October 25, 2008
My good friend and fellow Kinkonaut Owen Chan suggested that I write a blog post that talked about a few things regarding the North American improv scene:
Improv theatres to check out
Specific shows to see at those theatres
Suggested improv reading
So, since I am sitting in a coffee shop and Owen has a gun to my head (for some reason this place is very lax about firearms), that is what I’m going to do.
Mandy’s Favourite Improv Theatres (or Troupes) and Shows
I run the risk of writing a small novel about this so I’ll stick to the basics. If, dear reader, you find yourself on a cross country trek through North America, and think to yourself “Hey, we should check out some improv”, here are some suggested cities/theatres/troupes:
Chicago
- iO Chicago (formerly ImprovOlympic), http://chicago.ioimprov.com - If you are a hardcore reader of this blog, (I’m talking to you Owen!), you will know that fellow Kinkonaut Lauren Cochrane and I spent 5 weeks in the Windy City taking the iO Summer Improv Intensive. iO became the home of Del Close beginning in the 1980s, and together with his partner Charna Halpern, they turned longform improv into a successful artform and turned iO into one of the premiere improv theatres in the world. Suggested Shows - The Armando Diaz Experience, TJ & Dave, Children of a Lesser God, 3033, The Reckoning, Deep Schwa, Whirled News Tonight
- Annoyance Theatre, http://www.annoyanceproductions.com - Mick Napier founded and still runs this theatre in Chicago. It is the home of the longest running musical in Chicago, “Coed Prison Sluts”, and, compared to iO, is known for its subversive and dark material. Also, if you go to a show, chances are you might meet Mick, which is pretty cool. Suggested Shows - Messing with a Friend
- Second City Chicago, http://www.secondcity.com - For you comedy history buffs, this is a must-see, even if you forego any shows and just check out the building. Also, I know someone in the mainstage cast! As I recall, they run two revues on their main and e.t.c. stages, as well as various shows in their Donny’s Skybox space.
New York
- Upright Citizens Brigade, http://www.ucbtheatre.com - The theatre founded by former iO Chicago performers Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser and Ian Roberts. Fast and furious, focusing on “the game of the scene”, and a great mix of improv and sketch. Suggested Shows - ASSSSCAT 3000, their “Armando Diaz”-type monologue show. Absolutely hilarious and usually features celebrity guests. Make sure you book tickets in advance though!
- Magnet Theatre, http://www.magnettheater.com - The theatre founded by Armando Diaz (of The Armando Diaz Theatrical Experience fame). I actually haven’t had the chance to see any shows at Magnet, but our good friend and fellow improviser Louie Pearlman calls it home, so it must be good.
Los Angeles
- iO West, http://west.ioimprov.com - You guessed it, it’s the Los Angeles contingent of the iO Theatre. Just like Chicago, this theatre has some of the best improv in North America. It’s home to my friends Brian O’Connell and Jeff Hawkins (because I like to namedrop sometimes), and the chances of seeing some crazy awesome celebs is really high! Suggested Shows - The Armando Show (usually with a celebrity monologist), Beer Shark Mice, anything that BOC or Jeff are in
- Upright Citizens Brigade, http://www.ucbtheatre.com - Just like UCB NY only in a warmer climate. Suggested Shows - ASSSCAT 3000, Jeff Garlin’s Combo Platter
Vancouver
- Instant Theatre, http://www.instanttheatre.com - Vancouver’s best improv school. Shows are a bit sporadic, but I would recommend any shows they put on!
- The Sunday Service - Weekly show at the Hennessey Lounge in Vancouver featuring some of the city’s greatest improvisers. Check out their Facebook group for show info.
- UBC Improv, http://ubcimprov.com - Owen’s alma mater, highly recommended by him.
Edmonton
- Rapid Fire Theatre, http://rapidfiretheatre.com - Edmonton’s (only?) improv theatre, but these guys are great. Suggested Shows - Friday Night TheatreSports (for the TheatreSports enthusiast), Chimprov
Toronto
- Impatient Theatre Company, http://www.impatient.ca - Where it all started for me, some of Toronto’s best longform improv. Suggested Shows - Big in Japan, Little American Bastards, their semi-annual Cagematch competitions
- PROJECTproject, http://www.projectproject.ca - This show basically brings together all of my favourite improvisers in Toronto into a big bowl full of happy. Suggested Shows - Their weekly Wednesday night show at Toronto’s Comedy Bar
- Second City Toronto, http://www.secondcity.com - Pretty self-explanatory. Check out their mainstage review.
Mandy’s Suggested Improv Reading
I’m going to make this short and sweet as I am starting to fatigue.
Truth in Comedy - THE longform improv book that you have to read, even just to confirm what you already know. Brought to you by Del Close, Charna Halpern and Kim “Howard” Johnson.
Art By Committee, by Charna Halpern - Pick it up if only for the handy DVD that showcases some of North America’s best shows
Group Improvisation, by Peter Gwinn - A great how-to for improv games that you can play as part of an improv class, or use as icebreakers at a workshop or work retreat
Improvise, by Mick Napier - Another great book. Just read it.
Okay, lots to chew on, lots to check out and lots to read! I am tired now.
See ya when I see ya. PEACE.
Filed by mandy at October 25th, 2008
Tags: books, improv, shows, theatres
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October 12, 2008
A broken heart is something we all have to endure at some point in our lives. It’s kind of interesting to me, how we can all be united and connected by that familiar ache that beats with your heart and burns with your breath.
Broken hearts don’t always occur because of a love lost. They can happen when no romance is involved at all. Your heart can be broken when someone hurts your pride, your integrity or your soul. And I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out which stings more. As my Grandmother would say “Six of this, half dozen of the other.” So to me, it’s a tie.
The world is a big place and there are lot’s of things to do and see. Art is all around us. There are many artists and many great minds with wisdom, class and experience to share with all of us. Here are but a few I came across today:
“Everyone can act. Everyone can improvise. Anyone who wishes to, can play in the theater… If the environment permits it, anyone can learn whatever he chooses to learn, and if the individual permits it, the environment will teach him everything it has to teach. … ‘Talent’ or ‘lack of talent’ have very little to do with it.” — Viola Spolin, Improvisation for the Theater
“Every interpersonal situation has a solution in which everyone wins.”—Del Close, ImprovOlympic Director and improv guru.
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”—Plato, a Greek guy from many years ago.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
—Pablo Picasso
“ You can be stupid and people will laugh at you, but after about ten minutes of that, I’ve had enough”—Keith Johnstone, Interview with Comedy Couch.
“While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die. Whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness.” —Gilda Radnor, It’s always something.
Cheers!
Filed by lauren at October 12th, 2008
Tags: heartbreak, improv in Calgary, quotes
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August 24, 2008
Disclaimer: The following is my rather boring account of the 5 weeks Lauren and I spent in Chicago this summer studying at the iO. I realize now that if I had posted regular blog posts, it would sound much more exciting and have many more details.
Fellow Kinkonaut Lauren Cochrane and I recently had the opportunity to complete the 5-week summer improv intensive offered by the famed iO Theatre in Chicago (formerly the ImprovOlympic). What follows is an attempt to briefly summarize what might have been the greatest five weeks ever! For anyone serious about studying improv, this intensive is a must as it condenses the entire iO curriculum and allows you to study with some of the greatest instructors in North America, if not the world.
Me in front of iO!
There were four separate sections of the intensive, which equates to roughly 60 students from all over the world relocating to Chicago for five weeks to take the course. Lauren and I were lucky enough to be placed into the same class, along with our housemate Erin. Upon arriving the first day we noticed a few things:
- Our class was very international; we had two Canadians (Lauren and I), four people from Brighton, England, one lady from Sydney, Australia, and a chap from South Africa (who now lives in Brighton). Out of the 15 students in our class, over 50% were not American.
- Our class was also very female-heavy; out of 15 students, nine were women.
We were also very lucky to have Alex Fendrich as our teacher for Level 1, which was titled “Philosophy of Longform”. Alex has performed with Second City Chicago and also plays in the Armando show (more formally known as The Armando Diaz Experience or The Armando Diaz Theatrical Experience and Hootenanny) and the group 3033 at iO, amongst many other cool things that I can’t remember (sorry Alex if you are reading this!).
Alex Fendrich and I
The first week with Alex really allowed us to get our feet wet and get to know our fellow classmates. Alex was also really good about giving Lauren and I some personal feedback at the end of the first week around things to think about and work on during the intensive.
Along with taking classes Monday to Thursday, 11 - 5, we also had the great opportunity to see all of the shows that the iO had to offer for free as students. We did have to buy tickets for some shows due to their extreme popularity - The Armando Show and TJ and Dave, I’m looking in your direction - but for the most part we saw shows seven nights a week for free, and boy did we take advantage of it. Monday night’s show is the Armando, which consists of one person in the cast playing “Armando” (based on Armando Diaz, founder of The Magnet Theatre in New York and creator of the form), who would give monologues based on audience suggestions, and the rest of the cast would do scenes based on ideas from those monologues. The Armando is really an all-star show of sorts with regular castmembers including Noah Gregoropoulos, TJ Jagodowski, Brett Lyons, Joe Bill, Jason Chin, Dina Facklis, Alex Fendrich, Shad Kunkle, Bill Arnett and many others.
Some of my other personal favourite shows included:
- The Frank Hayes 4, a very fast and loose show performed on Tuesday nights
- Cook County Social Club, same as above
- The Reckoning, a Harold team that performed two shows a week; one, an experimental show where they would try out new forms, and a regular Harold show. The Reckoning contained many of my favourite improvisers from my time in Chicago, including Pat O’Brien, Jet Eveleth (our week 4 instructor) and Brian Jack.
- Felt, an improvised puppet show
- 3033, a very fun group that performed on Wednesday nights and included Alex Fendrich and our week 2 teacher Bill Arnett in the cast
- Children of a Lesser God, a four-woman show that included Susan Messing and Rachel Mason
And of course,
- TJ and Dave. We were lucky enough to see three TJ and Dave shows as they had taken their summer hiatus shortly before the intensive started but came back to do three shows during our last three weeks of class.
Week 2 was entitled “Character, Environment and Group Work”, and the illustrious Bill Arnett was our instructor. I really related to Bill, as he is a very tactical improviser and I tend to swing that way as well. He was able to give me tips on how to play characters in a scene and not immediately fall into the straight man character on stage. He is also absolutely hilarious and a really great guy.
Bill Arnett and I
Week 3 we were taught by Shad Kunkle, a member of the iO Team Carl & the Passions, as well as a castmember in The Armando Show and the coach of The Reckoning. Week 3 focused on “Scenework” and each day we studied a particular aspect of a scene or a way to play a scene that would make it more successful, whether that be making everything important, playing it as real as possible, or building a strong environment. Shad gave us a lot of great tips and tricks to approaching a scene, a lot of which I know I will carry with me throughout my improv career.
Within the first few weeks, we really got to know the members of our class really well. In Week 2 we had “The Brits” (Rebecca, Heather, George, Katy and Jason) over to the loft we were subletting for a massive dinner and trapeze lessons. I may not have mentioned the fact that the apartment we were subletting was a giant 2600 sq ft loft owned by a couple who ran an improv clown company. The loft had a room with a trapeze hanging from the ceiling!
Flying high on the trapeze!
The dinner party was a great success, and after more than a few drinks we were playing musical improv games accompanied by George on the piano.
The night after the dinner party, The Brits had a full-blown party at their beautiful flat down the road from the theatre.
Katy, George, Allison and Jason
Damian, Heather and I on the rooftop
George, Allison, Mandy, Micah and Jason
Week 4 focused on The Harold, and we were taught by Jet Eveleth from The Reckoning. Jet was very different from the previous teachers we had had, but I really enjoyed her approach and like Shad there were many things I was able to take away that I will utilize in the future. The other difference in week 4 was that all of the sections were switched around to different rooms and we got to play on the Cabaret stage of the theatre. Although we loved the classroom we were in, it was a nice change of pace to play on one of the real stages.
Immediately after week 4, Lauren and I flew to New York City to perform in the Del Close Marathon put on by the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. We performed at 9 pm the first night of the marathon to a crowd of about 60 people at the Hudson Guild Theatre down the street from the main UCB stage. The show went quite well, given the fact that we had both been frying our brains on improv for the past four weeks, and I think some of the tactics we had been learning, especially things like environment, really snuck into our scenework. From there we proceeded to watch approximately one million hours of improv, the highlights of which were seeing Paul Scheer and Jack McBrayer perform their two-person show, seeing our friends Big in Japan from Toronto, as well (for me) the “Match Game 76″ show at 2:30 am on Sunday morning which featured none other than Brooke Shields! I also met (and got my picture taken with) Jack McBrayer, Ed Helms and Rob Huebel.
With Jack McBrayer after his show
With Ed Helms in the dirty depths of the UCB Theatre
Human Giant's Rob Huebel along with myself and the lovely Sarah Hillier
Unfortunately, our flight back to Chicago was cancelled on Sunday night, so Lauren and I had to stay in New York an extra night. What made matters worse is that when we finally got on a standby flight the next morning, we spend four hours sitting on the runway waiting for storms to pass so we could take off. By the time we got back to Chicago it was 4 pm and we had missed an entire day of class.
Luckily, our Week 5 teacher was Jason Chin, and he was more than understanding of our predicament. Jason has been improvising in Chicago for over 12 years and used to be the Training Center Director for iO. He performs as a castmember of The Armando and also directs the hilarious news show Whirled News Tonight. We were extra lucky to have Jason for our final week as the focus was “Performance” and culminated in a Friday night show in the Del Close Theatre with all of the intensive classes.
With Jason Chin. Notice the Kinkonauts t-shirt!
Week 5 was a tough week and our entire class was a little apprehensive about the performance we would be giving on Friday. The type of show we decided on was really what could be called a “formless form” which utilized aspects of Harold but was really open to as much interpretation as we wanted to give it.
However, it seems a lot of our apprehension was unfounded, as our show was spectacular and we were even able to find an overlying theme (”Sacrifice”) which really helped to pull everything together. Once I get a hold of some of the pics my friend Adrianne took of our performance, I’ll post them here.
Medal Ceremony for one of the events. Austranada won! (Australia + Canada = Austranada)
Friday ended with a class party at the Brits’ loft which turned into an international Olympic competition complete with torch ceremony and country-specific events.
After a rather lazy Saturday and some farewell drinks with some good friends, I headed back to Calgary on August 17 to get back to real life. Lauren will be back in town around the first of September at which point we will reunite with The Kinkonauts and resume our plans to take over the world (or at least Western Canada) using the tenets of improv.
Filed by mandy at August 24th, 2008
Tags: Chicago, fun times, reflection
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