone worth learning from (and a great connection to make)!

I think I'm gonna take Personal Storytelling Through Myth.

Randy is a great teacher and a great guy. I took a workshop from him about 9 years ago and it still ranks as one of my favorite of all time. I highly recommend you get in on this!!

kaci_beeler wrote:This guy runs an improv EMPIRE in Seattle. Really, really cool stuff. This is definitely someone worth learning from (and a great connection to make)!

I think I'm gonna take Personal Storytelling Through Myth.

yes, that one seems right up my alley. excited!

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:

kaci_beeler wrote:This guy runs an improv EMPIRE in Seattle. Really, really cool stuff. This is definitely someone worth learning from (and a great connection to make)!

I think I'm gonna take Personal Storytelling Through Myth.

yes, that one seems right up my alley. excited!

Ditto. I'll be there!

Randy Dixon is an amazing teacher. I took a workshop with him years ago at an Applied Improv Conference. Besides being innovative, smart, and eloquent, he's the best I've seen at integrating all different improv schools of thought. In the workshop I took, he quoted or referenced all the major gurus and styles in two hours of teaching, in a seamless and eye-opening way. Definitely recommended.

Holy shit. I just discovered this podcast interview with Randy Dixon.

He was in the room when Del Close died.
Keith Johnstone slept on his couch when in Seattle.
He's been doing improv in Seattle since the early eighties in every possible style.

This guy is living improv history.

http://theflintpodcast.com/page/3/

I can't decide between the Saturday and Sunday classes. I'm leaning towards the Myth one, though. Sounds like it will tickle the Joseph Campbell part of my brain.

Here's a brief Q&A with Randy!

What kind of work is Unexpected Productions doing right now? Anything that you're especially excited about?

We are excited to be moving back into our 220-seat venue. The last six months we have be in a 500 seat venue! The current show is Blank Slate, where the audience writes the show. They make all the key decisions. It's a great form to train actors to trust story. In general, I am especially excited about Unexpected Productions bringing theatricality back to improv through metaphor, symbol, movement and ritual. Trying to get away from talking heads.

Register for Raising the Stakes in Your Scenes and Stories Saturday, Feb 11, 1-4pm, $35

How did you get interested in the myth and personal story work?

I grew up interested in myth. As I began traveling to teach and direct, I noticed a lot of the same material kept coming up again and again. I recognized this as mythic, and it was the same everywhere I went. I knew I wanted to go deeper into this material, so set about to study systems of myth and belief, which is really about how story lives in us.

Register for Personal Storytelling Through Myth Sunday Feb 12, 3:30-6:30pm, $35

You're one of the original synthesizers of the two dominant schools of improv (Chicago and Johnstone). Where do you see them overlapping? What are the most striking differences in your mind?

Great question. Well, off the top of my head, I think they overlap as two paths to the same destination. I think they mingle well and are very. very useful to each other. The differences in very general terms is the Chicago style seems very broad and general, big strokes of structure. Johnstone's work is very specific and geared towards giving the improviser focused skills.

How would you sum up your philosophy of scene work in a sentence or two?

The audience comes to TELL a story, not WATCH a story. Our job is to give them the means to do that.

Register for The Mechanics of Great Scenes Monday, Feb 13, 7-10pm, $35

Randy Dixon is shrewd, generous and impossibly articulate.

He slows down improv to its bare, beautiful bones.

Can't recommend him enough.

T

just signed up for personal storytelling through myth

There still 2 spots left in today's workshop!

plus a handful left in the Sunday and Monday ones.

http://www.hideouttheatre.com/classes/r ... nworkshops

I really enjoyed the personal storytelling through myth workshop today! Lots of really interesting exercises and insight into communicating emotional truth through narrative.

Go take Monday's workshop, people!

Oh man! The Personal Storytelling Through Myth workshop from Randy was awesome!
I really love his style, I had many effortless "ah-ha!" and "yes! that!" moments today. I can't wait to start putting those thoughts into the work.

I hear there are a few spots open in Monday night's workshop, and I can't recommend him highly enough.

He's worked with Del, he's worked with Keith, and he's blended so much together into a really well thought out way of working. It's hard to explain...but this is good shit.

Ditto. I have a feeling I will be saying "Randy Dixon said..." for a long time. Really interesting stuff about improv, theater, and culture in general.