Berkeley Rep At Work

Learn to embody the “yes and” spirit of improv into your everyday routines with our improv team-building workshop! For those unfamiliar with it, improv is an art form where performers are challenged to make up stories, characters, and sometimes even songs or dance on the spot. But improv is more than just telling funny stories — it requires active listening, quick thinking, and lots of creative problem-solving. Using the basic building blocks of improvisation, this fun and fast-paced workshop develops communication skills, adaptive thinking, and collaboration.

Storytelling is an art form as old as human civilization, with the power to change minds and incite change both big and small. Just as Berkeley Rep strives for excellence in the stories we tell on our stage, we recognize the importance of fostering the storytelling potential in everyone who walks through our doors. In this workshop, participants will learn to harness their creativity, trust their instincts, quiet their inner critics, and find everyone’s unique voice. Through acting, improv, and writing exercises, we will explore a wide variety of communication techniques for a deeper understanding of how to effectively share your ideas with the world.

Theatre of the Oppressed, conceived by Augusto Boal, is a collection of games, techniques, and exercises for using theatre as a vehicle for personal and social transformation. It navigates power, transforming oppression, and finding solutions to the fundamental problems of conflict, inequality, injustice, and human suffering. This workshop will introduce basic techniques from the Theatre of the Oppressed, with an end to understanding their application as practical and essential tools for creative expression, social engagement, systemic change, and personal transformation. This workshop is open to anyone interested in exploring new avenues for social and personal change, while developing spontaneity, fluidity, presence, creativity, and critical intelligence.