Brian James O'Connell

Four Workshops - One Weekend!

March 28, 29 & 30

About BOC

Brian James O’Connell, or BOC (as his friends call him), is a working actor, writer, director, filmmaker, and teacher in Los Angeles. He was part of the Core Faculty and co-founder at The Pack Theater and taught at iOWest for over a decade. He is part of the legendary improv collective, Dr. God.

A regular performer, coach and teacher in Los Angeles, Brian derives most of his approach to improv from The Deconstruction, the form created by iO’s legendary team, The Family coached by Del Close. Well-respected as one of Los Angeles’ premier improvisers, Brian is famous for his encyclopedic knowledge of minutiae and his insane recall ability and memory.

BOC is a board member for the non-profit Camp Improv Utopia, the premiere improv, acting and training retreat in the country and served as the Director of Camp Outreach for the first 8 years and is on the board at Highwire Improv in Baltimore. 

BOC directed his third feature film, Bloodsucking Bastards, starring Pedro Pascal, in 2015.

Brian is a graduate of the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts and moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to follow his dreams of a career in filmmaking.

Each workshop is limited to 20 participants

Position Play Workshop

For all levels of improvisers

Brian James O’Connell teaches you the skills you need to find your “position” in the scene and then play it to the hilt.

Position Play was invented by Miles Stroth (Del Close’s “Warchief”, Founder, Owner & Operator of The Pack Theater in Los Angeles) as a way to understand and execute the “scene dynamics” of the Four Basic Scene Types: Logical/Absurd, Character Driven, Alternate Reality and Realistic. If you are able to understand the few tools & techniques needed to play these individual scenes, every other choice you make on stage will be from a place of renewed confidence and successful fun!

Topics include: “Thing. Concept. Idea.”, “The Five Scenes Everyone Tells You *NOT* To Do But Darn It They Come Up On Stage Anyway”, “Playing Archetypes”, “Mapping Characters” and many, many more.

This workshop is dedicated to giving the student “practical applications of improv” and providing replicable good habits/behavior on stage. The goal is to be able to take this workshop during the day and be able to execute the practice immediately on stage that night! 

There is an optional improv show performance opportunity following the workshop

Falls Church, VA

Friday, March 28 - 5:30pm to 8:30pm
+ optional showcase show following at 8:30pm

Center for Spiritual Enlightenment
222 N. Washington St., Falls Church, VA

Only 5 Spots Left!!!

Position Play
Falls Church - $95

Annapolis, MD

Saturday, March 29 - 3:00pm to 6:00pm
+ optional showcase show at 8:00pm

ArtFarm
111 Chinquapin Round Road, Suite 200, Annapolis, MD

Only 9 Spots Left!!!

Position Play
Annapolis - $95

The Improvised Movie Format

For intermediate and advanced level improvisers

Created by the legendary iOChicago improv team THE FAMILY under the direction of Del Close, The Improvised Movie long form structure is a fun, fast-paced stylized piece that will strengthen your understanding of story, plot, narrative structures & genre tropes through the creative use of applying cinematic language to the theatrical stage!

Brian James O’Connell has a BFA in Film Editing from the world famous UNCSA School of Filmmaking (Jeff Nichols, David Gordon Green, Craig Zobel) and is a 3x feature film writer/director whose distributed films star some of the biggest names in entertainment such as Pedro Pascal and Matt Berry.

Let BOC use his combined 50 years of filmmaking and improv experience to help you learn an artistically rewarding long form piece that is also a box office smash for your audiences!

Falls Church, VA

Saturday, March 29 - 9:30am to 12:30pm

Center for Spiritual Enlightenment
222 N. Washington St., Falls Church, VA

The Improvised Movie
Falls Church, VA - $95

The Ladder Format

For intermediate and advanced level improvisers

3 worlds. 12 characters. 21 scenes. This is The Ladder.

Improvisers must learn to be efficient with their use of character and relationship to tell a story. Whether in use as a class/rehearsal exercise, an improvised show format or structure for a scripted one act play, The Ladder is a wonderful tool to hone an improviser’s focus to a razor sharp edge on what are the most important parts of a staged theatrical piece: character, relationship & story.

3 worlds. 12 characters. 21 scenes. Thousands of possibilities.

No matter what form your team is doing, it is important that you learn the basics of being able to appear to be performing a piece on purpose.

Falls Church, VA

Sunday, March 30 - 1:30pm to 4:30pm

Center for Spiritual Enlightenment
222 N. Washington St., Falls Church, VA

The Ladder
Falls Church, VA - $95

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