Have fun learning the art of comedy!

Building on the fundamentals of writing and performing stand-up comedy in STAND-UP 101, the new advanced level course STAND-UP 102 will provide students with even more tools and techniques of stand-up tailored for up-and-coming local comedians by industry professionals. This five week course will cover such topics including crowd work and interacting with audiences, adapting to different performance venues, writing topical humor, and stand-up character creation. Students will get to show off their new skills in a showcase performance for their friends and family.

Producing Comedy is a two-week introductory class designed for anyone curious about what goes into creating and running live comedy shows. Through a mix of theory, discussion, and hands-on practical skills, students will explore the fundamentals of producing stand-up, sketch, or improv comedy entertainment. This will include show development, logistical planning, communication and collaboration skills, and other best practices for creating a strong audience and performer experience. Whether you are interested in launching your own project in the future or simply want to better understand the behind-the-scenes work that makes live comedy happen, this class is a supportive entry point. This class is also an intended pathway toward future intermediate producer training at Arcade Academy.

This five-week intensive will teach students The Monoscene, a long form improv structure comprised of a single, continuous scene in one location. This challenging form requires commitment to character, elegant heightening, and creating multiple layers of game and pattern throughout the single scene, creating an improvised one-act play unlike any other!

This new five-week intensive will teach students True Hollywood Stories, a long form improv structure that transforms an audience interview into a sensationalized "rise and fall" story in the style of television classics like The E True Hollywood Story or VH1's Behind The Music. Starting from humble beginnings, followed by a meteoric rise to fame and a tragic and scandalous crash-and-burn, this fictionalized narrative is both a crowd-pleasing show structure and an exciting challenge for advanced improvisors.

This five-week intensive focuses on one of the fundamental pillars of comedy: character. Using improv, acting, and writing techniques, instructor Sara Kantner will help students develop engaging and unique comedic characters, and give them the tools to perform these roles confidently. In addition to practicing playing strong characters in improv scenes, students will explore using a character as a starting point for sketch or stand-up comedy.

Whether you're a beginner looking to explore improv comedy for the first time, an adventurer looking for new skills to acquire, or someone just looking to get out of their own head, this class is for you! In this six-week* class, you'll learn new skills through improvisational comedy games and exercises. Alongside your fellow classmates, you’ll focus on agreement and extension or “Yes, And”, as well as "group mind", and basic environment and object work, all while in a supportive and playful environment. IMPROV 101: Foundations culminates with a class show performed on the Arcade stage! Please note that because Session 5 is a five-week session and IMPROV 101 is a six-week course, during the final week students will have their regularly scheduled Wednesday 6:30pm class on October 14th and then return the next night to perform their class show on Thursday, October 15th at 8pm.

Whether you're a beginner looking to explore improv comedy for the first time, an adventurer looking for new skills to acquire, or someone just looking to get out of their own head, this class is for you! In this six-week* class you'll learn new skills through improvisational comedy games and exercises. Alongside your fellow classmates, you’ll focus on agreement and extension or “Yes, And”, as well as "group mind", and basic environment and object work, all while in a supportive and playful environment. IMPROV 101: Foundations for Women and Femmes culminates with a class show performed on the Arcade stage! This class is exclusively for women and femme-presenting persons. Students looking to take an IMPROV 101: Foundations class for anyone are welcome to register for our Session 5 Wednesday night IMPROV 101. Please note that because Session 5 is a five-week session and IMPROV 101 is a six-week course, during the final week students will have their regularly scheduled Saturday 10am class on October 17th and then return the next day to perform their class show on Sunday, October 18th at 2pm.

Arcade Academy believes that short form improv gives students the best training to be engaging performers who consistently delight and entertain audiences in all of their comedic work, including long form improv! Building on previous concepts of scenework and game in Level 1 classes, Level 2 will ask you to apply your skills on the high-speed, audience-pleasing world of short form comedy. You’ll be delving into a variety of different performance games including character-based games, justification games, guessing games, gimmick games, and line games. Master the mechanics of these and many other games, and enhance your scenework skills for successful gameplay and guaranteed audience enjoyment. This eight-week course concludes with a class show where you'll get the chance to show off your newfound short form skills.

Do you ever wish you could burst into song and dance, like in a musical? With the fundamentals of musical improvisation, you'll learn how to spontaneously create musical comedy games and scenes! Vocalists of any skill level are welcome to come work on finding their voice and harmonizing with accompanists and other performers. The principles of musical forms that we cover will help any improviser spontaneously and confidently sing a variety of song styles and structures. Take your improv to the next level with strategies for setting up rhymes and group choreography with your fellow improvisers. The eight-week course culminates in a musical showcase of your new skills in crafting melodies, lyrics, and dance moves!

This eight-week course focuses on one of the most critical elements of great improv comedy, which is scenework. Learning to trust yourself, as well as your scene partner, is the first step. Building on the skills learned in IMPROV 101: Foundations, you'll cover techniques on starting scenes with decisive initiations and confident stage presence. Concepts like "agreement" and "group mind" will be pushed to the next level as you explore character development and emotional investment within games and scenes. IMPROV 102: Scenework concludes with a class show where you'll get the chance to show off your newfound skills in building strong comedic scenes.

Whether you're a beginner looking to explore improv comedy for the first time, an adventurer looking for new skills to acquire, or someone just looking to get out of their own head, this class is for you! In this six-week* class, you'll learn new skills through improvisational comedy games and exercises. Alongside your fellow classmates, you’ll focus on agreement and extension or “Yes, And”, as well as "group mind", and basic environment and object work, all while in a supportive and playful environment. IMPROV 101: Foundations culminates with a class show performed on the Arcade stage!

Embracing improvisation is not just enjoyable but crucial for ongoing personal and professional growth. It promotes creativity, resilience, and satisfaction in the workplace and is essential for navigating complex challenges with innovation and enthusiasm. Unlike our regular six-week IMPROV 101: Foundations class, which meets three hours a week and culminates in a class show for family and friends, this five-week course is a streamlined two-hour weekly session that applies the foundations of improvisation directly to the workplace rather than the stage. Improv for Professionals enriches the essential skills vital for success in dynamic environments, such as Public Speaking, Flexibility, Handling Conflict, Taking Risks, Listening, Communicating, Creative Thinking and Collaboration.

This five-week course is for individual registration only. Groups or organizations with six or more participants can customize scheduling, session days, and duration to align with their corporate calendars, fostering team cohesion and maximizing learning outcomes through our Private Workshops and Events. Find out more about scheduling your own private workshop via https://www.arcadecomedytheater.com/hire/ Individuals employed by a non-profit organization or Downtown Pittsburgh business receive an additional discount on registration. Email the Arcade Academy Director (academy@arcadecomedytheater.com) for your Non-Profit or Downtown Promo Code before registration to apply your discount.

Whether you're a beginner looking to explore improv comedy for the first time, an adventurer looking for new skills to acquire, or someone just looking to get out of their own head, this class is for you! In this six-week class you'll learn new skills through improvisational comedy games and exercises. Alongside your fellow classmates, you’ll focus on agreement and extension or “Yes, And”, as well as "group mind", and basic environment and object work, all while in a supportive and playful environment. IMPROV 101: Foundations for BIPOC Performers culminates with a class show performed on the Arcade stage! This class is exclusively for performers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Students looking to take an IMPROV 101: Foundations class for anyone are welcome to register for our Session 6 Thursday night IMPROV 101 offering starting October 29th.

Have you ever wanted to try stand-up comedy but weren't sure where to start? This class is for you! You'll learn exercises, tools, and techniques for generating ideas and writing jokes. This class explores a wide variety of stand-up comedy styles and you'll extract lessons that can be incorporated into your act, all in a supportive and fun classroom environment. As you prepare your act and learn how to analyze and improve your performance, you'll cover on-stage mechanics and comedy community etiquette. After discovering and developing your personal comedy voice, this eight-week course culminates in a class show on the Arcade stage!

If you ever feel like you are holding yourself back when improvising, this class is for you. This brand-new advanced improv course for women and femmes will help you claim the stage with big, bold initiations by taking you out of your head and connecting fearlessly with your body. Learn to get comfortable taking up space with absurd and even shocking choices and be unapologetic with your time on stage. This six-week course will be a judgement-free environment exclusively for women and femmes to make weird, gross, and wonderfully ungrounded choices and culminates in a class show hosted by Arcade Academy Instructor Alyssa Tomasella.

Have you ever wanted to try stand-up comedy but weren't sure where to start? This class is for you! You'll learn exercises, tools, and techniques for generating ideas and writing jokes. This class explores a wide variety of stand-up comedy styles and you'll extract lessons that can be incorporated into your act, all in a supportive and fun classroom environment. As you prepare your act and learn how to analyze and improve your performance, you'll cover on-stage mechanics and comedy community etiquette. After discovering and developing your personal comedy voice, this eight-week course culminates in a class show on the Arcade stage!

This eight-week course focuses on The Harold, the gold standard of improvisational storytelling. The Harold provides improvisors an opportunity to learn and practice all the basic building blocks commonly used in long-form improv: openings, edits, games, group scenes, and callbacks. This class will give you the tools to forge group mind and build a spontaneous and evocative piece of improvised theater, and culminates in a class show hosted by Arcade Academy Instructor Matt Solter.