Workshops

We love to share how we make theatre with you and from time to time bring our favorite artists to Austin to share what they know as well. Check back for upcoming workshops or better yet sign up for our newsletter.

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Happy to customize any workshop in order to fit your needs.

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Just email us at CB[at]GrackleJack.com

Spymonkey's Intro to Clown Masterclass with Aitor Basauri (click here to learn more!)
In this workshop you will learn to discover what makes you funny, hone your skills, and practice making an audience belly laugh. The positive group dynamic will allow you to focus on following your impulse, being adventurous, taking risks and learning to trust your spontaneous self. In this highly enjoyable workshop Aitor will teach you technically how to make people laugh through status play-offs, parody, improvisation and many more games and exercises developing trust and complicity with the group. Be prepared to find the pleasure in your own ridiculousness, stay optimistic, discover your funny, and get ready to laugh until your face hurts.

Puppetry
What makes an object come to life? In this visual storytelling workshop students will explore that question through different types of puppetry. From simple everyday objects to Bunraku-style puppetry, students will create stories, build projects and experiment with ways to say less and show more.

Solo Playmaking
In this class students write and perform original solo pieces. Students will create a five to ten minute piece using material from their own life experiences, imaginations, personal objects, newspaper clippings, obituaries, celebrity doppelgängers, passions, and pet peeves. Readings from Anna Deavere Smith, Nilaja Sun, John Leguizamo, Holly Hughes, Lisa Kron, Spalding Gray, and other solo performers will be required. Students will leave this class with an original piece of theater that they may expand on in the future, a variety of physical and written methods to develop characters, and tools to help them create new work. 

DIY Playmaking
Money and resources should never get in the way of making theatre. In this workshop students learn how to to tackle a variety of stories from plays by Euripides to monster movies. By combining accessible materials and creating innovative staging techniques, the stories come to life in an entirely new way.  

Le Jeu: From Playing to Making
Learn how to play your way into performance and devising new work. Through game-playing and improvisational exercises, students will discover "complicite" (how to work together) and "jeu" (the pleasure of playing). This class focuses on identifying the rules of a game, playing within them or against them, and ultimately realizing that there is always a game happening.