Improv is love, truth and beauty combined and it will change you life if you let it.
I have taught thousands of students and performed in hundreds of improv shows. I’ve won three FIST tournaments and coached 75 FIST teams, including last year’s winner. I can sing an improv solo, and I like to do entire shows with someone from the audience who has never seen improv before. I want to share my experience with you.
Improv Private Masterclass
There is only so much you can learn in a group improv class. There’s not enough time to play, the exercises are aimed at the group in general, and expert individual feedback can be difficult to get. I’ve worked one-on-one with 50 improvisers of every level of experience. For the session, we will talk on the phone a bit before we get together so I can decide what exercises I can create that will most benefit you. When we meet, we’ll talk briefly about what I think we should work on and play together. My goal for these sessions is to have a great deal of fun and to offer some pieces of direction that will transform the way you play and deepen your understanding of improv in a short amount of time. Register here.
Duoprov Workshop
A successful two-person show needs an engaging format. What will separate your show from everyone else’s? What unique skills can you perform that would impress and entertain the audience? The dynamics, edits and themes are up to you, so take the opportunity to make them fun rather than the same montage that anyone can do. I’ll guide you through this process in an easy and fun way. I’ll give you individual feedback as we play with formats that match your strengths. Let’s overcome your challenges and master your strengths, no matter how long you’ve been doing this. To register, fill out the “Improv Private Masterclass” form and choose the DuoProv option.
Individual Feedback Workshop
Everyone has their own challenges in improv. I’ll discover and help you to overcome your personal improv issues and defaults. We’ll do scenes and then I’ll give you direction unique to you alone. The fun of it is that each time you’re given a challenge, you’ll feel yourself doing work that is better than you have ever done before and experience yourself growing in the moment. Register here.
Troupe Workshops
The thing that has keep me doing improv for 25 years is that it’s fun knowing that there’s always room to learn, grow and get better. If you’re happy with the work your team is doing, I can show you how to jump quickly to the next level. If you’re stuck as a group, I can give you a good hard shove to get you moving again. If you’re just starting out, I can set you off in the right direction. Group workshops are also great for challenging what you know, coming up with a new format that will showcase your skills, or adding new members to your improv family. Your goal is to make each other look good; I’d also like the chance to make you look good. Please contact me to schedule a session.
Improv Student Feedback
“Topher hits it right on the nail when it comes to understanding the obstacles I often face when performing. I felt as though the exercises performed in the one-on-one really tailored around the issues I had been experiencing. I am definitely looking forward to the next session.”
“Topher’s razor-sharp observations, precise notes, and individualized attention deepened my awareness of unhelpful tendencies I often exhibit while performing — and showed me effective ways to get beyond them.”
“Topher helped get me through the ‘improviser slump’ I was going through and inspired the fun and joy of improv again. He’s an engaging, focused, and thoughtful teacher and the one on one time I had with him was extremely valuable. I killed in my show that night because of him.”
“The workshop that we did really was so impacting on me. I was able to generally concoct real (and really funny) three dimensional characters quite easily. I impressed myself and have grown so much as an improviser and as a person in such a short time thanks to you and that single hour back in D.C. in the midst of hundreds of hours in Chicago.”