A theatre performance workshop taught from both an improv & clown perspective.
John Portero (Bad Dog Theatre, SMOOCH) and Chase Jeffels (The Goof Method, $20 Sandwich) join forces for a special three hour joint workshop exploring solo performance.
Playing With Your Audience will give participants the unique expeirence of learning core comedic and performance techniques through the eyes of both an improviser and a clown. Both go hand in hand quite well!
Discover tips and tricks that will help you become a more engaging and present performer in front of the most important part of any theatre show; the audience.
Participants will get free tickets to the solo improv show All By Myself, happening the same night at 7:30pm.
John Portero is a comedian, writer, producer from London, UK.
He previously served as the Artistic Director of Bristol Longform Comedy and was a founding member of the UK Harold team Jazz Police.
He has performed at numerous festivals including the Edinburgh International Improv Festival, Amsterdam Improv Festival, and the Edinburgh and Brighton Fringe Festivals.
John now teaches and coaches in Toronto and can be seen performing with award winning team SMOOCH, sketch duo Portero Jones, and his solo show One Board Man.
@gallagherportero
Chase Jeffels is a Toronto-based actor and comedian whose work blends clown, improv, and the art of joyful failure. His face has popped up in commercials across Canada and the U.S., and his performance work spans film, television, and theatre. He appears in the Crave sketch series The Dessert, stars in an upcoming short film by viral comedian DangerBean, and has worked on a secret project with the director of Jackass.
Chase trained at École Jacques Lecoq in Paris and at the George Brown Theatre School, and studied under legendary clown teacher Philippe Gaulier, who once said of his work: “I do not like very much Canada, but I like what you do.”
Onstage, Chase mixes physical comedy, riffing, and audience connection to create performances that are unpredictable, awkward, and painfully human. He is a member of the improv and sketch collective $20 Sandwich, co-creator of the clown duo West 2 West, and the creator of Goofing—a punk-leaning approach to comedy that treats failure as the fastest way to laughter.