Get your feet wet by finding the fun in the spontaneity and collaboration of improvisation. Whether you’re looking for a fun way to improve your teamwork and communication skills or are serious about developing your voice as a comedic performer, this class equally honors both of these goals (and might even push you to expand those goals). Students will learn the power of agreement, honesty, and spontaneity to build a successful scene and have fun doing it!

*Kickstand's improv track is a five-level program followed by Advanced Study, where students can learn and apply their skills to different formats. Each week of class builds on the previous one, and each Level builds on the Level before.

*This Level 1 includes 6 weeks of instruction with 2.5 hours of instruction each week.

INSTRUCTOR: Brad Fortier

DAY / TIME:  Saturdays 11:00 - 1:30 PM  (2.5 hours)

DATE RANGE: 6 weeks. 6/20, 6/27, 7/11, 7/18, 7/25, 8/1 *skip 7/4

LOCATION: 1006 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR, 97214  (ADA accessible)

PREREQUISITE: None

ABOUT BRAD FORTIER
(He/Him)
Brad Fortier, MA, is an anthropologist, author, educator and entertainer. He has been teaching and training adults in a variety of settings for more than 20 years. He combines two fields of applied work in his research and training background: applied anthropology and applied improvisation. Brad has been working in the inclusion, diversity, equity and access space since creating Spontaneous Village. It’s a trauma-informed game and play-based community-building intervention for refugees used in 2014 in San Antonio, Texas, and Berlin, Germany, in 2016. He had an advisory role with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in 2016 for incorporating interactive and experiential training methods in their work.

Brad is the author of “Long-Form Improvisation: Collaboration, Comedy, Communion”; “A Culture of Play: Essays on the Origins, Effects, and Applications of Improvised Theatre”; and a chapter in “Applied Improvisation: Leading, Collaborating and Creating Beyond the Theatre” published by Bloomsbury London in 2018. His thinking, scholarship and field research on applying improvisation are foundational for this emerging field of training. 

Brad was the coordinator for Portland Community College’s Illumination Project, a student leadership program that uses interactive theater to teach about social justice issues. While at PCC, he sat on the planning committee and delivered training for the first ever “Whiteness History Month”. Brad has also spoken, taught, directed and performed across the United States, Canada and the European Union. He tries to listen more than he speaks and be accountable, present, genuine, and clear when he facilitates.

Virtual Facilitation Experience: Brad has been facilitating virtual learning twice a week since June 2020. As part of the public health response to COVID-19 in Oregon, he has been delivering Contact-Tracing training with a focus on motivational interviewing, cultural responsiveness, and trauma-informed communication. As some of his volunteer board work for a local theater school, he has also been facilitating quarterly “Inclusive Teaching & Coaching” seminars for instructors through Zoom. He is a fan of using breakout rooms and the white board options in Zoom to facilitate group learning through simple games, activities, small group discussions, and capturing feedback in group debriefs.

ALL SALES ARE FINAL, AND NO REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE FOR OUR CLASSES   

The policies below are essential to Kickstand's mission. Everyone must agree to uphold them while being part of the Kickstand community.  Please be familiar with our policies before beginning classes at Kickstand.  You can find these policies listed on our website. We have also linked  to them below.

Thanks again for your interest in classes at Kickstand! We cannot wait to meet you!