Chicago is the home to America’s most famous comedy clubs and was the launching pad for some of our most popular performers. We will follow in the footsteps of Ed Asner, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, and Rachel Dratch as we study the ephemeral and apparently effortless art of theatrical improvization.
This Project has three components: games, exercises and experimentation with both short and long form comedy; writing, structuring, and rehearsing improvizations for performance; and attending professional performances. We will videotape our final project—a series of scenes created by small groups of participants--and may also present it live in an assembly and/or an evening performance. (If full consciousness doesn't kick in before noon, you don't mind making a fool of yourself in public, and you have a well honed sense of the absurd, this may be the Project for you.!)

This project is led by Nick Baer, Latin Class of 1996 (University of Illinois Class of 2000), and theatre teacher Ann Hartdegen. Baer worked with De Bono, an improv comedy group, in college and was the head writer for Potted Meat, a sketch comedy group. He performs regularly with a sketch comedy group, The Backrow, and is on the ImprovOlympic team James Jackson. This is his third year teaching this project. Ann Hartdegen holds an MFA in Directing from Northwestern University and has taught theatre at Latin for 21 years.

Our daily schedule:

SUNDAY, 9 March --6-8.30 pm - attend performance of NeoFuturists, TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND

MONDAY, 10 March --noon-4 pm - introduction, games, exercises, short form improv, 4-6 pm - continue above, assignment of reading

TUESDAY, 11 March --noon-5 pm - short form improvs continue, introduction to long form, 5-8 pm - dinner and reading reports, 8-10.30 pm - attend performance at Second City

WEDNESDAY, 12 March-- noon-5 pm - continue long form improvs, 5-8 pm - dinner and assignment of teams and final project, 8-10.30 pm - attend performance at Improv Olympic

THURSDAY, 13 March --noon-4 pm - work in teams on final projects, 4-6 pm - project presentations and video, final dinner