Improv Legend Joe Bill Teaches in PHX: Comedy from Connection (Sun, 11/24)

Monster Improv presents Improv Legend Joe Bill's workshop, COMEDY FROM CONNECTION (Sunday, November 24th, 1:30pm-5pm)

ATTENTION, IMPROV LOVERS: Joe Bill from Chicago is a total genius when it comes to improv and he’s simply one of the best teachers of the art form in the whole entire world. What’s more, he’s swinging through Phoenix on Saturday, November 22nd, and Sunday, November 23rd!

Over this weekend, Joe is teaching four workshops (two on Saturday and two on Sunday):

- The First 30 Seconds (Saturday, Nov 23rd, 11am-1:30pm)

- The Next 3 Minutes (Saturday, Nov 23rd, 2:30pm-5pm)

- Game Brain, Scene Brain (Sunday, Nov 24th, 11am-1:30pm)

- Comedy from Connection (Sunday, Nov 24th, 2:30pm-5pm)

Recommended prerequisite for these workshops is Level 1 at one of the valley’s local improv theaters or its equivalent. No matter what your level of improv experience, these workshops will challenge you in the best way.

Each class is capped at 16 students (except for THE FIRST 30 SECONDS, which is capped at 20).

Each workshop is $60.

These workshops will be taking place at:

Phoenix Center for the Arts - Room 302

1202 N 3rd Street

Phoenix, Arizona 85004

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Workshop Info

Sunday, November 24th

2:30pm-5pm

Comedy from Connection

This workshop is basically focused on acting in improvisational scenes. We’ll explore comedy not as the goal of interactions but as a consequence of your connection to yourself, your character, your partner and the scene as it unfolds. I’ll put you in repetitions with partners so the you can feel how listening through an emotion (or disposition or psychological state), with a willingness to change, can lead to “honest interactions”. You will feel connected, be believable and able to evoke a variety of emotions from yourselves and your audience. This workshop will be equally useful for actors and improvisers alike and will include some general and a little bit of individual feedback.

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Teacher Bio

Joe Bill is widely regarded as one of the best teachers of Scenic and Comedic Improvisation in North America today. His goal in Improvising and teaching is to foster deeper connections between people and characters, on stage and off. By improvising together we can make the world smaller and explore the interconnectedness, truth and humor that already exists amongst all of us.

Joe had been a performer, teacher and Director of Corporate Training at iO Chicago for more than 30 years, before the closing in 2020. He is one of the co-founders of Annoyance Theater and was an Artistic Associate for The Chicago Improv Festival for the 20 years that it existed. He has been an Internationally Touring Teacher, Performer and director for more than 25 years and acts as an Artistic Adviser for a number of Improvisation and Comedy Theaters and Festivals all over the world. He has taught at pretty much every major Improv Festival in the U.S. & Canada in the last 30 years.

Joe and a number of very talented friends, under the Artistic Direction of Mick Napier, co-founded The Annoyance Theater in Chicago in 1990. As a unique approach to Improvised Scene and Character began to be articulated by a number of teachers at Annoyance, including Mick Napier, Mark Sutton, Joe, David Razowsky, Susan Messing, Bob Fisher, Jodi Lennon, Rich & Rebecca Sohn (and more!) that focused on Improvisers "Taking care of themselves, in order to take care of others in a scene,” Joe became increasingly interested in Psychology and Neuroscience and melded these into a brand of teaching that was unique in the world but now has been shared in the U.S. and abroad for more than 30 years.

Joe and Mark Sutton developed BASSPROV (https://www.facebook.com/BASSPROV), the first touring Real Time (Monoscene) Improvised Duo in the U.S., in 2000. In touring and continuing to play together, they developed Power Improv as an approach to improvisation that combines playing from a place of strength, honesty, empathy and mischief to Character, Scene and Format.

Joe also tours with Impro legend Patti Stiles and their show Our Play. It is a joyful, harmonious improvised mash up of the seemingly conflicting approaches of Keith Johnstone, Del Close & Annoyance.

In addition to BASSPROV & Our Play, Joe tours internationally with Canadian legend, Lee White in their show, PARADIGM. It's been described as Death Metal on a Unicorn.

Joe tours with International Delight, Heather Urquart (Maydays, U.K./London-Brighton) in BLUES HAMMER, with musical genius & band leader Joe Samuel manning the keyboards in an Improvised Musical Duo show made up of scenes and songs rooted exclusively in The Blues.

He also tours with with Minneapolis Improv Mastermind Jill Bernard in their 2 person show, SCRAM!, which features 3 different 2 person scenes that happen at the same time, and with Curious Comedy Theater (Portland, OR) Founder & Creative Powerhouse, Stacey Hallal, and their shows Stacey & Joe and We Slept Together.

Questions? Please email Jose Gonzalez, [email protected]

Host or Publisher Monster Improv