From Stupid to Brilliant in 5 Lines – Joe Bill
This workshop is just what the title says. We will start by doing quick scenes that are stupid, then move to playing scenes that begin grounded and then take a stupid turn, and even mess with ‘Game of The Scene’ gone wrong. I’ll show you that even if you don’t recognize game, you can employ these tools to turn your scene into something deeper and more meaningful (if you have to abandon ‘game’). Most “stupid” comes from an ill-advised offer rooted in some bullshit circumstance that no one cares about in search of comedy. I’ll show you tools rooted in Comedy From Connection, Socratic Process, Neuroscience and yes, even techniques used in therapy in order to turn a dumb ass offer into something that is, at the very least salvageable, and with practice, Brilliant!
Improv Experience: Recommendation to have at least a year or 2 experience, or the ability to grasp the difference between circumstantial and interpersonal dialogue.
About Joe Bill
Joe Bill is widely regarded as one of the best teachers of Improvised Storytelling and Scenic, Longform & Duo Improvisation in North America today. He is one of the founding members of Annoyance Theater Chicago where, for 12 years, he performed in and/or directed more than 60 different shows. Joe is ½ of the first touring Improv Duo in North America, BASSPROV, created in 2000 with Mark Sutton. They are still performing at Festivals and theater engagements globally 25 years later. Since then Joe’s been touring all over the world teaching, directing, and improvising with several other amazing Duo Partners like Patti Stiles (Our Play), Jill Bernard (SCRAM!), Stacey Hallal (Stacey & Joe, We Slept Together) Lee White (Paradigm), Heather Urquart (Blues Hammer), Felipe Ortiz (Les Disciplinos) and David Razowsky (Razowsky & Bill), ALL in different, original formats and styles.
Over the last 2 years, Joe has been touring his solo show, Surviving Consciousness: Lessons learned from Cancer, LSD & Michael Jordan, both in the USA & abroad. He is the creator and host of Story Chain, a virtual (and now sometimes live!), 90-minute, international story sharing event that he developed in 2020 during the Pandemic. He has created or co-created many Longform formats that he teaches and directs at theaters and festivals all over the world, most notably The BAT, The SCRAMBLE and variations of Armando and other classic formats. Joe was the Director of Corporate Training at iO Chicago for 15 years and started training and performing there in 1985. He was a Guest Artist in Residence at The Second City Training Center & Conservatory where he taught intensives in Duo Improvisation and Improvisation for Actors for 10 years.