“I’ve taken workshops and had the pleasure of being directed by some of the best in the improv game, and Justin and Kelly are right up there with them. They’re doing incredible work and have the ability of finding what you’re doing right and elevating that. Their focus on positivity will make your improv more interesting and exciting to watch AND, perhaps more importantly, it will make it more fun to do. I don’t care if you are a beginner or a career improviser – do yourself a favor and take a workshop with these guys. You’ll love yourself for it.” – Jamie Campbell
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Recent Classes and Workshops
2019
Love the One You’re With – Assemble – Pittsburgh, Pa. – Nov. 17
Love the One You’re With – Station Theater – Houston, Texas – June 13
Love the One You’re With – Silverbacks Improv Theatre – Lafayette, La. – June 11
Commit to the Choice – The Hideout Theatre – Austin, Texas – June 9
360-Degree Characters – Bexar Stage – San Antonio, Texas – June 8
Do More with Less – Harrisburg Improv Theatre – Harrisburg, Pa. – Apr. 13
360-Degree Characters – Central Florida Improv Fest – Orlando, Fla. – Mar. 9
Do More with Less – Colony Club – Washington, D.C. – Feb. 16
Love the One You’re With – Happier Valley Comedy – Hadley, Mass. – Jan. 12
2018
Commit to the Choice – Improv U – Delray Beach, Fla. – Dec. 8
Do More with Less – Stranger Than Fiction Improv – Kittery, Maine – Dec. 2
Commit to the Choice – Wage House – Pawtucket, R.I. – Dec. 1
Do More with Less – The Exuberant Theatre Co. – New York, N.Y. – Nov. 13
Love the One You’re With – The Improv Shop – St. Louis, Mo. – Nov. 10
Love the One You’re With – The Exuberant Theatre Co. – New York, N.Y. – Oct. 23
Do More with Less – The Hideout Theatre – Austin, Texas – July 15
Love the One You’re With – Bexar Stage – San Antonio, Texas – July 14
Love the One You’re With – Improductions, LLC. – Crown Point, Ind. – May 24
Commit to the Choice – Atlas Improv Co. – Madison, Wis. – Mar. 31
Scenework Saturday – Countdown Theater – Brooklyn, N.Y. – Jan. 20
2017
Scenework Saturday – Countdown Theater – Brooklyn, N.Y. – Dec. 16
Do More with Less – Wage House – Pawtucket, R.I. – Nov. 4
Camp Improv Utopia East – Stroudsburg, Pa. – Sept. 8-11
Do More with Less – Bexar Stage – San Antonio, Texas – July 16
Love the One You’re With – Hideout Theatre – Austin, Texas – July 15
#restaurant – Columbus Unscripted – Columbus, Ohio – May 24
Two Is All You Need – Go! Comedy Improv Theater – Detroit, Mich. – May 23
Love the One You’re With – Crooked River Comedy – Cleveland, Ohio – May 22
Love the One You’re With – Atlas Improv Co. – Madison, Wis. – May 20
Private workshop – Atlas Improv Co. – Madison, Wis. – May 20
The Female Gaze – Syracuse Improv Collective – Syracuse, N.Y. – Apr. 29
#restaurant – Syracuse Improv Collective – Syracuse, N.Y. – Apr. 29
#restaurant – AdLib Theatre – Orlando, Fla. – Mar. 6
The Female Gaze – The Improv Cruise – Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. – Mar. 2-6
#restaurant – The Improv Cruise – Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. – Mar. 2-6
2016
Do More with Less – Columbus, Ohio – Oct. 23
Two Is All You Need – Columbus, Ohio – Oct. 22
Love the One You’re With – Columbus, Ohio – Oct. 22
Love the One You’re With – Oklahoma City, Okla. – Oct. 2
Love the One You’re With – Sarasota, Fla. – July 16
The Most Important Moment of Your Life – Delray Beach, Fla. – July 14
Do More with Less – Madison, Wis. – May 21
Love the One You’re With – Madison, Wis. – May 21
Do More with Less – Providence, R.I. – Feb. 27
Love the One You’re With – Tampa, Fla. – Feb. 20
Do More with Less – Tampa, Fla. – Feb. 20
2015
Do More with Less – Eau Claire, Wis. – Dec. 12
Love the One You’re With – Eau Claire, Wis. – Dec. 11
Do More with Less – Minneapolis, Minn. – Dec. 6
Love the One You’re With – Harrisburg, Pa. – Nov. 15
Love the One You’re With – Tampa, Fla. – Nov. 7
Love the One You’re With – Nashville, Tenn. – Oct. 24
Love the One You’re With – Columbus, Ohio – Oct. 22
Do More with Less – New York, N.Y. – Oct. 17
#restaurant – New York, N.Y. – June 18
The Most Important Moment of Your Life – Champaign, Ill. – June 3
Love the One You’re With – St. Louis, Mo. – June 2
Love the One You’re With – Omaha, Neb. – May 30
Love the One You’re With – Kansas City, Mo. – May 27
Love the One You’re With – Cedar Rapids, Iowa – May 26
The Most Important Moment of Your Life – New York, N.Y. – May 9
Love the One You’re With – Baltimore, Md. – May 3
Love the One You’re With – Boston, Mass. – Apr. 25
Love the One You’re With – New York, N.Y. – Apr. 18
Love the One You’re With – San Diego, Calif. – Feb. 22
The Most Important Moment of Your Life – San Diego, Calif. – Feb. 20
Love the One You’re With – Providence, R.I. – Feb. 7
The Most Important Moment of Your Life – Washington, D.C. – Jan. 10
Love the One You’re With – Washington, D.C. – Jan. 10
2014
The Most Important Moment of Your Life – Eau Claire, Wis. – Dec. 12
Love the One You’re With Minneapolis, Minn. – Dec. 9
Workshop Descriptions
Love the One You’re With
Conflict and emotional distance can work their way into one’s play over time until they become dominant choices. But what if instead of choosing conflict, we choose love instead? Making a conscious decision to appreciate and collaborate with your scene partner can take your scenework in unexpected and wonderful directions. In this workshop, we will introduce techniques for finding meaningful connections with your scene partner, and explore the virtues of playing from a standpoint of total agreement. When you choose to embrace your scene partners rather than resist them, the possibilities for your scenework are truly limitless.
Do More with Less
Radically simplifying your scenework from the top can be a powerful technique for creating great and memorable scenes and characters. Through a progression of exercises that prioritizes an economy of words, we’ll teach players to trust their first choice, and to make that first choice matter. We’ll focus on eye contact, physical proximity, and learning to love and trust silence in your scenework.
Two Is All You Need
Duo improv can be hard. We’re here to help make it easier! In this workshop, Kelly Buttermore and Justin Peters will share their own methods for creating memorable and hilarious two-person shows. You’ll learn tips and techniques for meaningfully connecting with your partner from the start; for identifying and maximizing your scenic choices; for discovering information together rather than inventing it individually; and for using the environment to build and heighten your relationships. All improvisers are welcome: these are skills and techniques that can be used in any improv context.
Commit to the Choice: How to Get the Most out of Every Moment You Play
There’s a world of possibility inherent in every single choice we make on stage. So why do we sometimes abandon our initial choices — or, worse, play them half-heartedly? In this positive, high-energy workshop, Justin Peters and Kelly Buttermore will help you stop judging yourself on stage and start trusting your instincts. You’ll learn how to maximize your scenework by recognizing and affirming the choices that you’ve already made, and wringing every bit of value out of those choices before moving on.
360-Degree Characters: Beyond French Waiters and Funny Voices
Improv characters, much like the people who play them, do not exist in isolation. This fun, upbeat workshop focuses on ways to discover characters with your scene partner, rather than creating them on your own. We’ll present strategies for using environment and context to activate and heighten characters and relationships, with a focus on organic scene creation and mutual discovery. We’ll find levels within the characters we create, and use those levels to build sustainable scenes, sequences, and worlds.
The Walter
For the past several years, Kelly and Justin have brought their signature form, the Walter, to improv venues across North America. Now you can learn this exciting new show format yourself in an intensive workshop. Created for duo improvisers but adaptable to any group size, the Walter is a high-stakes, minimalistic monoscene that uses silence, movement, heightened agreement, and mutual discovery to create wonderfully weird and memorable shows. It uses nonverbal methods to create strong characters and sustainable, complex relationships. Unlike any other improv format around, the Walter will transform the way you think about improv and open your eyes to everything the art form can be.
#restaurant
A recent Gallup poll has revealed that 50 percent of all improv scenes take place in restaurants. So why do these restaurant scenes all look pretty much the same? By sticking to stock restaurant scenarios – bad dates, sassy waitresses, incompetent chefs – we overlook opportunities to make more interesting choices. This workshop is exactly what it sounds like: two hours of improv scenes that take place exclusively in restaurants. You’ll learn to use a location to quickly establish stakes, and to activate, heighten, and sustain your emotional connection to your scene partner. We’ll cover the Grand Unified Theory of Funny Waiter Walk-ons. By the end, you’ll not only be on your way to the most interesting improv meals of your life, you’ll also be able to apply these principles to any location under the sun.
Testimonials
“I’ve taken workshops and had the pleasure of being directed by some of the best in the improv game, and Justin and Kelly are right up there with them. They’re doing incredible work and have the ability of finding what you’re doing right and elevating that. Their focus on positivity will make your improv more interesting and exciting to watch AND, perhaps more importantly, it will make it more fun to do. I don’t care if you are a beginner or a career improviser – do yourself a favor and take a workshop with these guys. You’ll love yourself for it.” – Jamie Campbell, Chicago / Los Angeles
“Education is one of the core tenets of our festival. I only select proven and professional instructors to teach workshops. As an improv and acting teacher with over twenty-five years in classrooms of all shapes and with students of all ages, I am incredibly selective when it comes to who I invite to teach. There is a heavy responsibility in the improv classroom. A level of vulnerability in players of all experience levels that needs to be attended to, and fostered. From Justin to Kelly taught a highly successful workshop that left students high on improv-love adrenaline. Do not hesitate to hire Kelly Buttermore and Justin Peters to teach at your festival, arts center, or school. They will provide effective, lasting instruction for your students.” – Amber Dernbach, Director, Eau Claire Improv Festival, Eau Claire, WI
“Kelly and Justin go beyond the simple improv platitudes of ‘be (generically) positive’ to show us how much easier it is to play characters who have genuine enthusiasm for each other, what they’re doing, and who they are. The result is the kind of easy, fun scene we all dream of doing every time we take the stage.” – Eric Heiberg, Minneapolis
“Justin Peters and Kelly Buttermore are by far [two] of the most generous and thoughtful instructors I have ever encountered. Their feedback was both critical and supportive in helping you to grow in your own learning process. Most importantly, I left the workshop feeling more confident in my own skills as an improviser. If there’s an opportunity to take their classes or workshops again, I will sign up in a heartbeat.” – Sarah Cho, Iowa City
“This workshop will make you a better improviser, whatever your experience level. Kelly and Justin taught me usable and practical tools to turn any scene from one I hate to one I love. If you’ve ever found yourself continually stuck in conflict-driven or negative scenes, or just wanted to avoid playing with someone because you disagreed with their choices, you will learn tons from this workshop. I even found myself applying tools from the workshop in real life, with great success. And Justin and Kelly’s enthusiasm and clear love for the craft is infectious – you will love learning from them! You’ll be tempted to stalk them, but don’t do it. That would be creepy.” – Sabahat Chaudhary, Washington, D.C.
“I attended From Justin to Kelly’s workshop at the Eau Claire Improv Festival when I was in a deep funk about my performing ability. After the class I was right as rain and have been on the up and up ever since. Now I’m in multiple mainstage shows without worry of sucking. Thanks Justin and Kelly!” – Michael Blomberg, Minneapolis
“Excellent teachers who are honest and in the moment. Walked away with new tools for the toolbox and some more pitons to hammer into the improv cliff. Kelly and Justin are rock solid.” – Joe L., San Diego