At the second class of Gerry Orton's beginner’s improv workshop at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, seven people of varying ages and occupations form a circle. Soon they start to toss around an imaginary red ball evocative of silent Chaplin and Buster Keaton films. The pretend ball changes size and weight each time it’s handled. Pantomiming–working with imaginary objects–is the key improv acting element at work.

“Doing an action without speaking is not as easy as it seems,” Orton says.

Karla Bristow, a ministry intern at the Pacific Coast Church in Pacific Grove, hopes to master the act for her own reason. “I'm here to get better at using my body expressions,” she says.

“Research says 65 percent of communication is non-verbal,” adds psychologist and first time student, Charles Horowitz.

For the past 16 years, while wielding a voice like Frasier’s dad and eyes wide with fervor, Orton has led theater workshops, taught high school drama and run after school improv classes for middle schoolers.

“Improv theater games help with listening skills, teamwork and spontaneity,” says Orton.

A year ago Orton began six-week beginner, intermediate and advanced improv workshops in Monterey. This year, for the first time, his classes are being held in the Irvine Auditorium at MIIS.

I partake in an exercise that entails developing impromptu stories on the fly. Each person in the circle is allowed to add only one word at a time. We concoct tales about Little Red Riding Hood smoking “mysterious herbs” and a sad saga about Pedro and his swine flu-infested chihuahua.

Slowly at first, then with increasing confidence, the students find fluidity with the spontaneity. Moyara Ruehsen, an international finance professor at MIIS, credits the atypical exercises devised by Orton: “There's definitely a method to his madness,” she says.

Orton’s remaining class take place 7-9:30pm June 9 at MIIS’s Irvine Auditorium, corner of Pierce and Jefferson (Orton will offer beginner and intermediate workshops this fall). $90/six classes; $40/MIIS students; $60/other students for a six-week workshop. 394-3031.