The First 30 Seconds: An Improv Workshop

Join us for a special workshop, The First 30 Seconds, led by one of the country’s most prolific improvisors, Joe Bill. 

In Improvisation scenes, the ending often lies in the beginning. I will show you how to begin your scenes with focus & playfulness and how to begin to bring your inner Engineer & Jazz Musician into Harmony through the way that you listen. We’ll focus on the first 30 seconds of a scene to discover your characters (How they do, What they do, is Who they are) evolving from the recognition of “How am I?”, “How are you?” & “How are WE?” I’ll help increase your awareness of the 2 types of dialogue, (Circumstantial & Interpersonal) to give you the best chance to play an honest grounded scene, rooted in depth and discovery AND how comedy, game & story can come as a consequence of connection, rather than goals that you’re desperately chasing.

About your instructor, 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.

Joe has taught and performed on every continent on earth, except for Antarctica which remains on his bucket list.

BASSPROV performs at ComedyCity on Friday, June 12 at 7:30 PM!

Check out Mark Sutton’s workshop, Character Issues, on Saturday, June 13 at 1 PM.