THE UPTOWN IMPROV COMPANY is a new home for local comedy and entertainment arts, driven by the talent of its community. Improv, sketch, stand-up and more, from homegrown performers doing what they love to do: engage, explore, and experience.
“The ascent of improv is one of the most important stories in popular culture”
WHAT IS IMPROV?
Improvisation, or improv, is a form of live theater in which the plot, characters and dialogue are all made up on the spot, in the moment. Improv focuses on listening, agreement, honesty, intelligence, and support. A group of trained improvisers can take a single audience suggestion and use their “group mind” to weave together the ideas and themes inspired by that suggestion to create a world filled with eccentric characters and completely original story lines that are built and sustained entirely by the support and celebration of each others ideas. The result is a live theater experience that is sometimes funny, sometimes moving, but always original. Improv is spontaneous, entertaining, and fun. But like all great things, you’ll have to see it first hand to fully experience and appreciate it.
WHY TAKE AN IMPROV CLASS?
Improv classes are a great way to develop and improve personal skills like:
teamwork & collaboration
reacting and adapting to new information in real time
self confidence
public speaking
being in the moment
supporting the ideas of others without judgement
At Uptown Improv Company, you will learn the fundamentals of improvisation including: agreement ("Yes, and..."), active listening, and how to improvise comedic scenes.
The Uptown’s sketch writing program focuses on the fundamentals: strong characters, strong premise based sketches for a live performance or digital short.
We can’t teach you how to be funny, but we can help you start to find your voice, develop successful habits and help you put together your set. Learn the process and develop your own material in a workshop-style environment then perform on stage in our student stand-up showcase!
Come play, perform and make new friends! Improv is a great way to build confidence, sharpen listening skills, use your imagination, and have a blast. Students will learn improv exercises and games and the fundamental skills learned with us can be applied to all aspects of life, and will stick with them for years to come. No experience needed.
UTCA is committed to providing opportunities to historically marginalized communities in order to increase representation in our classrooms and on our stage. If you feel that you are a person who has been underrepresented and are in need of financial help to attend classes, please send an email to our Training Center Director using the button below.
“Feedback from our crew is universally positive. We loved today!””
Our workshops are designed to help your team improve communication, collaboration, and creativity through the power of improv.
At Uptown Improv Company, we believe that the skills used in improv comedy can be applied to many areas of life, including the workplace. We’ll help your team learn to listen more effectively, think on their feet, and work together to achieve common goals.
Our workshops are tailored to meet the specific needs of your team. Whether you're looking to improve communication between departments, enhance leadership skills, or just have a fun team-building experience, we can create a workshop that will meet your goals.
Our experienced improv instructors will lead your team through a series of exercises and games designed to help them improve their communication skills, boost their creativity, and build stronger relationships with one another. Our workshops are designed to be fun and engaging, allowing your team to let loose and have a good time while still learning important skills.
By participating in our workshops, your team will gain valuable insights into their own communication styles and how they can work together more effectively. They'll learn to embrace failure and use it as an opportunity to grow and improve, and they'll come away with a renewed sense of energy and excitement for working together.
If you're looking for a unique and effective way to improve your team's communication, collaboration, and creativity, look no further than The Uptown. Contact us today to learn more and schedule your workshop!
Devin Mahoney
Devin grew up in Utica, NY, where he spent a good deal of his childhood watching the television shows and movies that inspired his love of comedy and passion for storytelling. After graduating Siena College with a degree in marketing and management, he earned his master’s in television and film from The Newhouse School at Syracuse University.
In 2004, Devin moved to Los Angeles to begin his career in entertainment. He worked in the writers’ room of dozens of comedies, on over two hundred episodes of television, including Scrubs, Better Off Ted, Outsourced, The Millers, Downward Dog, and I’m Sorry and most recently worked as a Consulting Producer on the Netflix original series The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell from The Jim Henson Company.
Devin has studied and performed at legendary comedy theaters iO West, The Upright Citizens Brigade, and The Second City Hollywood. He’s performed in both the Del Close Marathon and LA Improv Festival with his team Afternoon Delight and is a founding member of Uptown Improv Co.’s house ensemble Bus Stop Robot.
Kate Domenico
Kate fell in love with the adrenaline rush of improv in elementary school. She was active in the Ithaca College Comedy club, and has studied long form improv at UTCA since 2018. Kate is a proponent of using improv to build social skills and teaches a children’s improv class at UTCA. Outside of Bus Stop Robot, she has performed standup comedy and enjoys writing and performing sketch comedy. When she’s not at the theater, she spends her time mothering her two children, vacuuming and battling Excel spreadsheets at work. Kate’s sun is in Aquarius, her moon in Taurus and she’s a Pisces rising; which means like Tinkerbell, she needs your applause to live.
Cortland Cloos
Cortland Cloos, a veteran of both the United States Army and the DSI Improv Comedy Theater in Chapel Hill, NC (where he was a member of the improv/sketch group Horrible Folks), has been performing both improv and stand-up comedy for the past ten years. He’s hosted and performed at the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival and performed at the Del Close Marathon at Upright Citizens Brigade in NY. Cortland hosts the Uptown’s weekly stand-up open mic and can be seen on stage, performing with Bus Stop Robot.
