Comedy Bootcamps

Comedy Bootcamps Each year 1812 offers several comedy “bootcamps” – weekend comedy intensives that give students of all ages the opportunity to work on improvisation, movement, character and text with 1812 directors and performers.

The last two weekends were “Funny Girl Bootcamps” – one for female performers between the ages of 21 and 29 and the other for women of all ages, no experience necessary. The instructors were Mary Carpenter, Jennifer Childs and Karen Getz.

We plan to offer bootcamps for the 2011-2012 Season for both women and men but have yet to set official dates. If you are interested in receiving more information about these classes please e-mail Noah Herman, Assistant to the Artistic Director at noah@1812productions.org and keep watching the site for updates!

Testimonials

Hey Jen, How can I sum up my experience at Funny Girl Boot camp into a few words? I learned how to: be aggressive, how to be empowered, and how to embrace myself as a woman in theatre. In the world of comedy it is hard to feel like your funny. I find it to be harder than drama. I think i used to get caught up with feeling like i wasn't as funny as other people. But what i realized after this workshop is that everyone is uniquely funny. comedy has no set rules, it is whatever you think it is. comedy is subjective to each person. Women are just as funny as men. And this workshop have given my so much more confidence as a performer. Please have more workshops like this! Thanks Jen! Chelsea Anne Carle

Hi, Jen - Can't believe it's been a week! My muscles have just now forgiven me for what I put them through. It was awesome to get to play with you, Karen and Mary. Bootcamp was inspiring, motivating, and challenging. I feel like I got just as much as I gave (which is sometimes rare for a workshop or even a weekly class). I was encouraged to push myself and work without a net, trusting where I went with instinct and impulse, and appreciate what I found as it was uniquely mine. So immensely helpful for an actor! I know I kinda touched on this before, but it's about time a weekend intensive of this kind was offered in Philly, which is really a testament to how invested 1812 is in enriching the community. Cheers to that! Alyssa

Jen, Thank you again so much- the boot camp was extremely inspiring and liberating. We have all of this material to use within ourselves, but we are told that it's not proper or becoming to act a certain way or show a certain side of yourself- which is ridiculous, because it is a part of us, and this workshop helped me to embrace all of that and heighten it, and to not be afraid to be ugly- cause it's funny and interesting and compelling. It was an honor to be in a room with everyone involved, and I learned as much from watching as doing. I would recommend this workshop to everyone, and have already been gushing to anyone who'd listen about it, haha. And if you ever decided to eventually have a level two or an extension of the first boot camp, let me know, as I'd give my kidney or any other organ that I don't necessarily need to be there (literally- it was THAT amazing!). It hasn't even been 24 hours and I miss it already... Aubrie