New Improvoetry Workshop Feb 2017

Liberate your imagination…

Merge your talents in writing and performing! In Improvoetry workshops Lesly and award-winning poet Alice Teeter use improvisation exercises as a springboard for creating poetry and employ writing practices for use in spoken and non-spoken improvisation.

Participants learn spontaneous techniques to use as writing-block releases, for poetic inspiration, and to strengthen performance skills. Poems written on the spot are used to invent scenes and characters.

Next workshop: Sunday, February 12 — More info here.

New Playshops for Women in 2017

Women’s Playshops

Navigating the Space In Between 

DESIGNED for women with lives in flux and transition, this workshop focuses on calling forth one’s authentic self to be a guide in times of uncertainty. How difficult it often is to stay with the uncomfortable present and wait for the answers to come!

February 19   12:00-4:30 More info here.

Off and On the Map

This playshop is about redirecting our steps into the future by developing a lexicon of possibilities for creating new maps to find our way across the terrain of our psyches.

April 16   12:00-4:30  More info here.

Curtain Up! Anxiety Down! Winter/Spring Classes Announced!

Lesly Fredman - Improv ClassPsychotherapist and development coach Murray Dabby, LCSW and Lesly have teamed up to provide a new valuable approach to helping people who suffer from social anxiety, phobia, speaking in front of groups, or ordinary forms of shyness and difficulties in social environments.

Based on their experiences in their respective work, as well as learning from the successful Second City approach in Chicago, the combined use of improv and therapy can be a significant tool to help someone manage anxiety felt in social situations.

The next classes will begin February 13-May 1

More info here.

Performance and Improvisation: Using Creative Methods to Work with Teens, Adults and Couples

Does play-acting, improvisation and creative performance sound like serious business? Surprisingly, it is! These forms can teach us a lot about the foundations of growth, learning, rewiring and development. But in this workshop, learning about the emergence of performance and improvisational-based approaches to psychotherapy will generate some of the most fun you can have earning CEUs!

 

Utilizing theories on how children imitate, learn and develop, over the last decade professionals from many fields have been exploring the far-reaching work of developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky and applying these findings in their interaction with various populations. Some of this work challenges the notion of cognition as fundamental to transformation, moving instead toward the concept that such change takes place through the art of performance.

Join Murray Dabby LCSW and Lesly Fredman on Friday August 22 from 9:30 to 4:00 and explore these innovative issues in a number of playful ways: performed discussion, improvisation, and other experiential activities that will be enlightening, enlivening, and entertaining!

For more information and location and to register www.curtainupanxietydown.com and click on professional workshop page.

CURTAIN UP! ANXIETY DOWN! FALL CLASSES ANNOUNCED

Our next group begins on September 8th!!

Curtain Up! Anxiety Down! is a unique program to help people with social anxiety, shyness, isolation or difficulty speaking to groups. It will involve improv fun, theatrical play and group therapy to work with people who are wanting a safe and supportive environment to work on similar issues.

This class session will run for 12 weeks ending on Monday December 1st. It will be led by Lesly Fredman and Murray Dabby LCSW.

Each class will include a 90 minute improv experience followed by an 1 hour-long opportunity for group members to safely process the experience. The class activities will progress from simple play to more elaborate experiences based on the needs of the group. The sharing group sessions will explore our reactions to the exercises as well as how the playful lessons learned in class can be used in everyday life.

An initial consultation may be required for each participant prior to the first class to help insure the experience will be a success.

Class size will be optimal for members to have a positive and productive learning experience, with space limited to 8-12 participants.

Please call us for fee structure.  There will also be an opportunity for partial scholarships, based on need.

Location is taking place in the Shoulder Down T’ai Chi studio in the Little 5 Point Arts and Community Space next to the Horizon Theatre!  Other workshop may be  conveniently located in the Atlanta or Decatur area.

For more info or to register visit our website at http://www.curtainupanxietydown.com or call Murray at 404-633-3282, ext 1 or Lesly at 404-377-3749.

Shrubbery…Or Ecstasy?

My living room is currently my studio. It is where my improv classes take place and where I see clients. Every Monday afternoon and Wednesday night (and sometimes on Saturday or Sunday afternoon) the table by the windows with the view of the front porch (one of the cats’ “television” watching posts) along with the coffee table are moved into my office and the big couch is pushed against the wall and more chairs are brought in for my students. When my clients come, the furniture stays where it is and I serve tea. In the summer the living room also becomes the rehearsal space for Cold Soup Dinner Theatre performances. I love the energy that our house holds because of all the creative vibes that are generated and linger.  I enjoy that our whole house is used for living and working.

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But, in our backyard there is a place that has been biding its time, awaiting its own ecstasy. What looks like a mess of shrubbery is actually a studio unrealized. One with a screened porch on the side (no structure in the South, no matter its size or purpose should do without a screened porch), a big open space inside that holds a dozen more people than my living room can, a bathroom with shower, a small bedroom, and windows near the ceilings and one just for cats that looks out on the yard next door. There is a path from the street that is easy for anyone to use which is lit in the dark by lamps that look like night-blooming flowers. In that studio I make tea for clients. I  teach, rehearse, gather, plan, dance, read, take naps.

When I look out our bedroom window now I see a shimmer…brighter than a wish.

 

 

If Not Now, When?

 

Envisioning the future of my work at 63 years of age is a whole different ballgame than imagining my creative future at 23 or even 53. I am aware of an urgency driving my desires and actions and a voice a little louder each time saying, “If not now, when?” Both the urgency and the voice are helpful. They entreat me to drop the negative “what if?”s and wearying doubt and encourage me instead to DO THE WORK. Which is really what the bottom line is for me. I am hoping for at least five more years of doing more of the same: to get people coached, inspired, moved along in their chosen fields of dreams. And after that, at least five more years: to find the playwright who has written the play I’ve been waiting my whole life to direct, to collaborate with a menagerie of artists on spectacular projects in unexpected places, to dance with my buds in the dirt, on the beach, on hallowed ground. And then after that, at least five more: to do things I can’t even imagine not having done by then.

The Big Why

 

Why do I do what I do…as a creativity coach, improv teacher, performer, director, producer? Because I truly, deeply, madly believe in the power of art and laughter to create healthy digestive systems, happy brains, and world peace. Because I believe that to play is a way to gain entry into one another’s heart and mind—to revel in the mutual discovery and help heal sorrow that lingers. Because I believe that surrendering to a creative impulse is as luxurious as nibbling on an intense dark chocolate bar. I crave the thrill of collaboration. I love the company of people who speak in colors and up tempo…who inhabit imaginary beings…herd words…who shake a leg, hoof it, cut a rug, trip the light fantastic. Because I agree with George Bernard Shaw, that “my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.”

Do Cats Do Improv?

This blog is intended to provide information, address concerns, and clear up fallacies about the art of improvisation. I welcome any and all questions.

Question from D.R.: “Do cats improv?”

Cats are spontaneous, but unfortunately, most cats do not follow the rules of improv: especially make your partner look good and say yes.

Upside Down Bo

In fact, when it comes to partnering, most cats are notorious for doing what un-makes a scene: each wants to claim the whole stage, refusing to share it at all. This lack of generosity is very disappointing because a harmonious relationship between partners is a joy to witness. When both improvisers are tuned in to each other–paying attention to and taking their cue from what their partner is saying and doing–the resulting back-and-forth interaction can be as exciting as a well-played ping pong match.

What cats are capable of doing well is what is called “raising the stakes”– making strong choices in the action of the characters to alter the course of a scene, advancing it and making the events have greater consequences for the characters. However, while upping or raising the stakes usually enhances a scene, in the case of cats doing improv, it often leads to all out turf war after the initial advance.

Then there is the matter of “accepting” – saying “yes” to what is offered, so that anything said or done by your partner is a gift given to you that you receive with gratitude and delight and offer a piece of dialogue or action in return, thus building the scene. Again, for cats, receiving can be no trouble, indeed they seem to expect that they will be given gifts…attention, treats, toys. It’s just that when it comes to giving, how cats give is often based on a whim (theirs), and while they might reciprocate for a time, they might also suddenly refuse to continue the scene by lying down or exiting abruptly, or simply take all the focus by grooming ferociously.

I started out by saying that cats are generally remiss in following the rules of improv. However, there is an area in which cats excel: focus. We have all seen the unwavering attention cats direct to an object of interest. Unfortunately, the object is more “prey” than “partner,” but the level of commitment cats exhibit in this situation is awesomely impressive. Human improvisers seeking to become adept in this area could do no better than to study cats in performance of this skill and truly learn from the masters.

 

 

New Improv for Social Anxiety Classes Announced!

Curtain UP! Anxiety DOWN!

CLASSES POSTPONED TIL MID-MARCH

In order to extend our outreach, we are postponing the start of the class session until mid-March.

 

CLASSES FOR ADOLESCENTS TO BE OFFERED
Due to numerous requests, Murray and I will offer a version of these classes for adolescents as well. Start date will be determined based on interest.

 

FREE INTRO WORKSHOP FOR THERAPISTS ANNOUNCED
Based on interest in our program, we are planning to offer a free 90 minute intro workshop on Monday, February 17th at 6:30 p.m. to therapists who might want to learn about the program and see what we have in mind. Murray will be glad to clinically coordinate any work with therapists who have ongoing clients who may benefit from this program. Professionals are also invited to take the class.

 

AS A REMINDER, this is a unique program to help people with social anxiety, shyness, isolation or difficulty speaking to groups.  It will involve improv fun, theatrical play and group therapy to work with people who are wanting a safe and supportive environment to work on similar issues. A brief consultation will be needed for participation.  Space will be limited, so be sure to reach us soon with questions, referrals and to register.

Visit our website CurtainUpAnxietyDown.com

Contact me for more information.