Description:

You’ve always wondered how it is possible to give the feeling of a good fight, an epic chase or a slow-mo gravity-free earth saving mission?

This workshop is made for you!

During this workshop we will learn how to create epic situations and give them to an audience, how to make any situation feel like part of an action movie and how staging + techniques are important in improv to re-create these on the spot. Based on a strong non-verbal work and techniques, used in the international shows »The Fraltons« and »Objects of Affection«, it will help you improve the use of your body on stage.

Give your character some good action and become “The Greatest Hero of them all”!

Description:

This workshop is designed to help improvisers with those moments on stage when they feel stuck or think they have nothing to offer.

Through a series of dynamic exercises and supportive coaching, participants will learn techniques to embrace the unknown, tap into spontaneity, and discover that „nothing“ can lead to something brilliant.

You’ll explore how to trust your instincts, listen actively, and respond with authenticity, turning any perceived void into a creative opportunity. Ideal for performers at any level, this workshop will leave you confident and ready to shine in the most unexpected moments.

Description:

This workshop is Inspired by the BBC TV series »Ghosts« and built on the bones of the popular »Close Quarters« format. Students will play ghosts from various eras who have essentially been roommates for centuries as they continue to haunt the location where all of them met their end.

From an improv point of view, the workshop offers great opportunities. Historical characters, a single theatrical location to explore and the restriction that as the ghosts can’t touch or affect the living world – all the drama and comedy must come from their relationships with each other.

We’ll work on:

• Contributing to one elegant improv narrative
• Long term friendships and enmities
• How to play historical figures spontaneously
• Balancing relationship with world building
• Creating an open, even playful, space to deal with death theatrically on stage

Description:

In this workshop we want to explore the magical connection between music and improv. It’s about rhymes, texts, songs, scenes, moods and formats. It is about finding the joy that enables the spontaneity that leads to an improvised song. 

Join Christopher and his vast knowledge and experience in both music and improvisation in exploring courage, little tricks and big feelings.

Description:

The Natyasastra, an ancient Indian treatise on performing arts, offers invaluable insights for improvisers – both on and off stage.

Compiled by Bharata Muni around 200 BCE, this comprehensive work covers various aspects of theatre, including acting, music, dance and dramaturgy.

First, the Natyasastra emphasizes the importance of emotions (bhavas) and their expression through rasa (the aesthetic experience). By studying the nine primary rasas —love, wonder, anger, courage, fear, laughter, grief, disgust and peace – improvisers can deepen their character work, to make choices that resonate on a visceral level.

Next, is physical movement and gesture (mudras). Mastery of these can enrich an improviser’s storytelling, allowing for wordless communication that adds layers of meaning. This heightened awareness leads to more dynamic performances and richer collaboration with fellow improvisers.

Description:

Many improvisers are familiar with the phenomenon: the scene somehow doesn’t get to the ground, the players are stuck in place and try to save themselves with verbal explanations.

We often forget that if we don’t play with the space, no image can be created in the minds of the audience.

This workshop is about using the space. This refers to the real stage space – our playground as actors – as well as the imagined space inside the actors and spectators. We will experiment with acting techniques for movement in space, focus on narrative arrangements and be inspired by principles from contemporary dance training.

Let our bodies feel the space and let it speak, because how we choose to use the space is already half the story.

Description:

Bringing authenticity to bold characters.

Join Naomi and Bala for a 5-hour workshop that will deepen your understanding of character work by exploring both – personal vulnerability and archetypal energy – empowering you to create performances that resonate with honesty and strength.

We will work on establishing a truthful presence through grounding, partner connection, and active listening. You’ll practice staying in the moment, responding genuinely to scene partners and building trust to bring depth and realism to your work.

Onto this, we then will layer popular archetypes, creating authentic characters that are both grounded and dynamic. This workshop will help you discover fresh ways to express vulnerability and strength onstage, through different character „vessels“.

Description:

Since the beginning of mankind, we have been telling each other stories – about the​ little adventures we experience, the big turning points that change us.​ Stories full of laughter, fear and tears, about life, love and death, happiness,
sadness and frustration, about winning and losing, about the good and the bad times.

We are born storytellers. Every single one of us. Our personal stories are the biggest and most important source of our art form. They connect and unite us as performers on stage with our audience. But most of the time, this unique and precious treasure that each of us carries within us remains untapped when we step onto the stage.

In the spotlight, we are busy “inventing unique stories that were never told”. We try so hard to invent something special and end up repeating mostly the same variations of improv stories instead of​ revealing the stories that are already there and want to be told.

In this workshop we tell them​- the truly unique stories that have​ never been told on a stage before, because they are our very personal stories. Unique, like us, and at the same time universal, like life itself.

“I find the most rewarding work to witness is when an improviser is being personal
and honest.” – Randy Dixon

Description:

Screenwriters believe that all we do is driven by two forces: love and fear. In this four-hand workshop by Gosia and Gael, you will explore the bright and the dark side of being in love, the passion and the hurt, the pure joy and the melancholy.

The first half will focus on portraying true and genuine love on stage, laying the ground for believable and comfortable romantic relationships. From the first glance to the burning passion, you will fall in love again and again, making your audience fall for your characters and love the idea of love.

The second half will bring cracks and breaks in this ideal, getting these beautiful relationship through hardship and struggles, pain and heartbreaks. Using dilemmas and setups to put you in heightened situations, you will learn to break the heart of your audience as hard as they fell in love with you.

Let’s make our audiences feel – by touching the simple truth of the ups and downs of a love story.

Description:

Often as story tellers we don’t recognize how the characters we play have a story built right into them. It’s clear as day when we know what to look for.

Improvisers force story into scenes not seeing that the character we create already have a path to follow, a journey to take and a destiny to be fulfilled.

This workshop will focus on character creation to help us see the story, the characters story. Making characters relationships more important. Looking for the clues we create early in scenes to pay off at the end. It’s not as hard to tell story as improvisers make it.

Description:

We’ve all been quiet as mice, shed crocodile tears and totally chickened out. These idioms come from a deep-rooted connection between nature and storytelling. So how much fun would it be to simply embody these animals?

In this workshop, with Chris and Gael co-teaching together, you will explore how anthropomorphic animals can be a delight to play, while bringing depth and variety to your scenes and performances.

Inspired by the likes of Kung Fu Panda (Martial Arts), Disney’s Robin Hood (Folk Tales) or Blacksad (Film Noir), we will explore how genre and animal traits can interact – creating stunning physicality, compelling narratives and joyous play. Become a sloth-administrator, rhino-guard or cat-detective, and open the door to this endless world of invention!

Great characters with effective genre play? It’s two birds with one stone.

Description:

Achieving flow in a scene can be one of the most exhilarating experiences in performance. When you’re in the zone, everything clicks—your words, actions, and instincts align seamlessly, creating something magical. It’s the pinnacle we strive for in every show. Yet, reaching that state isn’t easy.

How often do unrelated thoughts creep into your mind mid-scene? From “My partner doesn’t get the game” to “I’ll avoid that guy next time because we never click,” these mental distractions pull you out of the moment. While multitasking is possible, it often takes a toll: your body language betrays your focus, your actions lose authenticity, and the performance feels less enjoyable as you second-guess yourself and struggle to keep up.

In this workshop, we’ll explore techniques to quiet the mind and trust the body’s instincts. You’ll learn to align your body language with your spoken words, enhancing believability and presence on stage.

Drawing inspiration from NBA coach Phil Jackson’s meditational practices, we’ll incorporate meditation exercises tailored to performers, helping you center yourself before and during scenes.

This session is perfect for anyone who’s experienced those distracting “out-of-scene” thoughts and wants to deepen their connection to their instincts and their scene partners. No prior meditation experience is required—just bring an open mind and a willingness to discover the power of flow.

Description:

Wer kennt es nicht: Du bist in einer Szene und Du bist verwirrt. Zum Glück eilt sogleich unser Kopf mit vielen „nützlichen“ (oder sollten wir sagen panischen?) Gedanken zu „Hilfe“:

Worum geht’s eigentlich gerade und wer bin ich überhaupt?

Dieser Workshop gibt Dir wirksame Werkzeuge an die Hand um mit genau diesen Momenten, in denen du alles überdenkst und damit auch all deine Bühnenpräsenz verlierst, umzugehen.

Wir erforschen die Schlüssel zu jenen magischen Momenten auf der Impro-Bühne in denen alles und alle miteinander verbunden sind und wir großes gegenseitiges Verständnis und scheinbar müheloses Zusammenspiel genießen können.  Lasst uns unsere Köpfe ausschalten und gemeinsam Techniken der organischen Entwicklung ausprobieren um die Magie des Miteinanders zu finden.

Description:

When improvising a longform, we often focus much of our attention on the plot, trying to create the story from above. But another way to tell a story is from within, by following the character’s arc.

Following this arc means investing in what is happening to the characters in their choices, actions, highs and lows, strengths and flaws and how all of that drives them forward. Stories told from the perspective of the character arc have a strong internal driving force that shines a light on human nature in all its splendor and imperfection. For us – as improvisers – this is both, a great challenge and an exhilarating ride.

In this 13 hours workshop leading to the showcase, we will focus on creating compelling character arcs that will move, surprise and capture our audience’s heart. We will explore the possibilities of this format and empower ourselves to play stronger, complex, layered, interesting characters. Characters who make choices that have implications on themselves and on others. These choices will create a mosaic of human nature based in a small town.

We are aiming to create a story that will leave the audience feeling, thinking and asking for more.

Description:

The workshop will focus on the necessary skills that improvisers need in order to play »The Room« with the right techniques and joy!

The 13 hours will be used to create intense scenes and to play characters who are strongly connected. Those characters have needs, hopes and dreams which inspire their tight relationships.

We will also focus on the techniques of magical realism, on the different tools we can use to discover and introduce stories.
We will search for what it fundamentally means to explore whatever impulse you have on stage and see where it brings you.

By the end of the workshop the class will play a 45 min showcase at the Ratibor Theater