Latest Happenings
Come train at the ONLY theater
dedicated to dramatic improvisation.
Dramatic improv is not just useful for dramatic improvisors. It is incredibly helpful for scripted actors, to find intense, immediate moments, to be able to respond to directions without judgment, and to stay focused in the moment. It will also help your comedic improv. Get deeper, more layered characters and 3-dimensional stories that feel like a play. These are unique classes that will change your improv world. Learn from Theatre Momentum's Head Instructor, 30-year improv veteran, Tony Rielage. These classes focus on 2-person scenework and acting from an inside-out, psychological/neurological approach.
If you've been looking for the next evolution in your theatre training, Theatre Momentum is it. Our dramatic improv intensive will give you skills to become the best improv actor you can be, with focused, simple tools, and a grounded approach.
Theatre Momentum steps away from traditional improv and toward something rich and complex that explores the entire spectrum of human emotion.
This 2-day in-person intensive covers 3 levels of the TM Dramatic Improv style and one show structure. This class will focus on 2-person scenework and dramatic improv from an outside-in, psychological/neurological approach. Our approach touches on the teachings of Meisner, Boal, Lecoq, Maslow, Ramachandran, Shiv, and others.
Instructor: Tony Rielage
9 AM-6 PM, Sat/Sun, June 8-9
In-person at Studio Momentum
$350/person
Have you never set foot onstage before, but you want to learn about improv to improve communication skills, become a better listener, think quickly on your feet, and break out of your shell? Our Improv 101 classes are for you! 4 weeks of fun theatre games and smart, playful exercises will help you become an even better you. Learn how to read body language, listen deeply, and communicate fully.
Improv 101 is intended for the novice student. No experience necessary.
Instructor: Jackie Sestak
Saturdays, April 6-27, 10:30 AM-12:30 PM (4 classes)
In-person at Studio Momentum
$125/person
10-Week Courses + 2 Performances
ENVIRONMENT, RELATIONSHIP, STAKES, RESOLUTION.
When approaching improv for the first time, these are the tenets many students learn as the elements of a scene. Our new 10-week courses are standalone workshops that explore each of these fundamentals, with each course culminating in a 2-evening performance for friends, family, and the public.
The environment is an extra character in any improv scene, who will always agree with you and always support you. Solid object work creates a 3-dimensional world to play in and enhances every scene.
Learn the hows and whys of strong object work and craft complex, fleshed-out environments for your scenes. Use those spaces to make discoveries, build character, express emotion and relationship history, get out of your head, and find comfort in silence.
Sundays, April 21-July 28 (no classes 5/12, 5/26, 6/9, 6/30, 7/7)
12-2:30 PM
Performance dates (hosted at Green Shirt Studio)
Saturdays, August 3-10, 8 PM
Rich, vulnerable, 3-dimensional characters can draw in an audience, offer strong support to a scene, and open up opportunities for discovery and organic storytelling. Good scene relationships arise from the complex dynamics between such characters.
Learn how to explore simple physical tools to develop characters and stay in character, without delving into caricature. Learn how to hear your scene partners fully and connect to them emotionally in an instant, creating scenes with depth, dimension, and history.
Sundays, April 21-July 28 (no classes 5/12, 5/26, 6/9, 6/30, 7/7)
2:30-5 PM
Performance dates (hosted at Green Shirt Studio)
Saturdays, August 3-10, 8 PM
“Improv is acting. Improv is writing. Improv is theatre.”
Tony Rielage | Artistic Director, Head Instructor
Our Story…
In September 2005, now-Artistic Director Tony Rielage began Work(shop)-in-Progress, a weekly improv theatre lab designed to flesh out and polish a variety of improv show concepts he had brainstormed over the previous 10+ years. The workshop quickly evolved to bring in other performers’ concepts, and the brainstorming/polishing process was honed, with the help of Nick Kanel in the early months, Don Hall for over two years, and a variety of new coaches after that.
In early 2006, WiP spawned a handful of shows that ran briefly at the Playground Theater and the Apollo Studio Theater, under the banner ersatz theatre. After this period, Theatre Momentum began to evolve, and a new batch of shows began in 2007 under the TM name. TM has created over 40 shows since our inception, and in in 2019 opened our Dramatic Improv Training Center.
In addition to our latest shows, we have produced our signature day-long event, The 15 Hour Project, several times over the past 15 years. In October 2019, we launched the first Dramatic Improv festival. The best is yet to come. Theatre Momentum is always moving forward…
What is Dramatic Improv?
—
The Dramatic Improv Training Center
