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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions):
NUTS AND BOLTS
- Where are classes held?
- How do I get there?
- What's expected of me?
- What should I wear?
- Can I bring food or drink?
- What’s the refund policy?
FOR IMPROVISERS
- What’s the Advanced Placement policy at ComedySportz?
- Do I have to graduate the training center to audition for ComedySportz?
WHAT YOU LEARN
- What’s the structure of the ComedySportz Training Program?
- *What is “Short-form?”
- Where did Short-form come from?
- Does ComedySportz have an “approach?” If so, what is it?
NUTS AND BOLTS
Where are classes held?
ComedySportz classes are offered at convenient North Side locations.
The majority of our classes are held at The ComedySportz Training Center, at 5100 N. Ravenswood, Suite 200, convenient to the Damen Bus, the Foster Bus, and a short walk from the Clark Bus.
The remainder are held at either Sheil Park or Gill Park, in the Chicago Park District system. You will be notified in advance of the location for your class.
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How do I get there?
Directions to the ComedySportz Training Center! Foster is accessible via 90, 94, and Lakeshore Drive. Once on Foster, head to Ravenswood, a North-South road just west of Damen and East of Ashland. (In some sections, Ravenswood is actually two streets that run along either side of a Metra rail line. Our side of Ravenswood is West of the train tracks.)
This area has a decent amount of parking. For those using public transportation, the Damen bus will take you from the Lawrence stop of the Brown Line directly to our building. (Damen #50 bus runs on Foster from Damen to Ashland. Get out at the "Ravenswood stop" just before Foster goes under the railroad tracks.) It’s also about a 4 block walk from Clark if you want to take the #22 to Foster, and walk Foster under the tracks to Ravenswood.
Once at the corner of Foster and the West side of Ravenswood, head South. (Our building is on your right.) Our office is at the end of the building. 5100 N. Ravenswood, Ste. 200.
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What's expected of me?
Our introductory class, 101, is fairly laid back, as maintaining a spirit of playfulness is central to what we do. As you proceed through the levels, the demands for professionalism will start to grow. (While you may just want to have a good time discovering a new art, the person next to you may be working toward a career in comedy.)
We ask that you show up on time and ready for an evening of focused play. "Play" means that you are encouraged to shake off the baggage of the daily grind before walking in. Everyone wants to have a good time. "Focused" means turning your cell phone off, participating cheerfully with your classmates, and accepting the feedback of your instructor.
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What should I wear?
We realize that many people come straight from work, and its not always practical to completely change outfits before class begins. If possible, we ask that you wear clothes you can move around in and that you can get dirty. Improv is a physical art. If you have the impulse to crawl across the ground in your scene, we don't want your clothes to stop you.
Shoes, however, are very important. You should wear a sneaker or something equally comfortable and safe. Heels, open toed shoes, sandals, are all not recommended as getting your foot stepped on is an occupational hazard of some of our more physical games.
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Can I bring food or drink?
No food should be eaten during class except when a medical necessity (blood sugar, pregnancy, etc.) So, if you are trying to cram in something quick between work and class, please be finished prior to your class's start time.
As for a beverage, YES. We actually encourage you to bring bottled water to class to keep you hydrated. However, any non-alcoholic beverage is welcomed. (There is no consumption of alcoholic beverages, regardless of age, at a ComedySportz class.)
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What’s the refund policy?
ComedySportz classes are non-refundable from time of purchase. However students with special circumstances may request a deferral which would allow them to postpone their entry into classes until the following term.
Deferrals are not available as of the second class in the original term. Students who continue to defer their class credit past one year from date of original purchase lose all claim to the credit and must pay tuition again to begin classes.
Likewise, students may only defer once. Therefore, if a student signs up for a class and then defers to a class in a later term, deferring from that class will not be possible. The student would have to discontinue.
Discontinuing Class: Any student failing to attend class without notifying the Training Center of an intention to defer, waives their tuition and is not entitled to a refund. Likewise, after the day of the second class session no deferral is allowed, and failure to continue with class is a discontinuance regardless of notification.
Ejection from Class: Though it has never been necessary, ComedySportz reserves the right to remove someone from our program for disciplinary reasons. These include but are not limited to: sexual harassment or otherwise inappropriate treatment of a student, teacher, or other person, any violence or other acts of aggression or intimidation, as well as any other behavior that is judged by the instructor and the Director of the Training Center to be detrimental to the class experience. Detrimental behavior includes but is not limited to: attending class while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, bullying, or pervasive negativity or resistance to the material. Students ejected from class are not entitled to a refund, and ejection in no way prevents ComedySportz or other students in class from further legal action should the situation warrant.
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FOR IMPROVISERS
What’s the Advanced Placement policy at ComedySportz?
Understanding the financial burden of improv classes, ComedySportz offers exemptions from its early level classes to those with the appropriate experience and training. Eligibility requires that an individual has both completed the required coursework at other recognized Chicago-based institutions and has continued to improvise since that training. (Someone who has not improvised in over a year is asked to submit a current theater resume to the Director of the Training Center requesting special consideration.) Programs currently recognized are IO or IO West (previously ImprovOlympic), Second City (any city, either A-E or Conservatory), and the Annoyance.
Advanced Placement into ComedySportz - 202 is available to improvisers who have graduated one other recognized comedy training program in Chicago.
Advanced Placement into ComedySportz - 303 is available to improvisers who have graduated two or more other recognized comedy training programs.
For more information, or to request Advanced Placement, e-mail Matt.
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Do I have to graduate the training center to audition for ComedySportz?
ComedySportz occasionally has “cattle-call” auditions that are open to the public. However, no training in the city is better at preparing people to do ComedySportz, than ComedySportz. It single-handedly equips students with the games, genres, and musical styles our players rely on to do their show.
Likewise, the introductory and scenework levels (101 & 202) prepare students to perform in ComedySportz’s unique style of play.
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WHAT YOU LEARN
What’s the structure of the ComedySportz Training Program?
ComedySportz offers a complete, six level program designed to take a someone from right out of our audience to having a thorough foundation in short-form* improvisation. These six levels (101-606) represent ComedySportz’s “Core Curriculum” which runs year round.
Each Core Curriculum class consists of eight, three hour sessions delivered at the same day and time every week. Then, in week nine, the students of the various classes in that term perform a showcase for friends and family.
The Core Curriculum is designed to be taken sequentially, with latter classes building on the skills developed in the former. However, 303, 404, and 505 are sometimes taken out of sequence to accommodate student schedules.
In addition to the Core Curriculum classes, ComedySportz periodically offers “Elective” classes. Each elective class is different. Some require a substantial background in improvisation, some do not. When an elective is offered, eligibility will be included in the class description.
* - Check out the next question for more info.
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*What is “Short-form?”
Short-form is the oldest and most common form of improvised comedy around the world. TV shows like “Whose Line is it Anyway?” and Nick Cannon’s “Wild n’ Out” are examples of this type of entertainment.
The average short-form improv show consists of a series of theater games that last normally 3-6 minutes each. Common hallmarks of a short-form show are a host (in our case, a referee) who comes to the audience in between the games to ask for suggestions and/or to explain how the next game works.
Short-form games are usually defined by their rules – the tasks the actors must accomplish or the boundaries they must operate within to perform the game. For instance, in the game of “New Choice,” the players must instantly change their last line of dialogue whenever asked to do so by the referee. Hence, when required, the players must present a “new choice.”
The term “short-form” demonstrates the contrast of this style of play from the newer American tradition of “long-form.” In long-form, another Chicago favorite, an ensemble of performers improvise for a sizeable period of time (usually anywhere from 25 minutes to two hours) without stopping.
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Where did Short-form come from?
Short-form or “game-based” improvisation is the original form of unrehearsed performance improv. The earliest record of it in America is noted in Janet Coleman’s The Compass. The Compass Players, commonly believed to be America’s first improv troupe would, in addition to their signature “scenario plays,” play improv games like “Story” as part of their shows.
These games evolved from Viola Spolin’s theater games and were then transposed through her son, Paul Sills, one of the Compass’s founders, into performance games for the stage.
While several acting traditions throughout world history have employed improvisation as a method of actor training, American Short-Form may well be the first time a group of actors have ever stood on a stage ready to act with no pre-planned ideas of what their resulting scenes would depict.
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Does ComedySportz have an “approach?” If so, what is it?
The ComedySportz ensemble is made up of improvisers from all over the country. Many of our newest players developed their talents right here at the ComedySportz Training Center. Still others began at Second City, IO, or the Annoyance. And a select few actually got their start from other ComedySportz’s from around the nation.
Likewise, the ComedySportz Training Center eschews one specific method of improvising in favor of setting a clear end point – “accessible, high quality comedy.” ComedySportz values using improvisation to tailor an audience’s experience directly to their sense of humor. At ComedySportz, “improvising for each other” is balanced with making our audiences enjoy themselves.
So what do you learn? Over the course of your training, you come to draw on the techniques we offer that work for you in creating your own personal approach to improvisation. And, as early as your first level, you begin receiving individual feedback to help you grow into your own method of performing our style of show.
In the end, it’s you up there. Expressing yourself doesn’t stop with what you improvise, but how you improvise as well!
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