Improvizza! is a theatrical improvisation festival held in Malta. Aimed at local and international performers and improvisers, Improvizza! will be offering a number of workshops of different durations during the day, followed by performances and other events in the evenings. Participants will have a number of ways of being a part of this festival, from workshops to jams to showcase performances.

The Festival will bring a number of international renowned improv teachers and performers to Malta to teach workshops and perform in shows that will be open to all. The workshops cover a variety of skills and the performances will showcase different improv styles. This is a great opportunity for local and international theatre practitioners, improvisers and beyond to experience the world of improv in the wonderful setting that is Spazju Kreattiv in Malta’s capital city, Valletta.

Creative team:

Teacher/Performer:
Omar Argentino Galván
Monica Gaga
Marta Borges
Alice Rey
Jodyanne Fletcher Richardson
Pedro Borges

Musician: Alessio Granato
Artistic Director/Performer: Simone Ellul
Lighting Design/Sound: Paolo Facco

Workshop Schedule

Alice Rey

1. Exploration of Poetic Bodies

– The body as an impulse of play and scenic poetic imprint

• Dates and time:
  • Wednesday, 4th September 2024, 1:30pm – 4:30pm
  • Thursday, 5th September 2024, 10am – 12:30pm, 2pm – 4:30pm
• Duration: 8hrs
• Price: 100€

Level: At least one year of improv experience.

Starting from bodily expression as a tool to unleash the text, the intention is to find freedom by following the body’s impulse and letting go, thus being present in oneself and with others. Being aware of our bodies can help us be more conscious of how the roles we play in a scene are viewed. A stronger physical awareness helps us to embody our characters, bringing to life socio-political dimensions, power dynamics and relationships through our presence and physicality.
This workshop will put emphasis on the experimentation of tools, codes, and sensations as nourishment for organic and corporeal improvisations. Through various games and scenes, the goal is to dare to express oneself through the body and sharpen one’s listening, in order to be more present in the moment and with one’s partners.

• Objectives:
  • Experiment the scene through movement and bodily surrender
  • Raise awareness of one’s body and find stakes at the heart of the games
  • Gain confidence in the power of contact and sensation

Bio: Alice started out as a sociologist and ended up becoming an actress. Martial arts was her first introduction to the exploration and practice of body expression. She discovered theatre through Atre school and then improvisation thanks to various troupes in Lyon, as well as Improvidence.
In 2018, Alice co-founded Les Ecorcés, a theatre company with at its core the desire to work more in-depth on artistic intention, the organic dimension of shows, physicality and staging. Physical theatre, Sign Language, contact dance and drawing are worlds that inspire her original improvised theatre creations. She is a member of LACSE (a French collective of improvisers) and within this collective explores artistic engagement and forum theatre in the service of social issues. She has also created the Collectif Impro-Concept which combines improvised theatre and other artistic forms. Les Ordinaires, a long-form show dealing with gender-based violence, was born from there.
At the heart of her work is learning from the body’s movements, the role of feminist reflections, and power dynamics. She has many different interests, including painting, aikido, theatre, pole dancing, gardening, and backpacking.

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Marta Borges

1. Great Minds Think Alike

• Dates and time:
  • Thursday, 5th September 2024, 10am – 12:30pm, 2pm – 4:30pm
  • Friday, 6th September 2024, 10am – 12:30pm, 2pm – 4:30pm
• Duration: 10hrs
• Price: 130€

Level: Ideal for all levels of experience.

In this workshop we will invest in creating a connection and a group mind among participants. Our aim is to have a group that knows its flow and quickly follows each other’s pace, to find intuitively and creatively the opportunities to create and edit scenes.
We will start off with movement exercises that will get everyone improvising choreographies through mirroring and transformation (a physical expression of “Yes And”, and not necessarily a verbal one).
We will then explore how to turn organic transformations into “real” scenes, looking for connections and relationships, and then going back again into group metamorphosis using sound and movement.
Listening, trusting and following body impulses (individually and as a team), creating patterns with a group mind, discovering new positions and characters on stage, not from the brain but through movement, are the focal points of this workshop and we will create wonderful scenes by working together.
At the end of the workshop, we will play and perform together the amazing “TRIP” format, to showcase our work.
Join us for this intense, revealing and fun workshop!

Bio: Marta Borges has been a professional actress since 2001. After attempting to pursue a “normal” career, taking a degree in Business Communication and working several years in Lisbon, Paris, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro and London in advertising, branding and PR companies, her heart led her to follow her secret desire, acting. After completing her studies in Drama and being trained in Portugal and abroad, she crossed paths with improv theatre and was won over by it.
Marta was the first professional female improv performer in Portugal and was the only one for a number of years in the country. She co-founded the group OS IMPROVÁVEIS, which has had more than 1.000 stage presentations and 110.000 spectators so far. The group has 15 formats of improvised shows, which are performed regularly on stage in Lisbon, touring the country and abroad. She has travelled the world teaching, being taught and performing.
Marta also works as a television and cinema actress, she performs scripted theatre and as a voice actress. She has hosted major events and she is a corporate trainer for business improv.
As an instructor as well as a performer, she focuses on vulnerability, on emotional, raw and real choices to connect with scene partners and the audience. Although she has many back problems, she loves being physical on stage!
She is a proud mum and aunt, a cat lover, she is mad about the beach all year round, to travel, dance, food and red wine!
She is a native Portuguese and speaks fluent English, very good French and Spanish. She understands Italian.

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Monica Gaga

1. Storytelling with Heart

• Date and time: Wednesday 4th September, 2024,  10am – 1pm
• Duration: 3hrs
• Price: 40€

Level: Ideal for all levels of experience.

This practical and interactive workshop will explore storytelling as a tool for creativity, exploration and performance.
We will explore:

• Telling stories that matter
• Following the fun in with narrative
• Using your own experience to inspire stories
• Respecting others’ experiences in the narratives you create

This workshop was created by someone who loves sharing and experiencing storytelling.
Bring something to write notes with, if that is your jam and have fun exploring through play using the principles of improvisation.
No previous experience necessary.

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2. FLOW – Feel It, Love It, Own It, Work It! with Monica Gaga

• Date and time: Friday, 6th September 2024, 10am – 12:30pm, 2pm – 4:30pm
• Duration: 5hrs
• Price: 65€

Level: Ideal for all levels of experience.

Flow is a practical workshop designed to empower you to level up your improv so you Feel it, love it, own it and work it.
During the workshop you will look at: preparing, what you can do to put yourself in the mind/physical space for improv; checking in with yourself, to ensure throughout all is good with you; utilising blocks (you’re in charge with what happens next), no mistakes just lessons, no blocks just gifts; and self-censorship, allowing you to do your type of improv without harming or holding back.
At the root of it improv is supposed to be fun (fun is of course defined differently for everyone) and this workshop will help you find the fun through it all. So you can feel it, love it, own it and work it.

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Omar Galvan

1. Magical Realism Across The Universes

• Dates and time:
  • Thursday, 5th September 2024, 10am – 12:30pm, 2pm – 4:30pm
  • Friday, 6th September 2024, 10am – 12:30pm, 2pm – 4:30pm
  • Saturday, 7th September 2024, 10:30am – 12:30pm
• Duration: 12hrs
• Price: 160€

A workshop that will elevate your body and blow your mind.
Embark on a journey where you’ll immerse yourself in the physical, surreal, poetic, and theatrical world of Latin American improvisation through practice. You’ll acquire tools that will enhance your stage performance: scene editing, musical poetry of the body, and the gesture bridging acting and dance.

This workshop is designed for a cross-sectional level, catering to various levels of expertise.
At the end of the workshop there will be a student showcase.

This workshop will be held in Italian with English interpretation.

Bio: Omar is a freelance improviser and globetrotter. It is said of him that he is one of the main reference points in Ibero-American improvisation. He has taught at some of the most significant improvisation festivals globally. He has written an improv handbook and also a short essay (“Yes but”), which have been translated into French, English, Portuguese, and Italian.
Spanning five continents and over forty countries, his career has seen him develop his own poetic style, with a recognisable and unique expression. Omar takes pride in building bridges among improvisers worldwide.

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Jodyanne Fletcher Richardson

1. Stagecraft for Improv

• Date and time: Saturday, 7th September 2024, 10am – 1pm
• Duration: 3hrs
• Price: 40€

Improv is storytelling, engaging the audience, drawing them into the world you create whilst simultaneously offering it out to them. A beautiful flow of energy around the stage, through the fourth wall and into the auditorium. In this workshop we will be looking at the basics of stagecraft for: projection, physicality, owning the space, working collaboratively, and making bold choices. How to use the tools of the body to your best advantage.
Aimed at giving improvisers a solid base in performance techniques to engage their audience and allow their improvisation to shine.
Open to improvisers of all abilities and physicality.

Bio: Jodyanne Fletcher Richardson is an Australian-born, Hong Kong-bred, London-living actor and creative who caught the improvisation bug at university sometime in the last century. Since then, she has worked with numerous improvisation groups to produce both comedic and dramatic works as well as using improv in her acting work. Jodyanne regularly performs with Derek’s MoJo and Pirates’ Prov all round and has taught in both Australia and the UK. For Jodyanne it is all about the story-telling experience, the innate shared love of narrative (be it long or short form) that draws humans together and makes us one.

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Pedro Borges

1. Play Fast

• Date and time: Saturday, 7th September 2024, 2pm – 5pm
• Duration: 3hrs
• Price: 40€

Level: Ideal for all levels of experience.

In this workshop we will work on techniques that will make participants explore ways to play fast-styled impro: establishing a solid and safe starting scene, finding scene changes that make the action go forward, playing multiple characters within the same space, doing quick flashbacks and flashforwards that add important information about characters, playing double-layered scenes, applying callbacks in the right time, creating unique characters that can be easily distinguished and remembered for later use. And… we’ll have a lot of fun!

Bio: Graduated in classical theatre, Pedro joined the professional theatre company “A Barraca”, where he took part in dozens of scripted productions since 2004. He specialised in Improvisational Theater from 2008 and since 2011 he works as a full-time improviser/teacher/manager in the successful Portuguese troupe OS IMPROVÁVEIS, both in medium and long format shows that the group has created.
Pedro has participated in several international Impro events around the world as a teacher and/or performer. Pedro has taught improvisation courses along with his group for many years, counting hundreds of graduated students, some of which have grown into their own Improv groups and keep an active community. He likes to combine the truth of theatre acting with the playfulness and creativity of Improvisation techniques.
Pedro is also a voice actor and a corporate trainer, he does regular communication and public speaking coaching in international institutions like IMD Lausanne, IE Madrid, Lufthansa, Deloitte, Accenture, amongst many others.

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Please be advised that your details will be shared with the organiser as she will need to send you further details for the workshops. By purchasing these tickets, you are accepting us sharing your details.