One of the most trusted names in improvised theater is coming to Prague for a weekend of workshops. Andrew Hefler, a Budapest-based impro veteran who is the founder and creative director of the Grund Szinhaz company and a member of the National Theatre of Hungary, is visiting during the second weekend of January to teach all-day workshops on the topics of a character’s drives and the use of time on stage.
These workshops will be in English and are open to all improvisers and actors.
WHO?
Andrew Hefler is a veteran of the European impro circuit who’s been at it for more than 20 years. On top of his roles with Grund Szinhaz (who’ve done more than 500 shows in 10 years) and the National Theatre of Hungary, he has worked with a wide range of students including improvisers of all levels, actors preparing for films, theatre repertory companies, university students, and more. His work also extends into TV productions, including as Creative Producer and developer for Comedy Central Hungary’s „Készhelyzet,“ an improvised TV show. For (much) more information you can visit his website at https://www.andrewhefler.com/.
WHAT?
The workshop descriptions:
1. Gotta Have It: Attitudes, Wants and Mantras. (Saturday)
What drives a character? We’ll work with objectives, emotions and attitudes in relationships, and practice character-driven scene work that will strengthen the togetherness and presence of relationship in scenes. Get truthful behaviour out of scenes so characters achieve objectives while emphasizing emotion, silence and focus over verbal cues. We’ll encourage scenes without overt argumentation or contention to simply allow the audience to project and reveal more layers in the relationships and therefore in the scenes. This also can be good as work for filmic acting.
2. Relativity: Using Time in Scenes (Sunday)
You are in a scene, you feel like your heart and mind grow frantic. Maybe you’re racing to find out what’s happening in the unknown future, or to solve the mystery of the scene that you’re playing — so much so that you endlessly invent offer after offer, leaving fragments of an unrelated puzzle. Well, time is relative. When actors are afraid, time can seem like an enemy … but maybe the fix is learning how to spend it wisely. This course brings practical exercises to the actors to play with how time passes in scenes. It looks at the effects of slowing or hastening time and applicable things to do this with.
WHERE AND WHEN?
Both workshops are at Frýdlantská 26, Prague 8, Ďáblice — easily accessible from Ládví and Střížkov.
They begin at 10 a.m. and end at 5 p.m., with an hour for lunch.
HOW MUCH?
To take only one workshop: 2,500 CZK.
To take both workshops: 4,000 CZK.
SIGN ME UP!
Register by clicking on this Google form:
https://forms.gle/2Yrz2j23EB6CfDZL9
We will get back to you with payment information so you can secure your spot(s).