Taking a Week

We normally take off Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend to give our actors some well-deserved time off. This year, because of an impending baby, we're taking the following week off. An entire week. Nothing at all happening in the theater - no classes, no rehearsals and no performances. In many ways I hate to take this time off, since some people now come to the theater as part of their weekly routine, and disrupting people's routine is never something you should do lightly. On the other hand, sometimes a little time off can re-energize people - actors and audiences alike. After a week without an Imp fix, maybe they'll be super ready to return. Come on back June 1 for class, and June 6 for shows. We'll be rested and ready to entertain again!

Watching the carnage

A tradition we've recently started after our weekly Thursday rehearsal is to sit down and watch one of our past shows. This is a great exercise, because lots of times we are really entertained. Other times, like last night, when we see a show that we consider to be a little more "average," are more analytical, and pick apart our performance.

This way, we hopefully improve our overall quality. We haven't done a bad show in a good long time, but if we can reduce the number of average shows, we'll be closer to comedy rock-star-ness. That's the ultimate goal!

Dictionary Soup is Awesome

This past weekend saw another great foursome of shows - Biblioclast, Dictionary Soup, and a double shot of Full Frontal Comedy. All four entertained, but specifically, I am really excited about the Dictionary Soup show. Keith and I have been striving for a high level of realism, listening, and fun. I think we reached our highest level yet this past weekend, as Keith played Greg, a 26-year-old vacationer on the island of Fiji, and I played the 52-year-old woman that drew him out of his shell as well as his abusive father in several flashbacks... the man who put him in the shell in the first place.

Was it a wild, laugh-a-minute riot? No... but our goal is to do a show with "TJ & Dave" type quality, and this time, we did it.

Full Frontal

Tonight is my second and final rehearsal with Full Frontal Comedy, leading up to our shows this weekend at the Imp. The last time I had a show with FFC, it was January 2006, my wife was 8.75 months pregnant, and I ended up not that pleased with my performance.

Since then, I've had training in Chicago, about 300 shows with various groups, and life experience full enough to further gray my hair. Rehearsals with FFC this time around are much calmer for me, and I feel like this weekend, when my wife is once again 8.75 months pregnant, I will enjoy my performance much much more. I think you will too. Why not come find out?

Giggity

Nifer, Jeremy and I went out to the K-State Extension office for a little pre-ceremony entertainment last night before their "Walk Kansas" wrap-up party. It was great to get out of the theater and perform for people that don't normally see improv.

Since the theme of the night was fitness and exercise, we did a lot of games that involve a lot of heavy physicality and movement. That meant I ended up sweating a lot. We climbed the Eiffel Tower in SportsCenter, had a marriage proposal in Moving Bodies, and had a bull riding Hoedown. Good times!

New Structure- Games

I am completely excited about the new rehearsal structure when it comes to the RI Spectacular group! In the past... well I don't know how long... we don't really PRACTICE the games, we have just made sure everyone knows how to play them. With this new structure, We will have the time to actually practice and workshop games! I am SO happy about this. In the past, on occasion our games are stellar, but more often they have been just okay, and I think that the Roving Imps are capable of SO MUCH MORE!
I watched a show last night that played a game we play with a different spin. Tantrum made 'Let's make a Date' a game about character work and not about guessing. It was very fun and extremely entertaining to watch. By getting suggestions from the audience for the character quirks and naming them with the (formerly)'guesser' right there, it changes the tone and makes the game really more about which bachelor the contestant wants to date. By making the contestant an audience member, it eliminated the possibility of pre-planning or getting too-stale questions.
Yay improv!

Does this theater make my butt look big?

There are many options for sugaring it up at the Roving Imp Theater, and if you happen to belong to a class or troupe group this is especially true. Every week there is a veritable wonderland of snacky options available behind the counter at the concession booth, for audience and troupe members alike. If you're real, real lucky, like last night, Nifer or Carl will have been bitten by the domestic provision bug and there will be cookies, brownies or cake. Sometimes there are store bought treats around as well, such as Julie's 'Teacher Appreciation Week Cupcakes' from last night. Srawberry with frosting and plastic puppy embellishments. Mmm..... Speaking of which, last night after rehearsal, many of us found ourselves sticking around to watch a couple of shows from weeks past. We do this so we can find out what went wrong, what went right, and how to improve upon our performance. First comment made? "Wow.....I look so fat!" Coincidence? You decide! The commentor was me, in case you were wondering. The good news is that improv is also an incredible workout routine. Perhaps it's time to kick it up a notch. Ker-pow!!!

Thursday Prime

It's our last Thursday Prime show tonight... we're transferring to a different rehearsal system that takes up Thursdays, so the Thursday Prime shows are going by the wayside, which is OK. They've done an adequate job of introducing a small number of people to the work we do. TPrime has brought a couple dedicated audience members over the past eight months, and they are audience members that bring folks with them to weekend shows.

Will there be other weekday free shows in the future? Almost certainly... but for now, let's get those weekend shows sold out!

Stop by tonight at 7:30 to help say adieu!

New Imps

2009 so far has seen a lot of great Imps added to our lineup:

Denton Turley, January, who has become a staple of many of our ensembles
David Rushing, February, who continues to take classes while performing in Improv Survivor
Vlad Kaufman, April, who is bringing a new perspective to Roving Imp Spectacular
Ben Brest, who was first cast a year ago, and is now in the process of making a comeback. Watch for him soon.
Chante Keller, who just accepted her post officially last night after taking classes for several months
Jen Roser - an improv veteran who will be joining the group "One" in July.

More to come...

Can't wait for Saturday!

Jeremy and I had our first runthrough of TrivProv last night, and it's everything I'd hoped it would be. You know how relationships with different boyfriends or girlfriends are completely different from one another, but are still wonderful and amazing? TrivProv so far seems to be the same way. Each show or rehearsal we do is wonderful in a completely different way. Although TrivProv will be structurally the same, and involve half of the same people, it will have a different feel and a different dynamic... but will still be mind-blowing. I can't wait for the show on Saturday at 9pm.

See James... some people can move on gracefully.