Intro to Improv: Heart Logic

A NEW 8-Week Improv Class With Ralf Jean-Pierre

What if being funny had less to do with having the perfect idea—and more to do with being completely present with another person?

Intro to Improv: Heart Logic is an invitation to play, connect, and discover the funny without worrying about getting it “right.” Led by Ralf Jean-Pierre, this class explores a deeply physical, emotionally connected approach to improv that puts relationship, instinct, empathy, and play at the center of the work.

Rather than focusing on the traditional idea of “game”—finding a comedic pattern and heightening it—Heart Logic starts somewhere more human: listen, respond, connect, and commit. You’ll learn to trust your impulses, follow your scene partner, and develop an almost telepathic awareness of what’s happening between you.

Expect to move, experiment, make big choices, fail gloriously, and discover that some of the funniest moments happen when you stop trying so hard to be funny.

The class draws from New York and Chicago long-form improv with a strong clown sensibility: physical play, vulnerability, ridiculousness, presence, and a willingness to be gloriously silly. We’re interested in the comedy that comes from total commitment to something wonderfully stupid—the dumbest kind of funny.

Ralf Jean-Pierre is a Haitian-American rapper-songwriter, actor, and comedian from Brooklyn. He has studied improv at the People’s Improv Theater and clown with Christopher Bayes, Virginia Scott, and Eric Davis. From 2019–2024, he was a member of North Coast, NYC’s premier hip-hop improv team, and since 2022 has hosted No Suggestion, a weekly podcast where thoughtful, meandering conversations become improv comedy with some of NYC’s best improvisers.

Ralf currently teaches at Brooklyn College, NYU Tisch, and Columbia University, bringing together his background in acting, music, clown, and long-form comedy with an emphasis on connection, physical play, emotional truth, and trusting the moment.

Why improv?

Improv is for everyone. For experienced performers, it’s a chance to sharpen listening, spontaneity, physicality, emotional availability, and genuine connection. For beginning actors, it builds confidence, encourages risk-taking, and teaches you to make strong choices in the moment. And for anyone new to performance, improv is a playful way to get out of your head, loosen up, connect with others, and rediscover the joy of play.

You don’t need experience. You don’t need to be funny. You don’t even need to have an idea. Just come ready to play.

8 weeks · Saturdays · 11am–2pm

Oct 3 - Nov 21