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Talya Finberg Joins the LMA Teaching Roster
04
Oct
We are super excited to welcome Talya to the Teaching staff at LMA! Talya completed all four levels of improv training offered through Laugh Masters Academy (LMA) in 2016 and then whooshed through the LMA Teacher Training Track to land where she is today. She will be recognisable to many of you from her work [...]
Improv Is A Team Sport
17
Sep
Improv Is A Team Sport September 17, 2017 Posted by: - LMA Staff Category: Improv.Blog , No Comments Improv Is A Team Sport Comedy is typically thought of as a solo pursuit, from the high school class clown to legendary stand ups, usually, people are trying to be the funniest: the single most funny person [...]
A Disposable Life
16
Jul
A Disposable Life This week's post is by LMA Artistic Director Dan Pavatich One of the fundamental ideas behind Improv is that it is disposable, anything we create exists for a moment and then evaporates. The upside is that improvisers learn to believe in the power of creativity, and the moment. The downside can be that [...]
Improvising With Hippos
06
Jul
Improvising With Hippos Nikki-Anne Wilson is a PhD student based at the Brain and Mind Centre at The University of Sydney. Her research examines how imagination contributes to social behaviour, specifically, whether the inability to imagine may explain the loss of social skills in dementia. She is also an LMA student, a wannabe improv star [...]
How Do You Get Better At Improv?
29
Jun
How Do You Get Better At Improv? Our guest blog this week comes from Andy Balloch, LMA Melbourne’s School Coordinator and Producer who has studied at iO Chicago and The Improv Conspiracy, where he now coaches Levels 1 - 3. Andy regularly performs in ‘Us Plus One', is a member of the Deconstruction Ensemble (Laugh Master’s [...]
On The Right Track
14
Jun
On The Right Track Carolyn Mullen is an LMA Student and an actor based in Sydney. Her passion for performing started at age 4. Since then she has studied at various schools including the Ensemble Studios under Zika Nester OAM, Actors Centre, NIDA, Theatre Sports and Macquarie University and has worked in theatre, film and [...]
7 Things You Need to Master Improv
07
Jun
7 Things You Need to Master Improv This week’s guest blog post is from Ryan Karels (New York City's Upright Citizens Brigade) who taught Level 2 and 3 improv at LMA (Sydney), Term 2, 2017. While teaching improv at LMA, I'll note in the scene, "This is more of a spiritual note...” So LMA asked me to write [...]
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Master and Apprentice Alike
03
Jun
Master and Apprentice Alike This post is by Dan Pavatich, LMA's Artistic Director I have been lucky enough to perform with some extremely funny and talented people, some of whom have been performing for decades, and others for only a matter of weeks. Such was the case last night at The Night Shift, when I had the [...]
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How It Really Feels Stepping Into Your First Improv Class
12
May
How It Really Feels Stepping Into Your First Improv Class I am trying to summon back how it felt stepping into an LMA improv class first the first time. It would be easy now, knowing how I’ve come to love the class and the legends in it, to blur any recollection of apprehension on that [...]
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Finding The Funny
29
Apr
Finding The Funny Search for: Recent Posts The Last Laugh? When Will In-Person Classes Resume? Thursday Nights: All in and All out State of Play 2019 You Shaved My Legs! Eight Weeks with Laugh Masters Academy Recent CommentsWhat is improv comedy & theatre? - The Australian Improv Comedy Festival on What is Improv?- LMA on [...]
How Comedy Helps Me Live A Better Life!
08
Mar
How Comedy Helps Me Live A Better Life! Hi all, first let me introduce myself. My name is Jasmine Langdon and I'm Laugh-Masters Academy’s current Social Media Coordinator, an improviser, former stand-up comic and a cancer fighter. Yes you read that last part right. I have cancer and not one that's easy to get rid of. [...]
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When Was the Last Time You Played?
22
Feb
When Was the Last Time You Played? My first introduction to clown and physical comedy was in New York with Virginia Scott. But it wasn’t until later on during my second year in Paris studying at Jacques Lecoq that I experienced the fundamental joy and benefits of this ancient playful art. At the heart of [...]
Elliot’s Improv Journey
16
Feb
Elliot's Improv Journey Why Improv? My improv journey started when I was living in Chicago, Illinois, had just dropped out of Graduate School where I was pursuing a Masters of Architecture and was working in the planning department of a major University. I didn’t like my job that much and didn’t know what I was [...]
That First Step Makes All the Difference.
10
Feb
That First Step Makes All the Difference. Ever wonder what it takes to be funny on the spot but scared that it's too hard? If you are nervous and would like to dip your toes in and see if it's for you LMA have regular FREE introduction to improv classes on the second Saturday of [...]
The State of Play
02
Jan
The State of Play A grateful look at where LMA has been, where it's going, and the people who make it all possible from LMA's Founder, Eran Thomson An improv stage typically consists of nothing more than some lights, a curtain, and a couple of chairs, but its capable of becoming anything - a spaceship, a [...]