Philly Sketchfest is pleased to be offering two workshops during this year’s festival.

“The Chris and Paul Show” is an American sketch comedy duo composed of Chris O Neill and Paul Valenti. They are known for their Vaudeville-inspired physical comedy, which consists of largely pantomimed scenes with minimal or no dialogue. The duo has been performing together for over two decades.

These workshops are based on the extensive training that Chris and Paul adapted from clowning and pantomime. These workshops will work great for part of rehearsals in dramas, comedies, and musicals. Chris and Paul concentrate on the importance of physicality in the character and how it can mold them. Also, using the silence of the stage as an advantage and building tension.

* AUTHENTICITY – TAP INTO FAMILIAR EMOTIONS AND MOMENTS. ABLE TO CONNECT WITH THE AUDIENCE. MAKE THEM FEEL WHAT YOU ARE FEELING.

* GROUNDED CHARACTERS – PLAY WITH A SCENE ROOTED IN REALITY. LIVING IN THE MOMENT AND HAVING TRUE REACTIONS TO THE ACTION AROUND THE SCENE.

* LAYERING A SCENE – FROM START TO FINISH WE CONSISTENTLY ADD TO THE SCENE TO MAKE IT MORE COMPELLING THROUGH EMOTIONS, RELATIONSHIPS AND ENVIRONMENT.

* PHYSICAL AWARENESS – THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING WHERE YOU ARE CAN HAVE AN IMPACT ON YOUR CHARACTER. USE WHAT THE ENVIRONMENT GIVES YOU AND SEE HOW THE SCENE DEVELOPS.

* STORYTELLING THROUGH PHYSICALITY – DIALOGUE DOESN’T ALWAYS TELL THE WHOLE STORY. SHOWING HOW YOU FEEL AND HOW YOU MOVE THROUGH A SCENE PROVIDES CHARACTER DEPTH.

The workshop takes place at Sawubona Creativity Project on June 7 at 3pm. $50 fee. Register now here.

This combination workshop, led by Washington, DC, sketch icon Murphy McHugh, focuses on maximizing how you do your sketch live in front of an audience. We’ll do just enough theater-ey stuff to make our sketches pop and talk through several strategies on how to bring a sketch from the page to the stage to use the space you’re in (however large or small) to make your sketch work better. Further, we’ll work on how to guide performers from a director’s POV, techniques for communication, experimentation, and finding a final product that folks are happy with and works. This is a lot of stuff about putting up an already written live sketch, so if you want to work on that from a writer, director, and/or performer perspective, come ready and eager and you’ll get a set of tools and clear takeaways at the end.

Participants may be asked to submit 1-2 sketches they have written and/or staged as pieces to work on during the workshop.

Murphy McHugh teaches introductory, intermediate, and advanced improv and sketchwriting. He is the founder and Artistic Director of Dojo Comedy in DC where he teaches in person classes and runs an improv-based corporate training service. He has been writing and performing comedy since 2003, starting with standup and then moving to improv and sketch. 

Currently, he performs with several online and in-person indie improv teams as well as writing and performing sketch with Brick Penguin. He discovered his love for improv in college, then trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and The People’s Improv Theater in New York.  He has been teaching, coaching, directing, and playing in Washington, DC since 2009.

The workshop takes place at Sawubona Creativity Project on June 14 at 3pm. $50 fee. Register now here.