Longform Toolbox 1 by Emma Holmes

Longform improv is where everything you’ve learned starts to breathe.
Instead of short scenes or structured games, we begin to explore what happens when scenes are allowed to grow, connect, and evolve. One idea can spark a whole world. A single moment can ripple through multiple scenes. And suddenly, you’re not just improvising—you’re building something together.

In Longform Toolbox 1, we take the tools you may already know and start applying them with more intention, clarity, and awareness. Instead of focusing on isolated scenes, we explore how scenes can breathe, connect, and evolve over time.
You will work with tools like editing techniques, story in 3 acts, the role of the narrator or director, strong starts, characters with aspirations, finding the game, themes and callbacks, and exploring characters and their relationships.
But more than just learning the tools, this course is about understanding when and why to use them.

• How do you make a strong start that gives direction without locking anything in?
• When is the right moment to edit—and when is it better to stay?
• How do you recognize the game of a scene and build on it together?
• And how can themes and callbacks emerge naturally, instead of being forced?

We’ll explore these questions through play, repetition, and reflection. You’ll learn to trust your instincts while also developing a sharper eye for structure, pacing, and group dynamics.
Longform asks for a different kind of awareness. Not just of your own character, but of the whole piece that is unfolding. What is the story that wants to be told? What patterns are appearing? And how can you support them—on stage or from the sidelines?

Which Longform will you learn? The Wednesday course by Emma (Sept-Dec 2026) will probably learn the La hRonde.

#### Who this course is for

This course is intended for almost advanced improvisers who want to see if longform is something for them, or who want to gain more insights in narrative choices. You should have done at least four improv courses or similar.

#### Course details Longform Toolbox 1 (Wed Sep-Dec 2026 Emma)

Location: Buurtcentrum Oase
Schedule: Wednesdays 18:45-20:30
13 sessions in total, including a show.
16, 23, 30 SEP, 7, 14, 28 oct (holiday 21 oct, no lesson), 4, 11, 18, 25 nov, 2, 9, 16 dec. Show date WED 9 Dec December 19:30 villa concordia
Price: € 308 including 21 percent VAT
This group consists of students from the group Time Well Wasted, but if there is space, anyone is welcome .

Teacher Emma Holmes
Emma Holmes is specialised in Improv, Stand-up Comedy and Storytelling. Emma has a sharp eye for how you can become a pleasant co-player for the other players. You will learn how you don’t have to act funny, but let the fun evolve from the story (finding the game). You will learn to be silly, out of your comfort zone without fear of failing, Presentation skills, active listening skills. And much more.

### About the tickets

Improv Utrecht offers 1 or 2 funded courses with 20% discount for people with less finances. Send a message to Marieke van Laar.

**Tickets: improv-utrecht.weticket.io**
info: www.improvutrecht.nl/