In this workshop, we’ll use our real life as inspiration and dive straight into dynamic relationships that bring our scenes to life. Through a mix of exercises and scene work, we’ll practice:

• Bringing honesty and depth to our character perspectives and relationships
• Establishing environment with details specific to our lives to inspire meaning and purpose in our scenes
• Playing the obvious and gifting fun facts that honor spontaneity
  

This workshop is perfect for improvisers at all levels looking to build scenes without inventing so much and getting in their head. Students will take away tools to build their scenes with confidence through authenticity.

Billy Soco is a New York City–based actor, improviser, teacher, facilitator, and voice artist. He teaches at The Second City Conservatory and is Artistic Director of Megawatt at the Magnet Theater, where he also teaches improv and musical improv. His credits include North Coast, Baby Wants Candy, Shamilton, ComedySportz, Big Whoop, Serious, and The Armando Diaz Experience, and he can be heard on Smash Boom Best and the award-winning Story Pirates Podcast. Billy has taught and performed internationally. He is committed to making space for diverse voices in improv, and his teaching emphasizes authenticity, playful exploration, and strong ensemble habits.

Almost every strong choice on stage can be traced back to listening–listening to your partner, and listening to the choices you’ve made in the scene. What separates great improvisers is their ability to take every small moment, look, gesture, word choice, tone, pause, movement and use it to intuit even more of their scene partner’s headspace. Not just what could be true, but rather what do I think my partner thinks is true? The more of each moment we capture in our awareness, the more powerful our scene work will get.

There’s always something happening in the quiet parts of a scene. And that ‘something,’ whatever it is, is usually exactly what the scene is actually about. But improvisers aren’t always comfortable being quiet onstage. We tend to freak out in negative space and want to fill it in with all kinds of unnecessary made up stuff. This workshop is about cultivating a sense for quiet, befriending subtext, and finding the pleasure and surprise in leaving things (mostly) unsaid.

Sharpen your improv through acting techniques! This workshop focuses on commitment to your character, grounded scene initiation, and the joy of heightened, unusual behavior. Through exercises you will create believable starts to scenes, drive scenes forward with character objectives/wants, and balance unusual behavior and emotional authenticity. Get ready to level up your improv through acting!

DarylJim is an LA based actor and comedian. He’s trained at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade, World’s Greatest Improv School, and The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Improv comedy credits include: UCB Mess Hall, Quick & Funny Musicals, WGIS Harold Nights, Yes And Broadway (creator and host), SF Sketchfest, Hawaii Improv Comedy Festival, and more. You may have seen him in Patreon, Sam’s Club Holiday, and Credit Karma commercials/ads. TV appearances include 2018 Oscars “This Is Me” (from the Greatest Showman) performance. DarylJim is very excited to be performing at 2nd Best Fest! Insta: @daryljimprov @jamie_ary

Let’s get singing! Step into the world of made up musicals with Charm Scene’s Lily Ludwig and Austin Packard in this music improv crash course. We’ll cover basic concepts, song structures and forms, vocal confidence, and everything you need to create toe tapping, improvised musicals from thin air. All experience levels are welcome.

Charm Scene is Chicago’s most charming improvised musical podcast, created by performers Lily Ludwig and Austin Packard, Musical Director Sam Scheidler, and drummer Chris Ditton. Collectively, the team has performed with Baby Wants Candy and Shamilton at The Second City, Laura Hall and Lisa McQueen’s Improvised Broadway, Tuesday Musical Improv at Annoyance Theatre, Marquee at iO Theater, RIFF, Lost Realms, and more. Members of Charm Scene have performed with Off Book: The Improvised Musical, the Second City Touring Company, Jackbox Games, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The Blackout is long form with a theatrical feel. No side lines. No sweep edits. No tagouts. Just good old fashioned scene work and lots of it, with a focus on simplicity and realism. If you’re tired of feeling like you need to scream to be heard in your improv, then this is the workshop for you.

Looking to fine tune your music improv skills? Want to be the best at making up songs on the fly? Join the creators of Charm Scene: Improvised Musicals in this skill building music improv workshop. We’ll focus on rhyming, finding the “game of the song,” narrative structure, musicality, and more. Previous experience with music improv is recommended.

Charm Scene is Chicago’s most charming improvised musical podcast, created by performers Lily Ludwig and Austin Packard, Musical Director Sam Scheidler, and drummer Chris Ditton. Collectively, the team has performed with Baby Wants Candy and Shamilton at The Second City, Laura Hall and Lisa McQueen’s Improvised Broadway, Tuesday Musical Improv at Annoyance Theatre, Marquee at iO Theater, RIFF, Lost Realms, and more. Members of Charm Scene have performed with Off Book: The Improvised Musical, the Second City Touring Company, Jackbox Games, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

A workshop about the power of the audience idea….. Take the audience idea and spin it into comedy gold by using every part of the suggestion and giving your silliness DEPTH. Look at your set from different angles to create a comedic world where characters and theme all exist.

Vince Yap is an actor, screenwriter, and improviser hailing from Los Angeles, CA. As an actor, he has been featured in television shows such as The Rookie, General Hospital, and American Horror Stories. As an improviser, he has performed at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre Los Angeles as part of Harold Night, Filipino AF, and Asian AF. He’s performed in festivals such as San Francisco Sketch Fest and the Del Close Marathon in NYC, and he’s more than thrilled to return to Second Best Fest!

As improvisers, we’re constantly trying to grow and stretch our play. This workshop is gonna challenge you to take things to the next level. We’ll focus on tight, two person scenework with lots of side coaching and individual feedback. We’ll find ways to stop playing the same kinds of scenes over and over again and find new, rich ways to attack our scenes. We’ll identify our “improv parachutes” that are preventing us from the best work possible, and leave with actionable steps to keep improving.