The necessary theater (tnt)
The Necessary Theater is an ensemble-driven theater company and training studio dedicated to truthful performance, bold collaboration, and the development of original work.
We believe great theater begins long before opening night. It begins with artists who know how to listen, commit, imagine, and trust one another. Our classes and productions are rooted in the principles of acting and improvisation—not as separate disciplines, but as complementary ways of creating honest, compelling stories.
In a culture increasingly shaped by algorithms and artificial intelligence, live theater offers something that cannot be replicated: people sharing the same space, taking real risks, and responding to one another in the moment.
Our classes train actors, improvisers, writers, and curious beginners to play for real—not for laughs. We value emotional truth over cleverness, ensemble over ego, and discovery over performance.
The goal isn’t simply to make better improvisers. It’s to make better collaborators, better storytellers, and ultimately, better theater.
The Necessary Theater exists because some things should only happen between human beings.
upcoming classes
Satire: Point of View
Satire starts with a point of view. Before you can skewer something, you have to see it clearly and mean what you say about it. In this class we take the world as seriously as we take imaginary circumstances. We find what's true, what's absurd, and what's broken, then heighten it until the audience can't look away.
The class focuses on:
•Finding Your Point of View
•Playing Truthfully
•Heightening
•Building Original Pieces
There will be writing and performing in this class. Students should be prepared to participate in both. Additionally, there will be required reading and viewing of materials related to satire.
Tuesdays, 7:00–9:30 PM
8 weeks
Starts January 12
$695
Ensemble Lab-Winter 2027
The Ensemble Lab is TNT's flagship – a small, committed group that spends ten weeks originating new work together. We
don't start from a script or a format, and we don't sort the room into actors and improvisers. Everyone starts from the same place, moving through five phases collectively:
Listening: building the contact and presence the work depends on.
Excavation: digging into personal and shared material worth staging.
Collision: putting that material in conflict until something true comes out.
Form-Finding: shaping what we discover into a structure that can hold it.
Showing: presenting original devised work to an audience.
Wednesdays, 7:00–9:30 PM
10 weeks
Starts January 13
$895
Intro to Acting
Taught by Carla Briscoe, a NYC based performer with a background in both theater and improvisation, this class focuses on the fundamentals of script analysis and the importance of moment-to-moment work.
Over the course of six weeks students will work on two 2-minute monologues of their own choosing (one dramatic, one comedic). Select material you LOVE; roles you feel you could/should be cast as (right now). These monologues will serve you as you embark on your careers. You will use them for a variety of auditions and this class aims to give you the skills to deliver them with a fresh, varied and honest approach each time.
Actors should bring a printed copy of each monologue to the first class and are encouraged to have at least on of them memorized if they would like the opportunity to get up on their feet and work.
Saturdays, 10:00 AM–12:00 PM
6 weeks
Starts January 16
$495