Completely Ridiculous Classes and Workshops in NYC

Completely Ridiculous
Classes and Workshops in New York City

In the spirit of inclusivity, accessibility and diversity we offer
Need-Based Partial Scholarships for All of Our Classes and Workshops

Upcoming In-Person Classes in NYC

BRAND NEW NYC OFFERING!

Creative Flow with Annie Piper

Mondays | May 9th - June 13th
2-3.15pm EST at Kula Yoga, 481 Broadway in Soho, Manhattan.
$125
Sign up and drop in info below.

A Yoga/Qigong hybrid practice to promote wellness, connection to the present, and transformation. Both vigorous and gentle, this class is built for performers of all kinds. However, all are welcome and no previous experience with yoga is necessary to participate fully!

"I will be a regular here. I still do the exercises on my own, but nothing replaces the connection I felt, that Annie provides when she guides people as a group. We are united through the earth and ether, I learn every time that so many things are not necessary. I feel love every time I leave the class and much lighter." - Student Testimonial

Annie Piper (she/her/hers) teaches at Kula Yoga in Tribeca, The Shala and Prema Yoga in Brooklyn. She is on the movement faculty at NYU's Tisch School of Graduate Acting and The Yale School of Drama. She is the co- teacher of 'The Open Voice' with Jessie Austrian at NYU's Gallatin School. She is certified to teach trauma-sensitive yoga by both the Trauma Center in Boston and with the national organization Warriors at Ease, and continues to bring yoga to veterans throughout NYC. She has served on the faculty at the Brown University / Trinity Rep Consortium as well as undergraduate Theater Studies at NYU. Formerly an actor and director, She received an MFA in Acting from The University of Minnesota and a BA in Theater from Oberlin College. She certified to teach in 1997 at OM yoga, and studies Qi Gong with Thomas Droge.

If you are interested in dropping in for one or more classes, head to Kula Yoga, where you will see the class listed weekly as Kula Flow, with Annie Piper.

If you are interested in taking the class and/or dropping in remotely, classes will be taped and available through Kula Yoga, right here.

And if you're having trouble finding the class videos and/or need help signing up for in person or remote drop ins, click here for assistance.

Michael Chekhov: Embodying the Beautiful with Sebastian Arboleda

Mondays | April 18th - May 23rd
6-8.30pm EST
$325. Open to 10 students.
Sign up below.

In this class students will explore the fundamentals of Michael Chekhov Acting Technique, centering what he called "the Feeling of Beauty". Michael Chekhov believed that by developing a healthy relationship with their own unique beautiful selves, the actor can truly access the power of their creative individuality without judgment. In the course of exploring the "Feeling of Beauty”, students will be creating, moving, storytelling, experimenting, discussing, and celebrating all of the different shades of beauty - the good, the bad, the ugly, the raunchy, the funky, the mysterious, the naughty, the dangerously cheesy, etc. - and how they can empower, inspire and support the widest range of expression possible in performance.

Sebastian Arboleda (he/him/his) is a Colombian-American actor/director/writer/educator. As an actor he was most recently seen in “the 4400” and “Chicago PD.” The last 4 years he has also been working the Chicago Theatre circuit. As an educator, he is known for teaching Michael Chekhov Technique with the Encompass Collective and Freestreet Theatre. Sebastian leads his teaching with a sense of “HARDCORE” play and heroism. He has a BA in Performance from Cal State, Long Beach and an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. Now known as the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

Comedy on Camera with Devin Shacket

Tuesdays | April 19th - May 17th
Group 1: 10am-1pm EST
Group 2: 2.30-5.30pm EST
$375. Open to 10 students.
Sign up below.

This on camera class is designed to work out and develop your comedy skills on camera! We will work with a range of materials - including under 5's, sitcom, comedic characters in procedurals and other traditionally unfunny shows, and finally, comedic movie sides. In class, we will utilize your clowning, improvisation, and physical acting skills. This is a comedy on camera acting gym, designed for both those with and those without comedy training. Come discover what makes you funny in front of the lens! *On camera training is a plus, but not required for enrollment.

Devin Shacket (she/her/hers) is an acting teacher, audition coach, actress, casting director, founder/artistic director of The New York Drama Center and Director of Program Design at Completely Ridiculous.

She began her career as a casting assistant and quickly found herself working on Season II of the popular Netflix series, House of Cards, under the mentorship of Emmy Award winning casting director, Julie Schubert. While working in casting, Devin began teaching on-camera audition technique and coaching auditions, which she continues to do today.

Devin departed a full-time career in casting in 2013, to pursue her own acting training, studying with many of the best teachers in NYC and around the world. In addition to completing the two year Meisner training program with Terry Knickerbocker, and attending BADA, she has studied with Olympia Dukakis, Patsy Rodenburg, Larry Moss, Janet Zarish, Jim Calder, Tessa Lang, Fay Simpson, Christopher Bayes, Philippe Gaulier, Aitor Basauri, and many others.

In 2016 Devin founded The New York Drama Center, a nomadic acting center which offers access to master acting teachers (who mainly teach at exclusive MFA programs), and their proteges. She continues to design the programming for The New York Drama Center, committed to offering unique and high quality training opportunities to all actors.

Today, Devin focuses her energies on teaching and coaching, running her own private on-camera studio in NYC and also teaching advanced acting at The New Studio on Broadway at Tisch School of the Arts. To date, her students and private coaching clients have appeared on over 30 different NYC based t.v. shows, in off broadway and regional theatre productions, in feature length and short films, and in web series. She also has a student who was recently accepted to the acting MFA programs at NYU Graduate Acting and Yale School of Drama!

How to Begin: The Art of Embodied Text Work with Josiah Bania

Wednesdays | April 20th - May 25th
6-9pm EST
$325. Open to 10 students.
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How we initially approach text can have an outsized impact on our auditions, rehearsal processes, and performances. Over the course of six weeks exploring three plays in depth, students will learn practical tools for how to approach text holistically, inviting the text into the body starting day one of rehearsal. We'll deconstruct the often academic approach to text analysis, and learn how to approach our work in a way that's both more efficient, fun and *healthier* for ourselves and others.

Josiah Bania (he/him/his) is an actor, educator, and playwright based in NYC. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, he has appeared onstage at Mark Taper Forum, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Geffen Playhouse, American Repertory Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Dorset Theatre Festival, Artists Repertory Theater, among others.

He has worked as an educator at the Yale Summer Conservatory, Williams College, New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts, Western Oregon University, as well as several years of private coaching.

Improv with Ralf Jean-Pierre

Thursdays | April 21st - May 26th
6-9pm EST
$325. Open to 10 students.
Sign up below.

Discover an approach to improv comedy that will fill your pants with giddiness and your heart with wonder! In this 6 week class you’ll be introduced to Ralf’s unique approach to improv. We will identify and celebrate your personal sense of humor, and explore and revel in your own physicality. We’ll play lots of exciting and stupid theatrical games that will help us learn how to live in a character and discover imaginative scenes together as an ensemble.

Eliminate that pesky, stinky pressure to be a genius, and instead find freedom in your magnificent dumbness! Unlock a playfulness and collaboration so honest, so personal, so beautifully stupid, that it inspires cascades of real, snorting, quivering, gut-busting, belly laughs! You will make people laugh til they snort! And you will tell them, “I heard you snort!”

Precious Gorgeous, aka Ralf Jean-Pierre (he/him/his) is a first generation Haitian-American rapper-songwriter, actor, and comedian from Brooklyn, NY.

Precious Gorgeous earned a BFA in Performing Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2007. He has studied at Dance New Amsterdam, The Actor’s Movement Studio, the People’s Improv Theater. Ralf studied clown with Christopher Bayes and Virginia Scott, and Eric Davis.

In 2012, Following the sudden passing of a friend, Ralf rode his bicycle around the United States for the entire year, performing a one-man Shakespeare on the street, playing multiple characters at a time. He and his collaborator Jolie Tong developed a one-man show chronicling the tour called WHAT SHOULD BE THE FEAR. The show, which featured an original blues rap score written and composed by Precious, and debuted it at Gamba Forest Art Space in Brooklyn, NY in 2017.

Ralf is also an ensemble member of FIZGIG Studio’s Commedia Company and the acclaimed hip-hop improv team North Coast. Ralf is currently teaching acting and comedy as an adjunct professor for the Brooklyn College BA and BFA Theater program, and at Columbia University the MFA Theater program.