Estevan J. (Chuy) Zárate - Forget What You Know

Feel like your scenework is stagnating? Do you find yourself resting on what you know works in front of an audience for self-gratification? Do you get too far into your head when you are trying to build a simple scene? Too many times improvisers feel the need to be clever or witty on stage. Do you get stuck in a whirlwind of bits that really serve no purpose in a scene? It might be time to forget what you know and remember that there are simple building blocks to scene work. There is no better way to get out of your head and back into the scene than remembering the basics. We will wipe the slate clean. ​To be successful at the long scene, you need to be proficient in the short scene. By the end of this workshop, you should have a strong instinct for creating quick relationships and lasting scene premises. You will look at scene starts as the most important aspect of every scene. Your relationship establishing "muscle memory" will hopefully take over and guide you to satisfying and creative scenes. Imps with 2 plus years of experience will be more comfortable in this class ​Estevan J. (Chuy) Zarate is an actor/director/coach from San Antonio TX that has been improvising for audiences for 35 years. He has lived most of his life in Improv Mecca Austin TX. Chuy was one of the driving forces of improv in the early 2000s in Austin. He helped make it the viable improv comedy scene that it is today. Current and previous improv troupes include The Hideout Theatre's house troupe: The Big Bash, Luby's Bingo Hall, Merlinworks faculty troupe: The Known Wizards, An Evening With...With Tyler and Chuy feat. Tosin, duos: Pizarati w/ Ellen Pizarek, ChuTopp w/ Topping Haggerty, RD: We Go For It! w/Rachel Austin, Dorsey/Zárate w/ Neil Dorsey and The Project with his 21 year old son Antonio. Past mainstay Austin and San Antonio troupes include: The Oxymorons, Your Dad's Friends, Ray Prewitt's 4th Grade Class, ¡Zarzamora! and Monk's Night Out. He also directed and performed with sketch troupes The Latino Comedy Project and The Mexcentrics. He has a very eclectic tool belt to reach into that allows him to teach all styles and formats. If there is a scenario to be performed in, he has probably performed it. With specialties in improv singing, grounded/character-driven scenework and team building, Chuy has coached hundreds of kids, teens, students and adults for years to multiple successes.

You may also like the following events from Happy Valley Improv:

• This month, 15th May, 12:00 pm, Fourth Annual Happy Valley XL Improv Festival in State College
• This month, 27th May, 07:00 pm, Improv 101 FREE SAMPLER in State College

Also check out other Workshops in State College, Arts events in State College, Theatre events in State College.