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in The Farms: An Allerton Folk School
Improve Your Improv (Sep 25)
with Kyle Tasch
Experience Level: All Levels
Learn the skills of improvisation, including scene creation and team dynamics at Improve Your Improv on Thursdays, Aug 21 through Oct 2 in the Music Barn.
Kyle Tasch returns to The Farms to teach this popular course, which will be jam-packed with improvisational fun that will use both short-form games and long-form scenes in its sessions.
This will not be a place to sit down, hear lectures, and take notes, as students will be performing as much as possible! It will be a get-up-and-perform kind of class. The class will emphasize the mechanics needed to act out an entertaining and meaningful scene on the spot with no script.
Students who have already completed this class are welcome to join again. Beginners and those experienced in improv are all encouraged to join!
$100/person for the series or $25/class. Register for the entire series by Aug 14 or one week before each subsequent class. All sales are final.
If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.
About the instructor
Kyle Tasch is an improvisor, improv teacher, filmmaker, writer, actor, comedian and musician from the Chicago suburbs. He started performing improv in 2004 and has been improvising in front of audiences regularly since 2015.
He has also taught classes both in-person and remotely at Westside Improv in Wheaton, Illinois. He performs live across the state in various comedy and music acts and has produced hundreds of videos and songs.
Make Your Own Incense
with Charlie Rainbow Wolf
Experience Level: Beginner
Experience the fragrant joy of incense at Make Your Own Incense on Wednesday, Oct. 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. in The Studio.
Instructor Charlie Rainbow Wolf will walk students through making incense in a very hands-on way, covering suitable plants for incense, how to grow and gather them and ways of using incense for different purposes — spiritual connection, inner peace, moon phases, bug repellant, etc.
Students will make their own incense from a selection of herbs to promote a specific purpose or to make a seasonal blend. Each student will go home with their own incense and helpful resources to continue making more at home.
If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
Charlie Rainbow Wolf describes herself as an “old hippie” who has studied the “weird ways of the world for nearly 50 years.” She is happiest with her hands in the mud, either making pottery in her ‘artbox’ or tending things in her ‘yarden’ (yard + garden).
Astrology, tarot and herbs are Charlie’s greatest interests, but she has dabbled in most metaphysical topics in the last five decades — because life always has something new to offer.
She is a contributing author for Llewellyn Worldwide, is a ghostwriter for renowned psychic celebrities, and makes a wicked batch of fudge! Charlie lives in central Illinois with her very patient husband and special needs Great Danes.
Improve Your Improv (Oct 2)
with Kyle Tasch
Experience Level: All Levels
Learn the skills of improvisation, including scene creation and team dynamics at Improve Your Improv on Thursdays, Aug 21 through Oct 2 in the Music Barn.
Kyle Tasch returns to The Farms to teach this popular course, which will be jam-packed with improvisational fun that will use both short-form games and long-form scenes in its sessions.
This will not be a place to sit down, hear lectures, and take notes, as students will be performing as much as possible! It will be a get-up-and-perform kind of class. The class will emphasize the mechanics needed to act out an entertaining and meaningful scene on the spot with no script.
Students who have already completed this class are welcome to join again. Beginners and those experienced in improv are all encouraged to join!
$100/person for the series or $25/class. Register for the entire series by Aug 14 or one week before each subsequent class. All sales are final.
If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.
About the instructor
Kyle Tasch is an improvisor, improv teacher, filmmaker, writer, actor, comedian and musician from the Chicago suburbs. He started performing improv in 2004 and has been improvising in front of audiences regularly since 2015.
He has also taught classes both in-person and remotely at Westside Improv in Wheaton, Illinois. He performs live across the state in various comedy and music acts and has produced hundreds of videos and songs.
Intro to English-Language Haiku
with Lee Gurga
Experience Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Learn the history, aesthetics and craft of traditional haiku at Intro to English Language Haiku on Sunday, Oct. 5 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Mansion Library.
Instructor Lee Gurga will lead students through a stress-free writing exercise to help them gain confidence to write their own poems. Students should be prepared to spend time outside (weather permitting), and should bring their favorite journal and writing utensil.
$20/person. Registration will close Oct. 2 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.
If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
Lee Gurga has served as president of the Haiku Society of America (HSA) and is currently the editor of the journal Modern Haiku and the Modern Haiku Press. His books of haiku, “In & Out of Fog” and “Fresh Scent” were awarded First Prize in the HSA Merit Book Awards. In addition, his “Haiku: A Poet’s Guide” was recognized by the HSA as the Best Book of Criticism for 2004.
His anthology, “Haiku 21”, co-edited with Scott Metz, was honored as Best Anthology by the HSA and with the Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Award. Their anthology, “Haiku 2014” also received a Touchstone Award.
His awards also include an Illinois Arts Council Poetry Fellowship, the Japan-America Society of Chicago's Cultural Achievement Award, and, in his work as a dentist, an American Red Cross Healthcare Heroes Award.
Gurga lives in mischievous retirement with his wife Jan and three cats on the Sangamon River in Piatt County, Illinois.
Woodland Folklore & Papier Mache
with Orrin Taylor
Experience Level: Beginner
Use woodland legends as inspiration to make masks at Woodland Folklore & Papier Mâché Masks on Monday through Thursday, Oct. 20-23 from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Woodshop.
Instructor and underground artist Orrin Taylor will assist students in creating masks based on the various characters and creatures featured in woodland folklore. While learning the art of papier mâché in this mixed-media course, students will also hear about various folklore legends found throughout the world
$70/person. Registration will close Oct. 13 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.
If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
Orrin Taylor is a self-taught outsider artist from central Illinois. Working primarily in painting and illustration, most of his artwork is based on dreams and random mental spasms. He currently resides on a farm in the middle of nowhere with his wife and two dogs.
Besoms: A Witch's Broom Workshop
with Delight Flower Farm
Experience Level: Beginner
Craft a traditional witch’s brooms using locally grown dried flowers and foraged materials at Besoms: A Witch’s Broom Workshop on Thursday, Oct. 30 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Greenhouse Auditorium.
Just in time for Halloween, instructor Remington Rock of Delight Flower Farm will also share the history of besoms (brooms) in the world of the occult and witchcraft. Students will take home their own handmade besom made from natural materials!
$70/person. Registration will close Oct. 23 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.
Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
Remington Rock is not only the manager of the woman-owned, sustainable Delight Flower Farm, she is also a DIYer, avid crafter and has never met a artistic medium she didn’t like.
Intro to Tarot Cards
with Charlie Rainbow Wolf
Experience Level: Both beginner and those experienced with tarot decks are welcome
Learn about tarot cards and readings at Intro to the Tarot on Saturday, Nov. 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Mansion.
Instructor Charlie Rainbow Wolf will guide students through the history of tarot, what it does and doesn’t do, and how to detangle myth from method when learning to read the cards. Students will then use the cards to determine how to intuitively interpret tarot for their own purposes and learn how to start reading for others.
Tarot cards are included in registration.
$60/person. Registration will close Oct. 25 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.
If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
Charlie Rainbow Wolf describes herself as an “old hippie” who has studied the “weird ways of the world for nearly 50 years.” She is happiest with her hands in the mud, either making pottery in an ‘artbox’ or tending things in her ‘yarden’ (yard + garden).
Astrology, tarot and herbs are Charlie’s greatest interests, but she has also dabbled in metaphysical topics in the last five decades — because life always has something new to offer.
She is a contributing author for Llewellyn Worldwide, is a ghostwriter for renowned psychic celebrities, and makes a wicked batch of fudge! Charlie lives in central Illinois with her very patient husband and special needs Great Danes.