Badass Comedy Shows & Training
Training Camp: Visiting Teachers
This July, venture south to study with The New Movement, an improv theater and training center with locations in Austin, New Orleans and Houston. The New Movement is calling hungry improvisers to take on the challenge of The Megaphone Marathons Training Camp, a five-day round-the-clock improv intensive held in conjunction with the colossal three-city improv festival known as The Megaphone Marathons.
In each of our TNM cities, the resident Training Camp Staff will be joined by a visiting teacher. The visiting teachers will lead two morning sessions in the concluding days of Training Camp, and conduct workshops on Saturday of the Marathons. As saturday workshops are in high demand among TNM performers and students, Training Camp participants wishing to stay an extra day for workshops must register separately to reserve their spot.
Bill Arnett
iO Chicago, Former Training Center Director
Bill Arnett is the former Training Center Director for the iO Theater in Chicago. He has traveled extensively around the U.S. and internationally teaching workshops in improvisation. Bill also writes and performs with the award-winning sketch group Maximum Party Zone. He can be seen in Chicago where he performs with “Armando Diaz” and with the critically acclaimed “3033″. Bill is from Florida and got his start with Theatre Strike Force at the University of Florida. Follow his improv blog at http://billarnett.com/
Brian James O’Connell
iO West, Performer/Coach
Brian James O’Connell is a working actor, writer, director, filmmaker and improviser in Los Angeles. Brian is a graduate of the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts. He moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to follow his dreams of a career in filmmaking. Brian (or BOC as his friends call him) is now in the financing stage on his next feature directing gig, GREASE TRUCKERS, the first feature of his comedy production team, Dr. God.
Brian has been with the iOWest Theater since March of 2003. A regular performer and coach at the iOWest Theater in Los Angeles, Brian derives most of his approach to improv from The Deconstruction, the form created by iO’s legendary team, The Family (Miles Stroth, Neil Flynn, Ian Roberts, Matt Besser, Adam McKay, Ali Faranahkian, and Pete Hulne). He currently teaches his Forms Workshop for Miles Stroth’s Improv Workshop. With his internationally touring improv duo Billyhawk and iOWest’s legendary improv group Dr. God, Brian has performed and taught at comedy festivals in Denver, Phoenix, Toronto, Philadelphia, Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chapel Hill, NC. Well-respected as one of Los Angeles’s premier improvisers, Brian is famous for his encyclopedic knowledge of minutiae and his insane recall ability and memory (He has never written down a note. Ever.) Brian can be seen performing at iOWest currently with Dr. God, garguilO’connell, and, of course, Tigerpants.
Chris Trew
TNM, Founder
Chris Trew has headlined improv festivals as a performer and an instructor. He’s produced tons of events from multi-city tours to comedy marathons to big ole’ festivals. He founded the sketch comedy group Studio8 and has produced or appeared in hours of material, some of which has been picked up by Comedy Central. He’s performed and taught improv in over 60 different markets in the country. Chris’ skill sets lie in Improv Diagnostics and Patterns.
CJ Hunt
TNM New Orleans, Dir. of Training Camp
CJ Hunt is a teacher and co-founder at The New Movement – New Orleans. He has traveled the country performing sketch and improv with the group Stupid Time Machine. In addition to teaching, CJ leads the AP Comedy program where he teaches improv to teens and leads educators in workshops on how to use improv in the classroom. As director and designer of Training Camp, CJ is currently obsessed with finding new ways (some of them athletic training models) for improvisors to isolate and develop skills necessary for outstanding scene work.
Vanessa Gonzalez
TNM Austin, Conservatory Director
Vanessa Gonzales is the Conservatory Director at The New Movement – Austin. For years Vanessa has written and performed for the Emmy nominated, sketch comedy group, The Latino Comedy Project. Currently, she performs with the New Orleans-based group Stupid Time Machine and the Austin-based trio Handbomb. As Conservatory Director and member of AP Comedy, Vanessa has taught multiple workshops including Austin’s 4th Annual Skill Share, Texas State University, and teen improv camps with Brite Lites Studios. Heavily involved in the curriculum design of Training Camp, Vanessa is fascinated with ways to make students play more grounded emotionally honest characters on stage.