Class: Scenework & Ensemble (Sundays)
This 8-week course will take you to new creative heights!
WHEN: Sunday, September 8 - Sunday, October 27, 12pm - 2pm
COST: $225
ABOUT THE CLASS:
This 8-week course will take you to new creative heights! In this course, you will dig deeper into the art of longform improv -- built on grounded, authentic two-person scenes inside of an emotionally sound base reality. That means making the who, what, and where of the scene true and playing it real. Ensemble in improv is created with intuitive
scene edits and fun support work like tag outs and walk-ons. Learn to start playing with premise, discover your character range, be courageous in your scene initiations, calibrate your editing, take the struggle out of revisiting comedic beats, and find the joy in improv. Led by instructor Rachel Michaela.
Capacity: 15 students
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Rachel Michaela is a native New Mexican born and raised in Albuquerque, NM. She began her study of acting under Roger Coreman Studios legend Eb Lottimer (Albuquerque) in 2015. In 2016 she began studying improv under Ben Taxy at Santa Fe Improv. She went on to study comedy under Lesly Kahn (Los Angeles) in 2016, and was honored to be mentored by the great Sam Christensen (Burbank) from 2016 until his death in 2019.
Rachel has performed in hundreds of performances at The Box Theater in Albuquerque as a member of Albuquerque's only Harold team, Big Feelings (2017-2018), The Hive (2018-2019), and The Show, the longest running short-form improv show in New Mexico (2019-2022). In 2020 she was name Lead Instructor in Santa Fe by both Stage Santa Fe and Santa Fe Improv. In 2021 she became a founding member of The Faculty Lounge.
Rachel's improv training is extensive. She has studied under improv greats: Will Hines (UCB/WGIS), Jim Woods (UCB/WGIS), Alex Berg (Convoy), Brandon Gardner (UCB), Carla Cackowski and Craig Cackowski (Orange Tuxedo), Joel Spence (UCB/WGIS), Nick Armstrong (RISE Comedy), Amey Goerlich (UCB NY/Chaos Bloom), Rachael Mason (2nd City Chicago), Megan Hovde (2nd City Chicago), Jay Sukow (2nd City Chicago), Dave Razowski (2nd City Chicago), and Shannon O’Niell (RaaaatScraps, NY), and Ronnie Adrian (UCB).
She has also studied and performed Shakespearan improv with Improv Boston and The Nursery (UK), and is a graduate of The Groundlings Writer’s Lab under Annie Sertich and Leonard Robinson. She has been invited to return to Los Angeles to continue with The Groundlings Advanced Writer’s Lab.
Not only has Rachel performed alongside comedic greats Bob Odenkirk (Albuquerque), Neil Casey (Santa Fe), and Will Hines (2024 Cloudtop Comedy Festival), but she has also been a two-time guest on Matt Besser’s Improv4Humans podcast. And, her team, The Faculty Lounge, was selected to perform at the 2023 District Improv Festival in Washington DC.
Rachel is a SAG-AFTRA commercial, film, and TV actor and has been accepted into The Barrow Group Acting School (NY). You can see her recurring as Ruby in Walker Independence (CW, HBO), and as reporter Heather Ramirez in Matt Page's directorial debut, Cop vs Killer (Amazon, YouTube, Tubi).
Rachel is a commercial, film, and TV actress represented by The O’Agency in Albuquerque, NM.