Portland Comedy Theater

Organic Harold

When Del Close originally created the Harold, he did so in San Francisco in the late 60's and then he further refined it in Chicago in the mid-70's to early '80's. The style of the Harold that Del did then is now called "The Organic Harold" which featured a looser and freer structure that explored in depth the suggestion given by the audience than the now traditional Opening/3 scenes/game/3 scenes/game/3 scenes/Wrap up style of Harold that has been written about in books. Jonathan Pitts studied with Del Close 3 times, each time for a year. From Del he learned how perform The Organic Harold as well as the early origins of group mind. In this ensemble based workshop, theimprovisers will get to experience the Harold as Del originally created it in its first 10 years as the students will learn to recognize and incorporate organic patterns that come from exploring the suggestion intuitively. In a world of Harolds, the original version was more like small batch hand crafted beer, made one Harold at a time, by improv artisans.

Taking two or three of Jonathan's classes this weekend? Use the code TOAST for the second class and the code JAM for the third class and enjoy some savings for your commitment!

Jonathan Pitts is an award-winning international improv theatre artist and storyteller living in Chicago. He's performed and/or taught in 30 countries and over 100 cities. He's the former Executive Director of Chicago Improv Productions; Co-Founder/Producer Chicago Improv Festival; Creator/Producer College Improv Tournament; Founder/Producer Teen Comedy Fest; Creator/Director of improv theatre productions The Oracle; The Silent Movie; and Storybox and Time Piece. He taught, coached, and directed at The Second City Training Center for 16 years and was a contributing writer to Anne Libera's book, "The Second City Improv Almanac”. In 2025, he was listed #24 in Matt Fotis’ book “50 Key Improv Performers”.