Intermediate Musical Improv: Story and Song (with Rachel Bouton)

In this workshop we’ll dig into song and story, exploring common musical tropes and narrative philosophies to work toward creating fully improvised musicals that feel and sound like a Broadway show.

We’ll practice spot songs and eleven o’clock numbers, learn to create a Les Miserables style fugue, and we may even dance a bit. At the end of the workshop, you’ll be ready to take center stage in your own improvised musical!

This workshop will include live musical accompaniment.

Musical improv experience required (Must have completed at least Intro to Musical Improv at The CCB Training School or equivalent).

Rachel Bouton is an improviser, host, and experience designer based in New York City. She has a BM in Music Performance and after completing the advanced study improv and sketch programs at the Upright Citizens Brigade in 2012, she spent several years as a cast member of the touring musical comedy show Broadway’s Next Hit Musical, performing improvised musicals in exotic locations like Michigan and North Carolina. She is also a founding cast member of Vern, one of New York’s longest running musical improv companies, most recently completing a successful 6-month off-Broadway run in Vern: Off Broadway at The Player’s Theater. She loves to share the joy of musical improv through coaching and teaching, bringing a focus on musicality, character, and storytelling to her work as a teacher. When she isn’t on stage making up musicals, she designs events and experiences for organizations that have included Atlas Obscura, Grist Magazine, Science Friday, and The New York Times. She’s a big trivia and gameshow geek and has appeared as a contestant on $100,000 Pyramid and Who Wants to be a Millionaire (spoiler: I did not become a millionaire). She lives in Queens with her husband and their two cats, all of whom she thinks are very funny and charming.

Please read our health & safety requirements below!