How do we authentically embody a character on the stage? How do we tell their story? We will begin the semester with games and exercises, centering joy and play in what it means to create an ensemble, while developing our improvisational toolkit. From there, we will work with scene-building prompts that will challenge us to engage the core principles of improv while beginning to explore opportunities for more nuanced character development and story-telling. We’ll take a brief detour into monologues for a deepened exploration of character work before we conclude the semester with a study of two-character scenes in a rehearsal structure that continues to center the spontaneity and creative risk-taking of improv work in our approach to published scripts.