The person in the booth can be one of the most influential members of an improv team during their time on stage. Learn how to highlight scenes using lights and sound. Pick up some techniques for setting mood and location, and for finding edits during the show and for the final blackout. You'll also learn your way around the theater's tech booth! Students will spend time on stage and in the booth during this class to keep perspective on both sides of the light board.

Supporting your scene partner and gift-giving are arguably one of the most important skills an improviser can posses. This two day workshop focuses on the tools and techniques for making the other guy look good. This long-form skill will make scenes run smoother and help get you out of your head. Forget driving scenes forward-create a whirlwind! As a bonus, you'll get to put your newfound knowledge to the test with a show for friends and family.

Howard Rudnick has been performing in the Denver Metro Area since the year 2000. A graduate of Bovine Metropolis Theater's Improv School, he is also a Bovine Improv instructor in Boulder and is currently hosting BMX on Thursday nights at the Bovine.

"Experience Music and Improv"
Instructor: Jamie Krutz
Sunday, June 17, 2:00-5:00 PM
$50

Music adds a rich dimension to long form improv. In this three hour workshop you will taste, touch, feel and be the music. You will physically participate in Jamie's unique and fun overview of scales, chords, melody, rhythm and song structure; learn how to seamlessly break into an original song; and participate in a feedback loop with an experienced improv musician. Bring your hands and voice (other instruments optional), and let your improv sing!

Jamie Krutz is an improv actor and multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter. A graduate of Bovine Metropolis Theater's Improv School, he's a founding member of the long form improv troupe Nitrous Oxide (N20). Jamie is music director for the international comedy troupe A.C.E., performing as "The A.C.E. Orchestra." He also performs regularly with other groups including Ten Tiers (rock); Dazed (jazz); and Michigan's Baroque Festival Orchestra. Jamie composes film and video soundtracks in a variety of genres.

"Go Long!"
Instructor: Ben Reed
High School Long Form Workshop
For ages 14 - 19
Saturday, June 23, 10:00 am - 5:00 PM
Sunday, June 24, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Show: Sunday, June 24, 6:00 PM
$99

Looking to make the leap into long form? Want to learn new tools & techniques to bring back to your school improv troupe in the fall? This workshop is designed specifically for the intermediate to advanced high school improviser to help sculpt those after-school skills into long form knowledge. You’ll learn techniques that will make relationships go deeper, characters richer, audiences laugh harder and improv more fun...ner. The class will culminate in the production of a full-blown long form show at the theater for your friends and family!

Ben Reed teaches English at Standley Lake High School in Westminster and coaches the high school's improv team, Mixed Nuts. He is also the director and co-writer of Mixed Nuts' sketch and improv show , "The Last Dance," hosted by the Bovine this summer. A veteran improviser himself, he performed for many years with The Lords of Misrule in Boulder and Denver and The Improverts in Scotland, including appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He also hosts the Battle Royale on Tuesdays here at the Bovine.

This two day workshop will explore the art of 'jumping'--stepping into the light with absolutely nothing in your mind but readiness. We'll examine this as a method for moving scenes forward organically, without planning or writing out the scene in your head beforehand. You'll leave with a greater trust in yourself and some techniques to expand this unnerving moment into a comfortable working space. We'll celebrate our experimental ponderings with a show! Don't think about it. Jump.

Improv is largely the art of listening and reacting in the moment. This two day workshop will bolster your listening skills and examine ways to react, justify and move scenes forward. Come explore how improved listening will help you in being real, present and confident in the people you bring to the stage. This workshop will culminate in show for your friends and family!

"Up Next: You!"
Instructor: Jake Sharon
Part 1: Saturday, July 21, 10:00 am - 5:00 PM
Part 2: Sunday, July 29, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Show: Sunday, July 29, 6:00 PM
$99

Come learn to draw upon your personal experiences to create funny, stage-ready material in this stand-up workshop. The first class will help new comedians write fresh material based on personal experiences and workshop material that's already been written. Returning for Part 2 a week later, you'll workshop material developed during the week and finish with a show to test the goods! As a bonus, we'll bring in two guest comedians to offer additional perspective.

Jake Sharon is a nationally touring comedian who started his career here in Denver. Since his start, he has opened for Brian Regan at the Denver Comedy Works, swapped jokes with Rocky Laporte, become a national finalist in USA Network's 2006 "Show Us Your Character" contest, and he took first place in the Starz/Jumpcut Stand-up contest. Recently, he appeared in a pre Super Bowl commercial for the NFL which aired on ESPN among other sports channels. In 2006, Jake graduated from the Bovine Metropolis Improv School. Since then, he has joined 4 improv troupes, and he will be hosting and co-producing the Bovine's own late night variety show, Bleu Cow 5 II.

"Up Next: You!"
(Part 2 of 2, please see July 21st)
Instructor: Jake Sharon
Class Part 2: Sunday, July 29, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Show: Sunday, July 29, 6:00 PM

"Finding Your Multiple Voice Personalities"
Instructor: Jenny Thomas
Saturday, August 11, 1:00 - 4:00 PM
$50

Small changes in voice and tone can greatly affect the people you play with on stage and good vocal awareness can greatly boost these capabilities. We'll examine the major vocal elements that you can use to create a voice personality and the emotional/physical components that support it. During this 3-hour workshop, you'll also learn 5 steps that will help you break out of vocal habits or tendencies in order to create new and interesting choices. Be prepared for a mind/body/spirit approach that will integrate and balance physical and emotional play as well as practical applications for creating the multiple characters personalities that live within you!

Jenny Thomas is a Voice, Speech, Acting, Dialects and Singing Coach in the Denver area and has been teaching for 12 years. She works with many professionals in a variety of different fields. Jenny is a graduate of Bovine Metropolis Theater's Improv School and is currently in the improv group, Nitrous Oxide.

Good, solid, sometimes quirky, characters can get you out of your head and make amazing scene work seem effortless. During this two day course you'll define and expand your current characters and learn to ground them in reality while keeping that spark! This intensive workshop will also focus on building your repertoire of characters by making strong choices while building and heightening within the scene. Join us for a weekend of funny fantasy (fun-tasy!) which will conclude with a show!

Carl Anderson performs regularly at the Bovine in "On the Spot" and in numerous (ACME Comedy Players) sketch shows. Carl has played "Jay Benedict Brown" in the Bovine Metropolis original production of, Thank You For Changing My Pathetic Life. Carl is a proud graduate (class #5) of Bovine Metropolis Theater's Improv School and is a Bovine Improv Instructor. By day, Carl is in sales and credits his journey into improvisation with doubling his closing average.

Explore and experiment with the natural rhythmic flow of life as it relates to long form improvisation. In this two-day workshop you will analyze the rhythms, beats, and tempos of people, characters, relationships, improv, and the time-space continuum. We will also spend some time exploring the unique and remarkable ability of humans to believe in intangible concepts and deepen the reality of non-existing moments. All this, while trying not to take ourselves too seriously. The workshop will exhibit your heightened awareness with a show for friends and family! Come with open minds and ready to play.

Matthew Taylor has been performing and teaching improvisation in the Denver area for the last fifteen years. He has had the pleasure to be a performing member of Comedy Sportz, Reaction Slacks and Headgames. For the last eight years, Matthew has proudly played the Englishman in the international comedy trio A.C.E. with whom he has had the good fortune to have traveled to exotic places and consume fu-fu umbrella-ed drinks in the name of comedy. His passion for long form improvisation developed during the early Reaction Slacks days and has remained a major focus to this day. When not performing or teaching improv, Matthew is a commercial actor, a happy husband, and father of two smashing kids.

Let's Enroll Baby!

Questions? Preguntas?
Contact our School Coordinator
Brian McManus at

McManus@BovineMetropolis.com

Theater | 303.758.4722

Mobile | 303.883.4848

Fax | 303.758.0416