The Lucy Desi Center for Comedy has developed a calendar of comedic arts educational programming as part of itsmission to support the development of the comedic arts. Through our partnerships with institutions of higher learning, The Lucy Desi Center for Comedy will offer educational and performance opportunities to youth and adults of all talent levels, as well as
enrichment of the community as a whole.
That educational programming debuts this year with a set of comedy courses to take place the week of Lucy Fest 2012, culminating with students earning stage time at Lucy Fest and the Gotham
Comedy Club in New York City, named by USA Today as one of the top 10 comedy
clubs in the nation. Courses are presented in partnership with Jamestown Community College’s Center for
Continuing Education, and registration for youth and adults is now open.
Classes include intensive training in the areas of improv, sketch and stand-up, and will be taught by Bill Chott, T. Faye Griffin, and Andy Engel, respectively. Engel is the founder of Manhattan Comedy School and the Director of New Talent at the Gotham. Griffin is a former writer and producer for both the show In Living Color and the BET Network, as well as a personal joke writer for Steve Harvey. Chott toured alongside Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in The Second City Comedy Troupe before re-uniting with former troupe-mates Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell to work on The Dana Carvey Show and Saturday Night Live. Lucy fans will recognize him for his award-winning portrayal of Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy Live on Stage.
The adult tracks (ages 18 and up) and youth track (ages 11-17) are as follows:
Improv Intensive—Led by Bill Chott, participants will learn how to think on their feet, think out of their heads, become characters and play off of an audience.
Sketch, Pitch & Produce– Led by T. Faye Griffin, students will learn how to brainstorm ideas, outline sketch material, create characters, and put together short vignettes.
Stand Up Shakedown– Led by Andy Engel, participants will learn how to write and deliver short comedy lines and how to put together a five minute stand up routine. Any student completing this training will be given a six minute guest spot on stage at The Gotham if they desire.
Youth Comedy—Students will follow a track that will include all three of our professionals where they will learn all of the above components of comedy to give them a basic in all aspects of the comedic experience.
Space is limited in these comedic workshops,
so contact JCC’s
Carnahan Center at (716)338-1005 to enroll today
