Dearing Acting Studio
Improv classes in Phoenix · Adults · Evenings
Adult Improv
When you relax, you can listen. And when you listen, you know what to do.
Month to month. About a minute to sign up, and the day is already chosen.
Great improv should look, sound and feel like a play you rehearsed, memorized and blocked.
Scene work from a premise, environment and physicality, character creation, the long-form improv play. Listening at a high level under all of it.
What’s included
- Three nights a month, two hours each
- Miss a Wednesday, make it up Thursday
- Every class recorded to your private actor portal, to watch your own progress
- A showcase every quarter, with a one-on-one evaluation
- Month to month. New students start the first class of the month
The why
Why there are no levels.
Mastery-level training means the perspective of never-ending growth. A beginner and a working actor can be in the same class, and both leave better. Nobody gets the same note.
Why we teach listening.
Acting is reacting. The skill under every scene is listening at a high level. The same skill is under every conversation you will ever have, with a client, a boss, a spouse, a child.
Why every class is on camera.
We believe in the game tape. The teaching is recorded, the class is recorded, and the recording lives in your private actor portal.
The curriculum
We hold ourselves to the same standard we ask of our students: constant and never‑ending growth.
As we grow, the curriculum grows with us. If there is a better way to teach it, that is the way we will teach it.
What Improv covers over a year
- Listening and truthful reaction
- Scene work from a premise
- Environment, physicality, who, what and where
- Character creation
- Long-form improv plays
“Actors must be free. This is the easiest thing to say, and maybe the single hardest thing to do.”
This season’s dates
Same class, two nights. Pick either one when you sign up.
Wednesdays8 to 10 PM
- October 7, 14, 21
- November 4, 11, 18
- December 2, 9, 16
- January 6, 13, 20
Thursdays8 to 10 PM
- October 8, 15, 22
- November 5, 12, 19
- December 3, 10, 17
- January 7, 14, 21
Intensives
Ages 17+ · Four times a year
The Masterclass
The deepest work we do. Two full days of scene study, every scene performed and critiqued out loud.
Why we train the way we do
We are the club sports of acting.
Rec league is fun, and it has a purpose. Club is fun too, but the focus is different. Club is where you go to get better.
So the class is built like a set and a stage. Costumes and props come in, scenes get staged, and everyone gets the coaching, lead or not.
The showcase is when the lights come on and you see where you really are. In Improv the group puts up the improvised play, the form the highest level improvisers strive for, and we teach it to everybody.
4.9 stars · 234 Google reviews
“My wife purchased a month of Improv class for me last year. After the first class, I was hooked and I’m going on my 10th month of class.”
Gary Loffman · student, Google review
“Attending the improv classes here at Dearing is probably my favorite part of any given week.”
“My last 3 months have redefined what I thought improv was walking in and has been an incredible tool for growing as an actor and understanding what good acting is!”
Dearing
Sweeney
Who teaches it
Matthew Dearing wrote the curriculum. He and Brian Sweeney teach it.
“The best in the world at anything know what others refuse to admit: there is always room for improvement. Does this sound discouraging? Don’t let it. This should be the most freeing bit of news you receive.”
Matthew Dearing · Acting Is My Day Job
Wednesday or Thursday. Start this month.
About a minute to sign up, and the night is already chosen. Taking Script and Improv? $370 a month for both.
Questions first? Call or text 480-313-9901 · All adult classes
