Our upcoming classes

SKETCH FEST 2024 WORKSHOP: Creating Video Sketch Comedy - Hayden Wright
Apr
7

SKETCH FEST 2024 WORKSHOP: Creating Video Sketch Comedy - Hayden Wright

From front-facing TikTok-style videos to the broad landscape of YouTube and beyond, learn to conceptualise, develop and produce comedy videos perfect for publishing online.

Please bring a mobile phone with video capability, as we'll be shooting our own before the workshop is done!

FACILITATOR BIO
Hayden is a faculty member and house team coach at Improv Theatre Sydney. Beginning as an ITS student in 2015, Hayden continued his improv training overseas with the iO theatre in Chicago. He has travelled to find improv in Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, New York and Berlin.

Back in Sydney, Hayden coaches house and independent improv teams like Snake Pit, writes sketch comedy for shows like ITS Sketchy At Best, and performs improv with the ITS ensemble and indie duo Daffodil Valley.

As a producer, Hayden creates improvised podcasts and shows across Sydney that showcase new talent and experienced performers. He believes improv skills make better communicators and kinder communities.

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SKETCH FEST 2024 WORKSHOP: Cheat off my Answer Sheet - Liz Talbot
Apr
6

SKETCH FEST 2024 WORKSHOP: Cheat off my Answer Sheet - Liz Talbot

Receive ten years of sketch experience in three hours - if you're brave enough to witness, perform and unpack the most cringeworthy, boof-headed or already-outdated sketches from a decade of writing.

Learn tips to avoid common missteps and give a direct boost to the quality of your work.

In order for your sketch-writing skills to get better over time, you'll inevitably learn a few tough lessons.

Some of these lessons are teachable. Liz brought her first sketch to a Brisbane stage in 2009, and haswritten hundreds since. This workshop teaches by example the lessons Liz wishes she learned earlier.

FACILITATOR BIO

Liz Talbot is a writer, sketch comedian, improviser and Corporate Type from Brisbane/Meanjin, Australia. She is proud of her University Law Revue beginnings, and also proud of how far she has come as a writer since her early days of ten-minute sketches, unnecessary dialogue, majorblind spots and poor feedback practices.

Liz has written and performed sketch comedy at the Brisbane Comedy Festival, Anywhere Festival, Brisbane Fringe, ITS Comedy Festival (NSW), Big Fork Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, Metro Arts and more, in productions ranging from streamlined duos to large casts of writer/performers. She has written for multiple long-running troupes and leads writing groups, workshops and jams.

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Foundations 3: Characters -Sundays - Term 2 2023
Apr
30

Foundations 3: Characters -Sundays - Term 2 2023

Improv Acting Class: In Characters students will explore how to access fully fleshed out characters in an improv scene. Characters will teach techniques to unlock your way of playing characters and jump in and out of them with ease. Whether you want to play characters that are larger than life or a little more nuanced this class if for you.

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Writers Room 2 - Pitch to Performance - Saturdays - Term 2 2023
Apr
29

Writers Room 2 - Pitch to Performance - Saturdays - Term 2 2023

Writers Room 2 - Pitch to Performance takes students out of the classroom and into a simulated writers room as they create a full-hour live sketch show from scratch over the course of the term. Students will work together every week to pitch, write, edit and stage the show, with guidance and direction from the teacher as Head Writer. The term culminates in a live performance of the final sketch show (note: Writers Room 2 students are not required to act in the show unless they would like to).

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Teen Forks - Improv classes for 13-17 year old students with Big Fork Theatre
Apr
19

Teen Forks - Improv classes for 13-17 year old students with Big Fork Theatre

Located in our dedicated Blackbox Theatre in this 10 week term students will explore the principles of improvisation in a fun, creative and supportive environment. Improv is perfect for exploring creativity, supporting social skills, and building confidence. No previous acting experience required, it is a low-stress introduction to acting while also a great tool for the budding actor.

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Masterclass Series: Acting for Improvisers - with Anne Pensalfini
Jun
12

Masterclass Series: Acting for Improvisers - with Anne Pensalfini

Acting for Improvisers - 4 week Master Class

If you have never studied acting for stage this class will give confidence in moving and speaking onstage. Whether you have taken classes and only just begun to perform or have lots of shows under your belt, over 4 weeks you’ll grow your basic acting skills and stagecraft. Explore stage pictures, proxemics and voice work, and how to make your characters believable and your storytelling truthful in a safe, supportive and fun atmosphere. You’ll need to prepare a 1-minute contemporary monologue ahead of time.

About Anne

Anne Pensalfini has a diverse range of performing experience in stage, film, and commercial work locally and abroad. Performance highlights include 18+ years of improvisational comedy for clients such as Disney, and acting credits for companies such as Queensland Theatre, and the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble where she was a Core member for 5 years. Extensive training in voice, movement, Shakespeare and improv, and degrees in Theatre and Education inform her teaching practice. Anne teaches for Big Fork Theatre, Impro Mafia, Queensland Theatre’s youth programs and Queensland University of Technology and has led acting courses for Griffith Uni and University of Queensland.

About Big Fork Theatre

Big Fork Theatre is dedicated to long form improvisation in the Chicago and New York style, as made famous by Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Mike Meyers. Big Fork primarily focuses on comedic improvisation.

Big Fork's teachers have many years experience both in teaching and performing, many of whom have traveled around the world to learn from some of the best improv teachers there are. Our teachers are committed to creating a fun and enriching environment to learn in and grow the Brisbane improvisational community.

COVID 19

Big Fork Theatre requires participants in our classes to be fully vaccinated and show proof of vaccination upon entry to the first class. Those with medical exemptions from their registered GP should send proof of this exemption to training@bigforktheatre.com ahead of the first class.

We will be conducting our classes in line with the latest social distancing guidelines and restrictions for COVID 19 (if any) in place at the time of the class. Students will be informed of any changes that may affect this class. It is expected that students will follow the teacher's instructions on social distancing and will not come to class when sick. 

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