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<p>Entries in Improv (73)</p>
<p>Wednesday Jan 26 2011  Interpreting Feedback</p>
<p>Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 3:07PM  So I just finished a level 2 improv class this past Sunday--I felt pretty good about it! Really rode some serious synergy waves that night. After the graduation show, my instructor pulled everybody aside for some one-on-one notes. He said I should try more zany characters and do stuff that puts me outside of my head. Great advice! (Where are my compliments?) And then with a curious tone, he said, "You know Nate... you're actually kind of funny." Then he looked down at his notepad, lingered on the words for a moment, then burst into laughter. The laughter continued for several seconds.</p>

<p>How would you interpret this feedback??</p>

<p>The Apiary | 3 Comments in Improv Monday Jan 10 2011  IMPROV TO GET EXCITED ABOUT - IMPROVISED SHAKESPEARE</p>
<p>Monday, January 10, 2011 at 2:54PM  Improvised Shakespeare at The Del Close Marathon | Photo: Ari Scott</p>

<p>The trick about a long-form improv show is that you can never truly promise if it's going to be any good. Especially if you're bringing someone who's never seen it before. But then there's Improvised Shakespeare, the longstanding iO ensemble and darlings of the Del Close Marathon, who fit right up there in the pantheon of Long-Form Greats like Baby Wants Candy and TJ & Dave. What's more is that watching an Improvised Shakespeare show also qualifies as a cultural event, as you are at once reminded of all those years in high school and college years when you read Cliffs Notes about Shakespeare -- or whatever online resource is best for that these days.</p>

<p>* THE PLUG: Improvised Shakespeare performs TONIGHT and TUESDAY @ 8PM at THEATRE 80 (80 St. Marks / 8th Street @ 1st Ave) | Tickets SOLD OUT</p>

<p>keithhuang | Post a Comment | 1 Reference tagged Improvised Shakespeare in Improv Thursday Dec 02 2010  IMPROV TO GET EXCITED ABOUT - LAURA KRAFFT, JODI LENNON & MIRIAM TOLAN</p>
<p>Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 9:00AM Laura Krafft at The Del Close Marathon | Photo: Sharilyn Johnson</p>

<p>Fridays in December just got more awesome. Grand masters of improv and longtime lady pals Laura Krafft (The Colbert Report), Jodi Lennon (Exit 57) and Miriam Tolan (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), take the Magnet stage in "What a Year! An Improvised Play." I asked Jodi Lennon for the important deets:</p>

<p>> "What a Year!" will be 30 minutes of improvisation. For a limited time, the three of us are in the same place at the same time. So we're thankful to get the 7PM Friday slots because they work with our crazy schedules.</p>

<p>If you're not familiar with Krafft, Lennon and Tolan, Lennon says:</p>

<p>> We were all in Chicago studying and performing improv in the '90s. I called the Annoyance Theater my home and performed with improv Olympic and at Second City. Laura and Miriam were both at Second City and iO, as well.</p>
<p>I met Miriam at Second City in Chicago and met Laura in Los Angeles. We had a lot of friends in common. I performed with Laura a bit in L.A. at an iO West show she hosted. I was hooked. I also did "Let's Have a Ball" with Laura at the UCBT-NY. Laura is super duper funny and smart.</p>
<p>Miriam and I saw each other around here in New York; we would do A.S.S.S.S.S.C.A.T. together occasionally or Conan bits. Miriam is also crazy funny and a smarty pants -- she kills me. And her accent is AMAZING. Miriam and I did a short run of a show called the Goofaround Gang at the UCB (me, Miriam, Brian McCann, Kevin Dorff and Jon Glaser). It was goofy improvisation.</p>
<p>* THE PLUG: Don't miss "What a Year! An Improvised Play," happening FRIDAYS @ 7PM at The Magnet Theater. And be sure to try out the Magnet's (relatively) new online reservation system -- it's the dog's bollocks! -- K.H.</p>

<p>keithhuang | Post a Comment | 4 References tagged Jodi Lennon , Laura Krafft , Miriam Tolan , The Magnet Theater in Improv Wednesday Dec 01 2010  What's Ripping a Hole Through My Monthly Budget This Time?</p>
<p>Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 2:47PM In exchange for ALL OF YOUR BANKING ACCOUNT NUMBERS,Mint.comgives you handy real-time "Where the heck did my paycheck go??" alerts as well as some pretty charts that show you exactly what is plunging you deeper into financial disarray. Here's the budgetary warning I got today:</p>

<p>Is your improv class spending wildly out of control too? How does one close this budget gap??</p>

<p>The Apiary | Post a Comment | 2 References tagged improv classes , mint.com in Improv Thursday Nov 18 2010  IMPROV TO GET EXCITED ABOUT</p>
<p>Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 9:00AM  Prof. Londonderry Kirkus & The Hogwarts Improvisation Society | Photo: Sarah Willson</p>

<p>LISTEN UP, MUGGLES! Satisfy both your inner-Harry Potter fiend and long-form improv fix this weekend at The UCBT-NY. Starting on Friday night at midnight, The Kirk Cameron Repertory Players Present: A Harry Potter Musical! will show you the seedy underbelly of J.K. Rowlings's Satanic empire. Fun fact: "J.K. Rowling" is an anagram for "WITCHCRAFT IS EVIL, JESUS IS GOOD." Then on Saturday night at midnight, The Hogwarts Improvisation Society will wave their wands to create scenes and scenarios out of thin air. Rictusempra, Sonorus!</p>

<p>* RELATED: Kirk Cameron Players tumblr</p>

<p>keithhuang | Post a Comment tagged Harry Potter , Magnet Theater , UCBT-NY in Improv Monday Sep 27 2010  SWORDS WINS SKETCHPROV 2010</p>
<p>Monday, September 27, 2010 at 3:17PM  Photo: Keith Huang</p>

<p>DOUBLE WIN! Improv duo Swords (Bradford Jordan and Lucas Kavner) held tightly to their SketchProv crowns, topping Inside Joke Films (Jon Braylock and Ramy Youssef) to win SketchProv 2010. But pay attention to the boys of Inside Joke Films. They made an earnest attempt, but given how young these performers are, the horizon could not be more wide open. Nevertheless, after watching three 12-minute sets of improv and sketch comedy, the judges (casting agent Jodi Collins, comedian Tom Shillue and Maureen Taran, vicepresident of original programing for Epix) went with last year's favorites. Read The PIT's write-up of the event.</p>

<p>keithhuang | 1 Comment | 4 References tagged SketchProv , Swords , The PIT in Improv , Sketch Friday Sep 17 2010  FOURTH-ANNUAL SKETCHPROV KICKS OFF ON SUNDAY</p>
<p>Friday, September 17, 2010 at 10:00AM</p>

<p>The PIT's 4th annual SketchProv tournament kicks off this Sunday at 5PM. Sketch and improv teams will vie not only for a $2,500 prize purse, but also a considerable boost to their comedy careers.</p>

<p>Lucas Kavner, one half of last year's winner Swords, said: "We got a few meetings with casting people after the tournament, but more importantly, Swords was just starting out as a group at the time and it really inspired us to keep going." He added: "The final round proved to be really amazing for us -- having 10 minutes to come up with a basic structure based on one idea and then improvising around it. That was some of the most fun I had on stage last year."</p>

<p>> What is SketchProv?</p>
<p>Improv teams and sketch teams will compete in rounds of competition that will challenge them at the craft they know best. For groups that make it past round one, improv teams will do improv AND sketch, sketch teams will do sketch AND improv. Teams that advance to the finals will try their hand at SketchProv, using the Second City routine called "The Pad."</p>

<p>Here's a quick guide to some of the hot tournament match-ups next week (full disclosure: I will be competing in this tournament with improv team Borealis):</p>

<p>SUN, SEPT 19 @ 5PM (prelim sketch round)</p>
<p>Audience of Two vs. Peoples Sketch Association: The 2008 SketchProv winners Ao2 take on Peoples Sketch Association. Two years later, and Ao2 are still reaping tournament success, having recently performed at the Out of Bounds Festival in Austin, Texas, and soon heading westwardly for Seattle SketchFest. But expect PSA to trot out some smart, edgy comedy; last year they did this restaurant scene that had a fishbowl drink and Mexican sombreros. Then a remote-control car did a walk-on. It was tits.</p>

<p>SUN, SEPT 19 @ 8PM (prelim improv round)</p>
<p>Jen+Steve vs. We're Matt Weir: These two improv duos from The PIT and Magnet theaters, respectively, are sure to bring their A-games. Jen+Steve have home-court advantage, but We're Matt Weir have identical-name advantage. Which is pretty g.d. incredible.</p>

<p>MON, SEPT 20 @ 10PM (prelim improv round)</p>
<p>Doppelganger vs. Dave & Ethan: Improv talk-of-the-town Doppelganger have this magical thing they do in scenes where one player will hang a sharp turn and the other two will just lean into that shit so hard they Tokyo Drift -- it's sick. Meanwhile, Dave & Ethan share their own special dynamic that sometimes results in Dave making out with Kiwi fruit. But expect these guys to dig deep for the truth in their scenes; I fear someday they'll get trapped like those Pennsylvania coal miners. Only it'll be an awesome tragedy.</p>

<p>--SketchProv runs all week at The Peoples Improv Theater from SUN, SEPT 19, to SAT, SEPT 25. Buy advance tickets for the final round here or a festival pass here.</p>

<p>keithhuang | Post a Comment | 1 Reference tagged Improv , SketchProv , The PIT , sketch in Improv , Sketch Friday Jul 30 2010  Coming This Winter: The PIT Moves to Murray Hill, UCB East Opens Its Doors</p>
<p>Friday, July 30, 2010 at 5:29PM</p>

<p>The PIT sent out a surprise announcement via Twitter today:</p>

<p>> @ThePIT acquires new theater complex! 10k sq ft, 99+ seat theater, full bar/coffee shop, rehearsal spaces and offices! Follow The Fear!</p>

<p>Where's it gonna be? Sources close to The PIT tell me the theater's new digs will be in Murray Hill - 24th Street between Park and Lexington and they're prepping to open in December 2010. Stuff that in your curry hole.</p>

<p>Hot on the heels of that news, at the UCB Theater's annual press conference to kick off the DCM, 3 of the UCB 4 were on stage taking questions. They revealed the name of their new space--UCB East--a 150 seat theater opening its doors in early 2011 at 3rd and Avenue A. The collective's current location (UCB West?) will continue to operate as its mainstage for improv, ASSSSCAT is staying put. They said, "[UCB East is] going to have all different kinds of comedy. The same way this will be heavily improv, that will be heavily standup. You will be able to do things that you can't do in a club in the Midwest." Eat it, stupid Midwest clubs! Something else to potentially get excited about: UCB East will have A Hot Chick's Room.</p>

<p>Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts and Matt Besser at the DCM press conference | Photo: Paul Gale</p>

<p>The Apiary | Post a Comment | 8 References tagged The PIT , UCB East , changes in Improv , Venues Page 1 2 3 4 5 ... 10 Next 8 Entries » Copyright © 2011, [theapiary.org]. All rights reserved.</p>