Best for: Students who have taken previous Longform Lab classes, or a previous longform improv class at Portland Comedy Theater or at another theater.

In the fifth in our Longform Lab series, Improvisors will learn, rehearse and perform two narrative genre formats over 8 weeks under the direction of Eric Zipper.

How is the storytelling of a sitcom functionally different from that of a slasher film? How does one create characters that audiences want to revisit week after week? How do I get my family members to pull me aside after an improv show and say “be honest with me, you guys wrote that, right?” so I can tell them “nope, that’s not what improv means, but thank you.”

In this Narrative Longform class, improvisers will learn, rehearse, and perform 2 narrative genre formats over 3 weeks each, flexing their longform skills by telling continuous stories that are, you know… longer. They’ll dive deep into structure and genre in a way that combines the storytelling rhythms of mediums like film and television with the fast-paced chaos of improv, embracing their goofy impulses and spur-of-the-moment thinking until they also produce deeply satisfying payoffs and character arcs.

The 4th and 8th Class Meetings will be showcases.

Eric Zipper has been teaching and performing with CSz Portland and CSz Los Angeles for nearly two decades, where he has also produced, developed, and performed in a variety of narrative long-form shows in a wide range of genres and formats, including Medford Medical in 2024-25. But mostly he just watches, like, TOO many movies.

Longform Lab 5 - Narrative Genres