Improv Program: Advanced Placement

Already have some improv experience and wondering where to start at The Second City? Improv Program: Advanced Placement is a focused 4-week class designed to align your existing skills with our unique training style.

Using Viola Spolin’s foundational techniques, this course helps you reconnect with essential principles like ensemble, object work, environment, and sidecoaching, while also introducing key vocabulary and expectations that shape The Second City’s approach to improvisation. This isn’t a beginner class—it’s a place for trained or returning improvisers to strengthen their fundamentals, discover new tools, and explore ensemble-based play in a focused, collaborative space.

Throughout the course, you’ll receive targeted feedback and complete a placement assessment in the final week to help determine the right level for you in the Improv Program.

By the end of this class, students will:

• Understand and apply core Spolin-based principles such as ensemble, who/what/where, and creating from abundance
• Develop a shared vocabulary that prepares them for advanced levels
• Gain experience with sidecoaching, discovery-based play, and Second City–style exercises
• Be individually assessed for placement within the program

This is not a beginner class. Students without prior improv experience should begin with Improv 1.

Prerequisites: Prior improv experience (training or performance)

Who it’s for: Experienced improvisers new to The Second City, returning students looking for a skills refresher, or performers interested in testing into higher levels of the Improv Program