The Miles Stroth Workshop

I took the level 1 class with Emily Candini and level 2 with Brian O’Connell and they were both terrific. They will keep you moving and inspire you for three-​hour sessions that pass by in an instant. I have taken improv at other venues, and this is the best by far. These are inspiring and motivating teachers. You will also find yourself surrounded by students who are motivated, talented and always collaborative. You can’t go wrong here.

If you’re serious about doing Longform Improv this is the place to be. A few months with Miles shaved years off the learning curve for me. His teaching style is so different. After you do a scene, you get feedback and then you do it again. No other class have I been in, do you do that. Sometimes he shows you what he means by jumping in the scene and then you do it again. You get the feel for a scene that works and is actually funny until you’re doing funny scenes the first time. You’ll play game of the scene like an animal. You’ll be owning the absurd and calling all that shit out as the straightman. Two peas in a pod, hell yeah. If you don’t know what any of this means, go here. Learn.

Best improv teacher in Los Angeles, IMO. I was stuck in a rut for years until I took Miles’ class. I am currently taking it for the 4^th time.

oh wow, my level I class with Emily was so, so great. This was my first foray into improv ever and I did a LOT of research about into which LA-​improv scene I should dump my moolah. My boyfriend and several other friends have gone thru UCB and the general review is always that it doesn’t really start to pay off until level 4, so why the hell am I spending over $ 1000 to wait nearly a year to get results?
I chose Miles Workshops because the pay scheme seemed fair and the instructors seem to actually care about every person in the class from day one.
I went with Emily because of her rep of not letting students be scared babies, which I am/​was. She brings the improv player out of you immediately and calls you on your shit, which is great because if you want to get better bad habits need to get worked out asap. She doesn’t follow some formula or dogma, she goes with what’s inherently true about improv: it should be fun, easy, and natural. She doesn’t try to cultivate some new set of ideals/​games/​rules for you to have in your mind about the process, she just finds and brings out the talent that is innately within you. For those who have gone thru other schools it must seem different because it is not a class built around structure. And it seems obvious that improv shouldn’t be built around structure at all.
For me as a beginner (and for non-​beginners!), this was the perfect intro because it didn’t get me «in my head» about the whole thing. In fact, Emily doesn’t allow that. Think about it: anytime you try to learn something new (sports, language, whatever), if you focus on all the rules you tend to fuck up. You have to just go for it. So in Emily’s class you just go up and start playing from your gut, and she calls you out if you’re not (which I love!). While it’s ridiculously hard, it gets one in an honest place from which to go forward with improv.
I could go on, but I’ll just close by saying *everybody* (especially if you’re that player who stands up on stage stressin’ and racking your brains about what to do next and blah blah) should take this class! Emily will rock your world.
P. S. You also get to see a built-​in comedy show whenever she talks.

I’ve taken class with both Miles and Emily Candini. their teaching styles have been very eye-​opening. Both Miles and Emily are straight-​to the point, blunt yet unbelievably supportive and invested in their students. Their classes have really highlighted how simple and easy improv can be, cutting away all the bs and telling it like it is. Very helpful and appreciated. I highly recommend taking class with both teachers :) Much love to them both!

During 8 weeks with Emily Candini I noticed more progress than I have accomplished in the 2 years I’ve spent of studying and performing improv.
Emily helped me eradicate fear and find the joy in performing. She is a bulldog in the best way. She challenges you to push yourself and she focuses on your personal strengths and weaknesses to help you grow as a performer. I highly recommend her class!

I’ve taken classes at other schools before, but Miles’s approach rings true to me more than any of them. He’s a fantastic teacher who knows how not only to break down his philosophy of comedy, but he’ll have you re-​do your scene after he explains where exactly it went wrong.

Take Emily Candini’s class! She’s great and here’s why:
A lot of the big improv schools in Los Angeles teach improv in a very general way. I feel this is problematic because people are individuals with specific strengths and weaknesses. All improvisers aren’t funny in the same way, so studying improv from a school with a very narrow «cookie cutter» approach is, in my opinion, nonsensical and limiting.
Emily is gifted at finding what is uniquely funny about her students and then giving them tools to play from that place. She also gives very clear and constructive notes.
Her class focuses on getting out of your own way so you can become the best and strongest improviser that you can be. This is key because if you have a way of working that specifically enables you to be your best — you can take that anywhere. To me this is preferable to being limited by one school’s ideology that may or may not work for you.
Emily also creates a welcoming atmosphere where students are encouraged to get to know each other and support one another. This is also a great environment for someone that is trying to work through their stage fright. I’ve never met an improv teacher that invests as much time and effort in her students as much as Emily does.
Emily is a fantastic teacher and her own work as an improviser speaks for itself. She’s one of the most talented performers that I’ve seen. Take this class, you won’t regret it.

Miles loves improv. You’ll love improv taking improv with Miles.

I am a veteran improvisor and have been lucky to have studied with amazing teachers over the years in Boston, NY, and here in LA. I can say that U.C.B. gave me great fundamentals and made me solid, but the Miles Stroth Program helped me really turn a corner in my work and gave me the tools to be great. I still have a ways to go on my journey as an improvisor but thanks to the Miles Stroth program, I have a greater freedom in my work (thank you Emily Candini) a greater understanding of my responsibilities in a scene (thank you Miles) and a better knowledge of a litany of forms (thank you Brian) the sketch program with Eric, Sam and Heather is fantastic and teaches you how to put on an sustain a sketch show while giving a great detailing of sketch form and structure. Highly recommended!

This program is tailored to the strengths of the individual enrolled in it. It also brings to light the common problems improvisers face and how they’re shared by everyone.

Recently finished Emily Candini’s workshop, and it was awesome! She’s very straightforward but not harsh, and is very good at acknowledging what you are good at and what you can work on. I’d definitely recommend having her as your teacher.

Here’s the thing.
These people are crazy.
Crazy good.
I took classes with both Miles and Emily.
I walked into their classes a neebling, (totally a word) anxiety ridden, fakeprovisor that would rather eat a live gypsy-​moth than initiate a scene, that second guessed all my choices and would be one of the last people to go in a class exercise.
I walked out a neebling, (it’s incurable) statuesque improvisor who laughed in the faces of initiations, felt confident in what strengths I could offer scenes and clear on the things I will continue to work on. The biggest thing? Improv was fun to do again.
These workshops are fresh like mountain goat tears, fun like a bounce house made of pepper jack and will challenge you to find the inner improv-​badass you’ve been dying to meet.
Why are you still reading this? Go sign up.

If you want to become a better improviser, look no further.
Miles Stroth’s Individual workshop is one of the best improv classes I’ve ever taken in Los Angeles.
The class where you get 45 minutes to work on a specific focus of your play is hands down the best experience I’ve had in an improv class!
Not only that, but between Emily Candini’s class (which helps you focus on your character work), and Brian James O’Connell’s class (which covers SOO many different longform improv styles), you have the core training to make YOU a better improviser.
But WAIT, there’s more!!!
Erik Moneypenny, Heather Anne Campbell and Sam Brown have the best sketch program in the city and several of the sketch teams from Level 3 have gone on to do regular shows in the city.
With writing and improv classes from Sean Conroy, Jimmy Carrane, and a host of others, this workshop is not only affordable, but versatile and most importantly FUN!
Don’t take my word for it. Talk to the former students, or see one of their student shows: Banana Tuesdays or Wednesday Night Riot at the Complex.
The Miles Stroth Workshops will give you the tools needed to improve your improv.
Good improv class. Would recommend. A+++

If you fancy yourself an improviser then you know who Miles Stroth is and what he did back in Chicago.
If you fancy yourself an improviser then you want to get better at your craft. Great! You should know that this is one of the best training schools in LA for long-​form improvisation.
If you fancy yourself an improviser then you understand what I mean when I say this is an IO, Annoyance, and UCB informed training program that will help you execute better scene work and performance play.
It’s $ 300 for eight weeks no matter which class you take. If you take that same class again it’s only $ 200. If you pay cash there is a $ 10 discount.
I’ve taken 2 classes from Miles, 1 class with Emily (just started), 1 class with Heather (starts the 19^th), and now a sketch class with Eric.
Small classes, plenty of stage time, FANTASTIC teachers, personal notes.
I love this program.
DO IT.
(But only if you fancy yourself an improviser.)

We are so lucky Miles has created this workshop. He’s a genuis player that’s distilled the best of what he’s learned over the past twenty years. A disarming delight with a direct approach, Miles is master at spotting problems and correcting…
I’ve also taken classes with Emily Candini, who is a pill and a half. She is hysterical, and I respect her not only as an improviser but as a strong woman. Her confidence, and her confidence in you, helps you find yours. Also, she doesn’t do lame theater warm-​up games.
Go here. They’re straight shooters, the class sizes are small, and you will be loved.

Miles’ improv classes are some of the best in town. He has more experience than anyone else teaching in LA. He is also one of the dwindling few who studied closely under Del Close. I love when he goes on tangents talking about back in the day in Chicago and Del was nutso.
Miles’ approach is clear — figure out what the scene is about through position play, then play it hard. No BS here. Miles is a softie deep down who wants his students to succeed and see the pure joy and ease of improv. Classes are small and you’re exhausted by the end bc of how much you’re up.
BUT — I would recommend having some experience before you enter this class. I think his philosophy lands somewhere between iO and UCB, though probably closer to UCB.
I also audited Emily Candini’s class and she is awesome too!

You will leave Miles’ class a better improviser, period. His «position play» style is immediately practical and makes improv feel much simpler and relatively easy. That said, he not only teaches his approach, but an understanding of improv at large. You become a better observer of improv, which will lead to countless lessons down the road, even after you leave his class.
Besides all that, the class is affordable. He offers payment plans and discounts for retaking the class. Class sizes are small (8 to 12 for Miles’ class) which results in lots of stagetime and individual notes. Best of all, each student gets a full individual notes session (about 45 minutes to an hour) where he drills you on the areas you want to work on.
As for the other classes, I’ve only worked with Emily Candini and Susan Messing and they are amazing instructors as well. Miles Stroth really has assembled the best instructors in Los Angeles. Start with Miles and venture out with the rest of them.
One last thing: I’ve taken Miles’ class three times, and I’ve convinced over a dozen people to take the class. Every single person has not only LOVED the class, but have taken it at least a second time, some three or four times. I can’t recommend this class more.

I can only speak for one class, Brian O’Connell’s Form’s Workshop, and I can only say amazing things about it. I’ve taken a lot of improv classes in my day and nothing snapped me in shape like this class. You’ll learn a lot of great new forms to add to your game but aside from that O’Connell expects and crafts great scenes — which translate no matter the form.
Based on this class alone I’m looking forward to taking workshops as soon as I can. Seriously worth it. If you don’t, you’re basically wrong. Your country needs you! O’Connell is an amazing director and improvisor, he’ll get your game where it needs to be… and quickly.

THE BEST COMEDY CLASSES IN TOWN!
I have been performing improv comedy for a long time, and thought I knew what I was doing… then I took a class with Miles. He blew my mind wide open and showed us how to make every improv scene successful. He has been improvising for over 20 years (worked closely with Del Close and was part of the legendary group «The Family» at iO in Chicago) and it shows; he knows his stuff and easily relays the information to his students.
If you are serious about becoming a good improviser, take a class with Miles Stroth. Hands down, he will make you better.
This can be said about the other classes affiliated with the workshop as well.
I took «Sketch Comedy Writing» (taught by Eric Moneypenny, writer/​performer from UCB Theater’s «The Midnight Show»). Eric was as good at teaching sketch comedy as they come. He lives, eats, and breathes sketch. Since taking his class, I ended up getting hired as a writer for 2 comedy pilots, and I directly used all the ideas learned from Eric to get me the job!
Currently, I am in two other classes here (Emily Candini’s Improv class and current SNL writer, Heather Anne Campbell’s sketch/​improv class). So far, both are amazing as well.
Seriously, don’t waste your time and money going through other schools with large classes to finally get one good teacher in the top level, go here and get amazing teachers with every class and actually learn how to do be tangibly better in improv and sketch comedy!
Best part you ask? They offer payment plans so you don’t have to pay the full amount for the class right away. No other place does that.
I could say more good things, but this review is long enough as it is…