Full Program Registration opens 11/1
Hot Mess presents
HOT HAROLD (November 27th – December 22nd)
This winter intensive is a combination of 15 total classes focusing on longform skills and applying them to the Harold format. Students can enjoy our Skills Classes (10 in total) and our five session Form Class, culminating in a showcase. Each skill contributes to your toolbox and can be taken as individual classes where spots remain. The Form Class will solely focus on the understanding and execution of the Harold and how the skills contribute to all longform performance. The design of the intensive schedules Skills Classes to focus on what is needed by each Form Class so time is spent solely on application within the structure. Hot Mess believes that this structure is of value to understand & create incredible longform performances, while also recognizing that we do not need to stick to norms, traditions or “rules”. We aim to teach this course with the hopes that all of us improvising today can evolve the artform to our voices, instincts, imaginations and our brilliant innovative minds.
The HAROLD (Form Class)
The Harold is considered the first Modern Day Longform structure. It is the best representation of non-linear longform. It is an organic form of play setting you up to tell stories in unconventional ways. Built around a three beat structure & heavily focused on ensemble, the format gives us a formula to create unrelated worlds and ideas that we can eventually tie back around to each other. The skills applied to achieve this format are valuable to any and all aspects of the artform, it is a formula for improv magic. After years of the Harold being used around the country for longform instruction, you can see elements of the Harold applied to all adaptations of improv performance and in comedy writing found in some film & television.
Sat & Sun Classes meet from 2:30pm – 5:00 or 5:30pm
Weeknight Classes meet from 6:30pm – 9:00 or 9:30pm
Classes 2.5 to 3 hours in length depending on class size.
FORMS CLASS SCHEDULE
Sat Dec 3rd – Form Class 1 – HAROLD FORM – Intro to Harold & Group Mind
Sun Dec 4th – Form Class 2 – Openings Thru 2nd Beats
Sat Dec 17th – Form Class 3 – Openings Thru 3rd Beats
Sun Dec 18th – Form Class 4 – Full Run-Throughs
Wed Dec 21st – Form Class 5 – Making Harold Your Own
The ensemble will explore blurring lines, finding detours and taking more risks down the path of the unknown while making the “Harold” work for you, rather than you work for it.
Thu Dec 22nd Showcase Featuring Hot Harold & Longform Jam
Let’s make a night of it and feature you!
Form Classes Taught by Jacque Arend
SKILLS CLASSES
Sun Nov. 27th | Skills 1 (Required for Full Program)
Openings & Deconstructing Ideas – Taught by Jacque Arend. Learn the importance of creating source material & explore the multitude of ways to open a longform show. Exercise deconstructing the ideas, from simple to complex, and using them to enrich the foundation of any performance creating compelling characters, relationships & themes.
Wed Nov 30th – Skills 2 (Essential Form Skill)
Foundational Scenework – Taught by Liz Hutchman. The two person scene is the crux of building a strong foundation for your show. Exercise the skills needed to create a base for your longform performances. Coming at two person scenework brick by brick with strong choices, patience and discovery based presence to create unexpected outcomes that are fun to come back to.
Thu Dec 1st – Skills 3 (Required for Full Program)
Group Games – Taught by Jacque Arend. Students will focus directly on group games and how agreement is the main ingredient to successful ensemble work. We will practice finding pattern and establishing the rules together in a simple and effective way. We’ll explore the weird organic nature of ensemble work while also introducing some basic structure from common games in the longform arsenal.
Tue Dec 6th – Skills 4 (Advanced Form Skill)
Characters, Relationships & Runs – Taught by Stacey Hanlon. Focus on creating strong characters and relationships that we want to see again. Exercise heightening those elements to build up their realities, finding new and interesting discoveries. Students will be introduced to some editing tools.
Wed Dec 7th – Skills 5 (Essential Form Skill)
Editing & Heightening – Taught by Liz Hutchman. Using time jumping and a variety of editing techniques, students will exercise how we return to a prior scene/world to heighten or expand in exciting and fun ways. Students will practice sweeps, tags & walk ons to constrict & contract your worlds.
Sat Dec 10th – Wrkshp 6
Connections & Callbacks – Taught by Liz Hutchman
Practice building strong foundational base scenes that are full of things to callback to. Students will build unrelated worlds & tangential scenes so they can then exercise bringing back ideas, relationships and characters in ways that reveal how everything created is actually connected. This is the improv magic.
Sun Dec 11th – Skills 7
Expanding Environment – Taught by Stacey Hanlon
Environment is everywhere, let’s keep fighting against two headed talking scenes! Learn how ensemble & sideline support can enrich and build out our environments to support and heighten what’s already there.
Wed Dec 14th – Skills 8
Mapping, Personification & Position Play – Taught by Liz Hutchman
Let’s advance our scenework and explore all the different ways to play. Going into second beats of any first scene – whether in your Harold, Armando or simple Montage, can be unlimited possibilities when you explore all the different ways to draw from a scene. Learn a little more about mapping ideas, initiating premises and understanding how to support commentaries. How to place thematics onto people & things that personify the message. Gaining these skills of advanced thinking & play can elevate your show beyond a cookie cutter 1, 2, 3 exploration of the worlds we create.
Thu Dec 15th – Skills 9
Finding the Pattern or Game – Taught by Liz Hutchman
Let’s return to this idea of pattern & game – not only is revisiting it useful to our group work, but also scenework. Who doesn’t love a little comedic game play from time to time. If you can identify patterns in your characters, relationships, environments, you can establish rules in the moment making it easier to heighten or “play the game”.
Tue Dec 20th – Skills 10 (Essential Form Skill)
Mastering the Unknown – Taught by Liz Hutchman. Otherwise lets F*%k Sh*t Up! Or advanced play. You’ve learned all these amazing foundational skills and your mind is like “whoah” what do I do in this situation, or that one?! If this, then what else?! And Why is my accent changing?! Or Why am I not getting it?! Let go and let yourself free… play like you’ve never played before. Have faith that you’ve done the work & everything you need will show up for you. Don’t fear the mistakes & trust in the magic of improv. Students will also have an opportunity to attempt multiple characters in a scene, playing other ensemble member’s characters, I mean, let’s get weird!
Elective (via Zoom) To be determined
Marketing & Promotion – Join Liz Hutchman via Zoom to go over simple ways to market & promote your improv shows. Help create a better culture of sharing our performance opportunities with pride!
About Hot Mess
Jacque, Liz & Stacey started Hot Mess as an excuse to collaborate and travel to festivals together. We’ve been to one festival in 2018, the Pittsburgh Comedy Festival, and since then we’ve been creating fun ways to play, mostly with video media. We have appeared in Ghostfest as Hot Mess Beyond the Grave in 2019, online in 2020, and most recently 2022. Liz Hutchman, Jacque Arend, & Stacey Hanlon have over 60 years of combined improv experience. We’ve all been leaders and instructors and unite together to bring you some longform education passed on from that experience.
Liz Hutchman started her improv journey in short form in 1999.
She played on the main stage for five years with the Jesterz before moving into long-form.Liz has been studying, performing and teaching ever since, first with the long standing musical troupe, The Remainders. It is there that she formed her first duo, Dutchman, who performed together for 10 years in both festivals and theaters around Phoenix and under the Torch Theater. Liz has coached multiple teams in Phoenix and has taken her workshops across the country. Most recently Liz has been using improv techniques to help people who are learning to communicate better with autistic family members and medical students who are looking to improve their communication skills and bedside manner. You can find Liz performing and teaching at her current “home”, Second Beat Improv Theater. Liz performs with the long standing ensemble, The Skewed News Hour, her trio, HOT MESS, and duo team, Birds & Broads.
Stacey Reed Hanlon is originally from Akron, Ohio.
She began her improvisational career in New York City in 1999, where she studied with The Upright Citizens Brigade, Armando Diaz and Gary Austin. In NYC she co-founded improv troupe Late Night Ritalin, wrote for and appeared in Saturday Night Rewritten, and was a performer in Manhattan Comedy Collective’s Character Dog Run. Following her move to Phoenix in 2005, Stacey joined The Originals and became a founding member of The Torch Theatre. She has taught improvisation, musical theatre, voice and creative writing with various theaters and non-profits in the greater Phoenix area, including work with Conducted Stories Improv, Second Beat, The Torch Theatre, The Bridge Improv Theater, SEEDs for Autism, Khalsa Montessori, Humor Writes, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and Valley Youth Theatre. In addition to her local work, she has taught at improv festivals across the country and can currently be seen performing with improv troupes Light Rail Pirates and JaxN Reed. She is a firm believer that improv is magic and that the skills we use to improvise can reach far beyond the stage into our daily lives.
Jacque Arend started in 2005 at the the iO Chicago Summer Intensive.
She co-founded The Torch Theatre (Phoenix, Arizona) in 2007 and was a collaborator on their training program along with the organization’s artistic mission and vision. Her focuses include applied improvisation, ensemble performance, grounded scene work, advanced formats, and specific workshop focuses, such as, Deconstruction, Harold and dramatic improvisation. Jacque was the administrator & managed operations for The Torch Theatre’s Training Center from 2007-2019 and currently the main instructor for the improv/comedy programs for actors & Associate Artistic Director at Arizona Actors Academy. Jacque started her own program at AZAA in 2013. As of 2020, she is the General Operations & Education Manager for Improv Utopia & Camp Director for the East & Yosemite camps. Jacque has taught at Camp Utopia East in 2017-2019. Jacque has coached a number of groups in Phoenix to improve specific focuses and build strong ensembles with compelling performances. She is a regular performer with a handful of ongoing troupes, such as Light Rail Pirates, JaxN Reed, Birds & Broads, MuChuChu and Skewed News Hour. Jacque has played on the main stage of the Phoenix Improv Festival for eleven years. Recently she has performed & taught at the Tucson Comedy Arts Fest, Second Beat Improv Theater & The Bridge Improv Theater. She has been to festivals around the country performing and teaching, from Washington D.C. to San Diego.
FULL PROGRAM
Includes access to all 15 classes
Max Students: 8 | Min Students: 6
Cost: $375 ($25.00 per workshop)
Terms & Conditions
These students are committed to the 5 Form classes
Sat Dec 3rd – Class 1 – Openings into 1st Beats – Jacque
Sun Dec 4th – Class 2 – Openings Thru 2nd Beats – Jacque
Sat Dec 17th – Class 3: Openings Thru 3rd Beats – Jacque
Sun Dec 18th – Class 4: Full Run-Throughs – Jacque
Wed Dec 21st – Class 5: Making Harold your own – Jacque
Thu Dec 22nd – Harold Showcase featuring Hot Mess.
Students are also committed to taking a minimum of 5 Skills Classes
Students will have first dibs on all classes in the intensive.
Students are required to attend:
Sat Nov. 27th – Skills 1: Openings & Deconstructing Ideas
Thu Dec 1st – Skills 3: Group Games
Students are highly recommended to attend:
Sun Dec 11th – Wrkshp 7: Expanding Environment
Wed Dec 14th – Wrkshp 8: Mapping, Personification & Position Play
Tue Dec 20th – Wrkshp 10: Mastering the Unknown
Students with 1 year or less of experience & folks doing longform for the first time are highly encouraged to attend:
Wed Nov 30th – Skills 2: Two Person Scenework – Foundational Scenework
Tue Dec 6th – Wrkshp 5: Characters, Relationships & Runs
Wed Dec 7th – Wrkshp 4: Editing & Heightening
Sat Dec 10th – Wrkshp 6: Connections & Callbacks
All Students are encouraged to attend this advanced focus:
Thu Dec 15th – Wrkshp 9: Finding the pattern or game
FORM CLASS
If the Harold form class does not fill up with full program participants, we will make form spots available to experienced improvisers without the requirement of any skills classes. These spots will be offered by approval only and the 5 form classes with the showcase is a cost of $200.00.
FULL SKILLS PACKAGE
Includes access to all 10 classes
Max tudents: 12 | Min Students: 6
Cost: $300 ($30.00 per workshop)
For anyone interested in taking all the skills classes w/o the form. Limited number of these packages are available.
1/2 SKILLS PACKAGE
Includes access to 5 classes
Cost: $175 ($35.00 per workshop)
For anyone interested in taking five of the 10 skills classes. Limited number of these packages are available.
1/3 SKILLS PACKAGE
Includes access to 3 classes
Cost: $120 ($40.00 per workshop)
For anyone interested in taking 3 of the 10 skills classes. Limited number of these packages are available.
SINGLE SKILL
Includes access to 1 class
Cost: $50 per workshop
For anyone interested in taking just 1 skills class. Limited number of these packages are available.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
Jacque Arend 