Long Island improv classes sharpen the mind, keep you on your toes

Carlos Gutierrez, 52, a social worker who lives in Coram, plays basketball, volleyball, ultimate Frisbee, works out at the gym and takes art classes. But on Sundays, he indulges his creativity and spontaneity with improv comedy classes.

In a recent class, he and another student portrayed happy bacteria, eager to vacation in a clean hotel room. “My imagination starts working,” Gutierrez said. “Where could I take this? Where could it go?”

John Dorcic, who teaches Gutierrez and others at Take 2 Actor’s Studio in Huntington, sees improv as the ultimate do-it-yourself art form. People ages 16 to 80 — including students, lawyers, musicians, teachers and surgeons — take classes for reasons like facing fears of public speaking and sharpening their ability to listen, work collaboratively and think on their feet.

“I wanted to learn how to be quick, fast, and funny,” said Cheryl Searing, 19, of Manorville, a student in Dorcic’s advanced class. “You learn to think faster, but also how to work off your fellow performers.”

Improv actors physicalize scenes, Dorcic said, using their body, not just dialogue. “We’re so disassociated from our bodies that we forget how to use them to tell a story,” he said.

They create absurd situations — one person is a meatball; another is a fork — each character with its own motivations.

“Because it’s spontaneous theater, things happen that I don’t think any writer would come up with,” said Michael Rock, owner and instructor at Long Island Improv in Freeport. “There’s a bit of magic to it.”

Gutierrez said he can portray anything from a person to a paper clip and sees improv as a gym for the mind.

In a recent Take 2 class, performers portrayed facial features (an eye had a secret crush on the nose) and played a school of fish where the hooked fish became a kind of deity.

“You don’t know what your partner in an improvisation will say,” Rock said. “You have to have great communication skills and listen.”

The classes typically culminate with a performance, adding the final element — audience. “I thought the showcase was going to be scary,” Gutierrez said. “But it was so much fun to connect with the audience and make the audience laugh.”