Testimonials
“To whom it may concern.
Steen Haakon Hansen is a good fellow. I know him well (I first met him forty years ago).
He is well qualified to teach the methods that I have developed. He is an excellent performer.
I have no hesitation in recommending him.”
Keith Johnstone
“Steen Haakon Hansen er en af de dygtigste kreative inspiratorer og facilitatorer jeg nogensinde har arbejdet sammen med. Steen formår via sine omfangsrige kundskaber, sit store menneskelige register og behagelige gemyt at gøre sine aktører fuldstændigt trygge, så de kan slippe fantasien fri, lade inspirationen flyde uhæmmet og intuitionen råde. Mit samarbejde med Steen har været utroligt udviklende for mit arbejde som scenekunstner og jeg anbefaler ham på det varmeste.”
Mads Korsgaard, skuespiller
“Jeg har været så heldig at være blevet undervist i improvisation af Steen mange gange – både på Odsherred Teaterskole, Scenekunstens udviklingscenter og som ”privatlærer” for improgrupper, jeg har spillet i.
Steen har ikke alene en formidabel viden om improvisation forankret i Keith Johnstones arbejde. Han har også samlet en næsten uendelig mængde viden til sig fra alle mulige varianter af teaterverdenen, klovnearbejde, objectwork, bricolage, … og hans evne til at kombinere teori og oplevet praksis og tilpasse denne viden til lige netop dét, der er brug for, gør ham i mine øjne til en af de bedste undervisere, jeg har arbejdet med – og så er han super sjov at være sammen med, og det er ikke nogen lille ting. Jeg glæder mig allerede til næste gang.”
Per Rasmussen, Ingeniør, Technical Project Manager
Workshops
Classic Keith Johnstone
At the request of Keith, I offer to host workshops in classic Keith Johnstone theories and exercises.
“What comes Next”
Acting Workshops for Improvisers
In this series of workshops, you will get more familiar with the language of the acting improviser, you will be doing exercises that will expand your vocabulary, and you will be introduced to ways of using this effectively in your scenic work.
Daily Practice
To practice, the craft of the improviser every day will make it easier to access your skills when you go on stage to improvise. With the exercises introduced in the workshop, 10-25 minutes of training every day would be enough.
Character:
Find and develop what it is that characterizes the person you are portraying, and what that does to the storyline.
What can you do to stay in character?
Inspired Response:
Based on the idea that we all have an inner creator, we will work on techniques that unleash this being so that our imagination can operate freely and give you something to do both in acting and scriptwriting.
Body-Props-Space:
In this work we will explore, and you will experience how powerful the language of the body, the props and the space are. You will realize that these languages are as powerful as words, and often tells more than words.
Live Scriptwriting for Improvisers
You will actively be introduced to ways of thinking, training and practicing where you permit your imagination to merge with dramaturgy and storyline to create stronger stories with an artist’s point of view.
Training the Coach
In this workshop, you will be inspired to work as a coach under the influence of the sincere responsibility it takes to coach others.
You will work with, how to initiate, when to intervene, what to say and how one should suggest possibilities instead of personal ideas. The art of saying just enough to start something or keep it going.
Being a coach is the art of how you put your creativity at the disposal to what is going on in the studio or on stage.
Self-Coaching
In this workshop we will work on how you, live on stage, can get instinctively access to the different stocks of material you might need, in this moment, in that scene, and prompt yourself how to use it. This could be materials like a specific acting technique, a storytelling trick, something you once read on the back of a milk carton, or anything else you have in your vocabulary as acting and storytelling improviser and that you know how to use.
“Cartooning”
In some scenes, it may be necessary to break the naturalistic frame to make sense of the scene, and to do this you have to give yourself permission to Go Crazy. In the workshop you will get tools that will enables you to Go crazy with the spirit of an Artist
Improvising with puppets
By applying the basic techniques an acting improviser uses, you will be able to animate your puppets and objects in a more lifelike way. In this workshop you will to be introduced to the techniques that will work and when to use them in your work as puppeteer.
Take aways
All in all, what will you gain participating in these workshops:
Increased awareness that storytelling needs structure.
The opportunity to reimagine their role as improviser.
Practice in using their creativity in new ways that they can evolve in their studio back home.
Strategies for rethinking the fundamentals of their work, drawn from the new understanding of the language of the acting improviser
An opportunity to identify specific skills, methods and ways of thinking to challenge, rethink and improve their practice on an ongoing basis