Longform Weekend: The Bat with Izzy Salhani

Learn a new form or dive deeper into one you already know and love. This is a workshop for experienced improvisers who are looking to take their longform knowledge to the next level. Students will come together to immerse themselves in a single format and then showcase their skills in a public performance on one of our studio stages.

Throughout this workshop, participants will become a part of a new ensemble; review grounded scene work and learn new editing techniques; learn the ins and outs of a longform format, and perform it the very next day.

July’s Form: The Bat
Some say The Bat was born when the lights went out during an improv festival. Others say the host was drunk and forgot to turn the lights on. The true story is…the improvisers on the Harold team Georgia Pacific just felt like playing in the dark that day in Kansas City 1997. Later, they “slapped” a soundscape onto the intro and outro to bookend the improvised piece they called a Blind Harold.

Izzy Salhani learned The Bat at iO Theatre and saw it as an essential technique for improvisers in mastering the art of listening. They also noticed it had many elements similar to a radio play. Izzy has been coaching The Bat since 2024, teaching it in the approachable form of a radio play, and tinkering with different game structures to fit the different levels of performer experience.

Prerequisites: Strongly recommended for current Conservatory students and graduates as well as improvisers with a minimum of one full year of formal improv training and performance experience. Please email studentsuccess@secondcity.com for approval.