What you'll learn

"In this workshop, we will focus on exercises to create complex and rounded characters like the ones we love watching in a good television drama. It shall be very practical and exercise driven- perfect for those improvisers and actors looking to broaden their acting chops and discover a more nuanced understanding of character play.

Additionally, we will examine a wide variety of techniques to establish depth and dimension in characters. We shall look at what separates protagonist from antagonist as well as identify how these roles can slip and slide a bit during the scenes themselves. We will also flip the coin and make dastardly antagonists that are lovable, as well as secondary and tertiary characters that interestingly fill out the universe surrounding our characters and serving our stories.

This workshop is perfect for the actors and improvisers looking to get a little more substantive characters on stage where the stakes in the story gain greater investment from the audience and the players themselves."

About the teacher

Andrew Hefler is a performer, director, trainer working in theatre, music, film and television for nearly thirty years. He was first introduced to Improvisational theatre at the age of 10 in grade school in Los Angeles. Since then he has worked with theatre groups in the US, Canada, Europe and since 1994 in his homebase of Budapest. He was a member of the experimental impro trio Scalabouche and later he founded Grund Theatre in 2008 developing a company and training methods for actors and shows for performance. He has written and produced TV for Comedy Central and AMC. He is an actor at the National Theatre of Hungary and has taught improvisation and acting at various Universities. In his spare time he writes songs and sings in his band.