Archive for December, 2006
Reuben Williams, the hilarious UCB NY house team, announced yesterday the addition of Charlie Sanders to their group lineup. Charlie has been a mainstay in the theater’s Harold team 1985, as well as various other projects such as You Are Welcome for What You Are About To See, Buffoons, CC+C Improv Factory, and I Love the 30’s to name a few. The addition strengthens Reuben Williams’ already invincibly strong lineup.
At this point, I would say that Reuben Williams has an almost impenetrable shot at the Cage-Match championship here in New York. Chicago beware. Charlie might look like a sweet guy, but behind that kind exterior is a comedy assassin.
Original Swarm team: Billy Merritt, Andrew Daly, Andy Secunda, Sean Conroy, Katie Roberts, Dave Blumenfeld, Michael Delaney
The Swarm Returns for One Night at UCB NY! The legendary Upright Citizen’s Brigade improvisational team comes back for a night of sidesplitting improv this Thursday. If you are a serious improviser, which I know you are, this is an important event. Reserve toady!
(They have a website… but it hasn’t been updated since 2004.)
Review on it’s way!
Charlie Todd, Chris Kula, Joe Wengert, Eric Scott, Anthony King of Reuben Williams.
Just a reminder tonight at 11 is the next round of Cage-Match. Tonight it’s Shit Storm vs. The Office.
So far the compition has been fierce:
- Project Improviser vs.
Mailer-Deamon
Rogue Elephant vs. Ruben Williams
Normally I wouldn’t be spotlighting to a class show on Improvoker. Class shows are usually a great place to watch students perfecting their craft, but are sometimes a little difficult to watch… but this isn’t an ordinary class show. This is the final performance of a 600 level class taught by instructor Christina Gausas.
Christina is first generation Del. She studied with Del Close, Charna Halpern, Mick Napier in Chicago, taught at IO Chicago, and is now teaching at UCB New York. Her current 600 level class, which is an advanced class, is performing two long form improvisational styles called JTS Brown and Cat’s Cradle. These two forms are by far the most interesting structures of improv I have ever seen. They border on the side of experimental theater, weaving abstract scenework into the long form structure.
Each form is very different from one another. JTS Brown begins with an improviser becoming a character and supporting improvisers becoming that character through a tag out like replacement. Cats cradle is an amorphous set of scenes, which morph from one scene to another through a series of almost dance-like montages.
I heavily recommend checking out this show if you are interested in seeing how improvisational forms can be used to create more complex performances. The ideas inherent in these structures beg the question, “what is possible in an improv performance?”
Del Close thought that improv should be more than just a quick joke. These forms really spotlight that improv can be more.
Reserve your tickets today!
Although the updates to the site’s main content have been limited in recent weeks, let me assure you that we are hard at work developing content for the website. We have been seeing more shows than is humanly possible, taking more improv and sketch classes than is recommended, and have been practicing in the fragments of time in between.
Things to look forward to in the coming month:
- More swell daily news updates
- More calendar updates
- Articles galore
- Interviews with performing improvisers, comedians, and writers
- New improvoker.com authors to bring more perspective to the improv community
- New and improved site design (we’ve been listening to your comments)
- Presents from your family… well this isn’t really from us, but we thought we needed one more bullet item
Thanks for reading improvoker.com ~ we heart you. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving… I’ll dispense with the obligatory tryptophan reference as we have already recieved 9 bazillion e-mails with tryptophan references in them.
If you sent us an e-mail with a tryptophan reference, we thought your was hilarious. Really. I’m not just saying that.