dig deeper
InTO your improV

ColdTowne Theater offers elective courses with community leaders and guest instructors, sometimes on niche topics, always with goal of offering improvisers a fun path towards well-roundedness. Now available:

The Perfect 6-Minute Scene w/Chuy Zarate (starting June 4)

Directing Improv w/Asaf Ronen (starting June 11)

Sustaining the Scene w/Jaime Moyer (June 19)

ESTEVAN J. (CHUY) ZARATE is an actor/director/coach/corporate trainer from San Antonio TX that has been improvising in front of audiences for 34 years. He is a member of The Big Bash at The Hideout Theatre, The Known Wizards (Merlinworks faculty troupe), Stool Pigeon at ColdTowne and more duos than he can count. He teaches all styles and formats being that he has a very eclectic tool belt to reach into. If there is a scenario to be performed in, he has probably performed it. With specialties in improv singing and grounded/character-driven scenework, Chuy has coached hundreds of kids, teens, students and adults for years to multiple successes.

THE PERFECT 6-MINUTE SCENE
WITH CHUY ZARATE

Prerequisite: This class is best suited for intermediate improvisers and above.

NOTE: This is a 6-week class that skips June 26.

Reconnecting with the basics of improv is necessary in order to progress as an actor. This class will help you to revive that inner spirit that you may have forgotten. You will practice making stronger connections and making stronger choices. With a diagnostic overhaul, you will be primed to evolve to the next level of improvisational acting “and build The Perfect 6-Minute Scene.”

Wednesdays, 8pm – 10pm
starting June 5

ASAF RONEN is the author of Directing Improv: Show the Way By Getting Out of the Way. He regularly performs, teaches and produces in Austin, was Education Director at The Institution Theater for eight years and is currently the Conservatory Director at ColdTowne Theater. He is also a Producer and Education Director of Austin’s annual Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. He has taught and performed improvisation in Canada, Great Britain, Norway and in twenty-eight of these United States with such groups as the B. Iden Payne Award winning Confidence Men (improvised plays in the style of David Mamet) and imp (mostly silent improv). He was also producer on TRUST US, THIS IS ALL MADE UP, a documentary on legendary improvisers TJ & Dave that premiered at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival in 2009 and helped develop the improvised film Days of Delusion with director Scott Myers. In 1999, Asaf founded the improv website, YESand.com of which he is Editor-in-Chief.

DIRECTING IMPROV
WITH ASAF RONEN

Prerequisite: For advanced students.

Improv might be the most challenging of the performing arts for a director to skillfully mold his cast, and this 6-week course will show you how to get the most out of your improvisers whether in a class or a rehearsal. Techniques for creating lesson plans, orchestrating rehearsals, and giving notes will be explored. Participants will be given the opportunity to apply the techniques through hands on experience directing each other, from devising the lesson plan to its execution.

Tuesdays, 8-10pm starting June 11

Wednesdays, 8-10pm starting June 12

JAIME MOYER is an alum of The Second City-Detroit, currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, and is a member of the acting unions SAG-AFTRA and AEA. She recently voiced a character on Fox's The Great North, and also appeared in The Bob's Burger's Movie. Jaime has had recurring roles on AP BIO, The new Night Court, The Great North, Modern Family, KC Undercover, Future Man, Bob's Burgers and more. Other favorite credits include Parks and Recreation, 2 Broke Girls, Detroiters, and Jennifer Falls. Jaime appeared onstage in "Twist Your Dickens" at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at The Portland Center Stage, in Portland, OR and at The Kirk Douglas in L.A. She has taught improvisation and performed all over the country, including workshops at The Washington Improv Theater, Go! Comedy, Dosage Improv Workshops, Unscrewed Theater, The Blue Brick Theater, Dallas Comedy House, Asheville Improv Collective, The Arcade Theater, The Siren Theater, Planet Ant, Camp Improv Utopia, Angel Comedy in the UK, ICC Theater in Denmark, and others. Jaime was awarded the sole prize of Maestro at The Out of Bounds Comedy Festival in Austin, Texas in 2011. She can be seen performing improv at Westside Comedy, The Glendale Room, The Lyric Hyperion and elsewhere in and around Los Angeles. Follow Jaime on Twitter @Jaime_Moyer.

SUSTAINING THE SCENE
WITH JAIME MOYER

Prerequisite: Level 2 or higher.

This class will focus on making scenes that can sustain. We will work on scenic structure and emotion to heighten, and Jaime will side-coach your scene to its fullest potential.Let’s figure out how to avoid scenic bargaining and plot driven improvisation. This class will help us work on just yes and the fun that can come from following the follower.

dig deeper
InTO your improV

The Perfect 6-Minute Scene w/Chuy Zarate (starting June 4)

Directing Improv w/Asaf Ronen (starting June 11)

Sustaining the Scene w/Jaime Moyer (June 19)