013 - Chris Trew - On How Everything is Improv, the Power of Positivity and Building a Language of Improv

Talking Shop: An Improv Podcast with Brian Gray

The return of Talking Shop features an interview with a founding member of The New Movement theaters in Austin and New Orleans, improv performer and teacher, co-author of Improv Wins, stand-up comic, the creator of the Air Sex World Championship, a pro wrestling manager, a sports columnist and podcaster, and rapper, Chris Trew. The Austin Chronicle has said “Chris Trew is out of his fucking mind.”

Brian and Chris talk about how all of his varied pursuits are filtered for him through a lens of comedy and specifically the supportive and collaborative nature of improvisation, how he has brought and maintains a positive and nurturing atmosphere to both of his theaters (on stage and off), how he and his staff build their own language of improv through metaphor and nomenclature, and much much more.

Then we play 3 scenes focusing on like characters at the top and "heighten or die."

Thanks to The New Movement for letting us record in their classroom!

Music in the podcast:

• Talking Shop Theme by Michelle Horsley
• Kick Shock by Kevin MacLeod
• Last Days of Disco by Fhernando