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ANNOUNCING

Mercury Theatre's next Event

Improvisation for Acting

with
Anne Pensalfini
Teaching Artist and Facilitator

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One day only!
Saturday 13 August 2022

11:00am - 5:30pm 
Manly-Lota RSL Hall, 184 Melville Terrace, Manly
 

Cost: Members $80 per person
Non-Members $90 (includes $10 membership fee)
 

  BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE  

(Online tickets only, no door sales)

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About this class:

Improvisation can strike fear into the heart of many performers and yet it is a powerful and fantastically fun skill to have in your actor’s toolbelt. You may have seen or explored Theatre Sports in school; no matter if your experience was a good or not-so-good one, you can learn to trust yourself and your fellow players and delve into this playful world of instant theatre. And being funny is NOT a prerequisite!

Note: Activities can be modified depending on physical and other abilities. Please advise when booking if you have particular needs (i.e. wheelchairs, sight or hearing impairments, etc.) 
 

"Anyone can act. Anyone can improvise." 

Viola Spolin, the Grandmother of Improvisation

About Anne Pensalfini:

Anne has a diverse range of performing experience in stage, film, and commercial work. She has performed comedy improvisation and interactive theatre professionally in Minneapolis, USA, Brisbane, and at sea, on board the Disney Cruiseline.  She has lived in Brisbane for 18 years where she performs and teaches improvisation for local theatre companies and universities.
 

Extensive training in voice, movement, Shakespeare and improv, and degrees in Theatre and Education inform Anne's teaching practice. She trained extensively with the US Shakespeare & Company, who have influenced her embodied, connected approach to Shakespeare. She spent 5 years as a Core Member of the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, facilitating for the ensemble's ground-breaking Shakespeare Prison Project as well as acting, directing and teaching for the company.
 

Anne has led Shakespeare, Applied Theatre and improv courses for major universities including Griffith Uni and UQ and currently teaches regular courses for QUT and Queensland Theatre’s youth programs. Anne has also begun to facilitate “applied” improvisation sessions to help groups of non-performers work together more effectively and problem-solve creatively. Most recently she created a suite of exercises for a Brisbane business consulting and coaching company.

 

Skills to be explored:

  1. How to be an ensemble player

  2. “Yes, And” - accepting each other’s ideas and offers

  3. Developing confidence in offering ideas for scenes

  4. Defining the Who and the Where to make scenarios clear

  5. Using status in improvisation and script work (time permitting)

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Intended outcomes:

  1. Greater connection between members both new and old

  2. More flexibility in taking risks and making acting choices

  3. Greater ability to improvise in rehearsal

  4. The ability to use relationship and environment to communicate story

  5. An understanding of the psychological and physical elements of status

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What to bring:

  1. Bring your own lunch and water bottle (Tea and Coffee will be provided).

  2. Clothes for movement (no tight skirts etc)

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Cost: Members $80 per person
Non-Members $90 (includes $10 membership fee)

Limited spaces

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  BOOK NOW  

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