Improv Salon: Developing Show Ideas ($60)

April 13th/20th/27th 1-3pm

Facilitators: Alice Gillette and Bryan Richard Martin

Learn some new techniques to take your ideas to a level all your own! In this workshop, you’ll learn how to find new ideas for your creative projects by engaging in curious, inquiry-based activities with others. We'll dive into various methods for brainstorming and polishing ideas into something you can showcase. Join us to improve your creative process and collaborate on your projects with fellow participants.

This workshop can be helpful to you if:

• You're making something and feeling stuck.

• You’re all out of ideas and wondering how to come up with new ones.

• You’d like to bring new layers of experience to your performances by incorporating elements like light and sound.

In this workshop, we’re going to take our serious artistic ideas and turn them into fun and playful possibilities as performers. You’ll brainstorm ideas in class with the help of your facilitators, who will guide you in transforming those ideas into silly “problems”. After that, you’ll explore structured methods or fun games to find creative and whimsical solutions to these challenges. 

This process might look different each time: sometimes, the facilitators will give live direction for your performance while your classmates watch as the audience, and other times, you’ll participate in guided group discussions about the “problems” you’re facing.

By the end of this class, you can expect to gain:

• New ways to generate ideas for your work.

• A workshopped 1-5 minute work-in-progress piece.

• Skills in both giving and receiving constructive, artistic feedback. 

Collaborating with others is a powerful way to gain deeper insights into yourself. Your next great idea is already within you, just waiting for the perfect moment to emerge. This workshop offers a unique opportunity to uncover your creative ideas in a collaborative environment, allowing you to develop them into works-in-progress alongside a supportive community of fellow artists.

Bryan Richard Martin is a multidisciplinary artist and educator. He’s collaborated with the Los Angeles Unified School District, 826LA, The Getty Museum, Washington DC Public Schools, AmeriCorps and FIRST® on interdisciplinary education projects fusing arts, literacy, and science. Locally, Bryan’s created live scores and compositions for Denver’s Idiot Theatre clown show, and light and sound design for Tutzanni Theatre Company. Bryan’s work has been featured in outlets such as Rolling Stone, Vice, and NPR. 

Alice Gillette is a clown, writer, and performance artist known for her “startling yet goofy” performances, as coined by Denver Westword. If you’re not busy on the first Sunday of (any) month, you should join Alice as she hosts Uncanny Valley, a free clown jam in Denver, Colorado.