Sketch Directing and Stagecraft for Sketch with Murphy McHugh

Description

This combination workshop, led by Washington, DC, sketch icon Murphy McHugh, focuses on maximizing how you do your sketch live in front of an audience. We'll do just enough theater-ey stuff to make our sketches pop and talk through several strategies on how to bring a sketch from the page to the stage to use the space you're in (however large or small) to make your sketch work better. Further, we'll work on how to guide performers from a director's POV, techniques for communication, experimentation, and finding a final product that folks are happy with and works. This is a lot of stuff about putting up an already written live sketch, so if you want to work on that from a writer, director, and/or performer perspective, come ready and eager and you'll get a set of tools and clear takeaways at the end.

 

Participants may be asked to submit 1-2 sketches they have written and/or staged as pieces to work on during the workshop.

 

Murphy McHugh teaches introductory, intermediate, and advanced improv and sketchwriting. He is the founder and Artistic Director of Dojo Comedy in DC where he teaches in person classes and runs an improv-based corporate training service. He has been writing and performing comedy since 2003, starting with standup and then moving to improv and sketch. 

 

Currently, he performs with several online and in-person indie improv teams as well as writing and performing sketch with Brick Penguin. He discovered his love for improv in college, then trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and The People's Improv Theater in New York.  He has been teaching, coaching, directing, and playing in Washington, DC since 2009.

Date & Time

Sat, Jun 14, 2025 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Venue Details

Sawubona Creativity Project

1626 East Passyunk Avenue
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19148

Philly Sketchfest