Performers

A Mile High Achievement! A Review of The Denver Improv Festival

Posted by Nick Armstrong on October 22, 2013

1086732_1383861295183501_1580790716_nDenver is named The Mile High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile or 5,280 feet (1,609.3 m) above sea level. And living a mile above sea level is a growing improv scene and bringing them together is The Denver Improv Festival run by the non-profit organization Group Mind Foundation. The Festival took place over one weekend in three venues The Voodoo Comedy Playhouse, Impulse Theater with workshops held at The Bovine Metropolis. The Festival Headliners were Convoy out of UCBLA, Switch Committee hailing from Chicago and MegaPowers from Los Angeles. The festival was pretty much sold out the entire time with audiences of 150 or more. It was a great and welcoming audience too! Each night ended with a party too for the public and improvisors. The one night found improvisors belting out Karaoke tunes at the Voodoo which was amazing.

One of the biggest differences I saw this year was DIF getting more sponsors. This was a goal of theirs and they made good. You never know how until you ask. And it seemed this year they were hugely successful getting donations monetarily and product-wise. Improv is a growing art in any community and festivals often times bring attention to the art form. It’s great to see that the Denver business community came together to help DIF happen this year. Also as a side note in the “Only in Denver” category a dispensary was also a sponsor. Ah Denver!

20-1up-arcade-bar-denverBeyond the parties DIF offered improvisors many great perks: Great hotel deals in an expensive hotel city, free beers and drink specials for performers and a pretty hefty gift bag filled with munchies. They really made improvisors feel welcomed. And one of the outside highlights of the festival is my annual trip to 1Up Barcade. It’s an arcade bar that houses games like Ninja Turtles four player edition, Track and Field and The Simpsons. A great place to bond with your fellow improvisors.

 

So if you enjoy community, a fun city with a great barcade and a welcoming group of improvisors I highly recommend you check out the ever growing Denver Improv Festival. Good time, great city!

Nick Armstrong

Nick is the Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for grown ups held in California and Pennsylvania every year. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network. We are always looking for better ways to serve the community. Drop us a line and let us know what you want!

 

 

Spotlight On: The 13th Annual Phoenix Improv Festival

Posted by Nick Armstrong on October 17, 2013

I met Bill Binder in an iO West Class over 10 years ago. He would drive from Arizona to LA to take his class each week and then drive back home the same night. He finished classes at iO and went back to Phoenix to help created the Phoenix Improv Festival and The Torch Theater.

My first ever improv festival was PIF in 2004. Among the improvisors there were such improv vets as Craig Cackowski and Jack McBrayer. I had no idea what an improv festival was or what it was even all about. But I have to say I was the luckiest improvisor alive to experience PIF. It really was a game changer for me as an improvisor and improv in general. It paved the way for a lot of things including NIN. Celebrating their 13th year as a festival I interviewed Executive Producer of PIF and Co-Founder of NIN Bill Binder about the upcoming festival:

You’re celebrating 13 years of the Phoenix Improv Festival. How does that feel and what are your goals this year?

Reflective. We have such a huge wonderful community, but some of us have been here since PIF 1. It’s interesting to see how the community and we, as people, have grown and changed in the past decade. We’ve learned so much and we’re always excited to have new people and ideas help it grow even more.

Logistically we have many internal goals that are related to growth. The last two years we played it a little safer than we had in the past because there were so many things going on in Phoenix. Dearing Studio and The Torch opened, NCT and Theater 168 both expanded. Weddings, babies. So much. But this year we can put a lot of our focus back on the festival growing again. We want to push our comfort levels a little. We’re right on the cusp of becoming a much bigger cultural event here.

Our other big goal is becoming another hub for communications between improvisors. Our first festival was designed solely to get the theatres in our town together to learn from each other. We’re really at a point where we can be doing that on a national level. If we’re all in one place, why not use that time to share ideas as theatre owners and festival organizers outside of just having shows?

What can improvisors expect at your festival outside of performances? Workshops? Conferences?

We’ll have a few workshops for sure this year. We haven’t nailed down exactly who yet. We will be bringing back the unconference this year after it’s success last year. Every festival has great discussions during after parties, but we’ve moved them into the daytime as well. Saturday afternoon will be set aside for organized discussions in the hotel on coaching, marketing, improv theory, you name it. Last year, the breakout panel was a discussion on gender issues in improv across the country. We’re really excited to be host to these conversations so that we can all grow.

We’ll also be having a photo shoot and probably a few other things to announce. Oh, and the after parties will be pretty great this year.

Talk about your venue? Where does PIF take place?

We love playing in The Herberger Theater Center. I honestly believe it’s the most beautiful venue in our state. We all love our respective theatres in town, but it’s nice once a year to dress up nicer and present our art to an audience that might not think to see improv otherwise.

What’s there to do in Phoenix?

It depends what you’re looking to do. Our venue is about 1/4 of a mile from Chase Field where the AZ Diamondbacks play. We’re also just south of The Phoenix Art Museum, Opera House and The Deck Park. There are plenty of good places to eat around Phoenix too. Visitors almost always love Lo-Lo’s Chicken and Waffles and some folks want to go visit Pizzeria Bianco ever since Oprah named it The Best Pizza in America. (If you want to avoid the four hour wait, ask a local for the secret to get in fast). We are also in old-west territory, so we have plenty of mountains and deserts nearby for hiking and views. Of course, past festivals have shown that plenty of people just love hanging out at the pool or playing basketball at the hotel. (Did I mention we put all of our performers and instructors up in a hotel a block from the venue?)

What makes PIF different then any other festival?

Wow. That’s a great question. I think the big difference I see between PIF and other festivals which I love is that most festivals are really connected with the passionate people at a particular theatre in town. Phoenix takes more of a Green Bay Packers approach. I don’t think the people of Phoenix associate the festival with any particular group or theatre. It’s part of the cultural landscape of the city. People get excited talking about it eight months before it happens because they know it will be a celebration for everybody. As much as we use the festival to promote improv all over the city year round, people know the festival as part of this city’s traditions and they come out to see great art. We take that responsibility to heart to show them great art and that means treating our visitors like the artists they are. I know – as a traveling performer – that sometimes you feel a bit like a vagabond, but here you’re an artist. And I think that respect leads to great shows and great times. We still use one venue because if we invite you to come play, we want to see you. and we want other troupes to see you too. I was honored by the quote from Dave Hill in our local paper last year.

There are a couple of festivals that have been around for a while that have become a little more corporate, a little long in the tooth. And that’s why the PIF is so unique. It’s grown, but it feels like both a grass-roots and a big-time experience.

Submissions for The Phoenix Improv Festival are now open and you can instantly submit on NIN today! Submit HERE.

Nick Armstrong

Nick is also the Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for grown ups. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network. We are always looking for better ways to serve the community. Drop us a line and let us know what you want!

Embrace Your Community

Posted by Nick Armstrong on October 15, 2013

One of the biggest pieces of advice we can give about starting an improv theatre in a small town is you have to love your city. That may sound pretty simple or naïve, but stick with us here. What we mean is, you need to embrace everything about your town for good or bad. We live in a small rural town in Southern Utah called Cedar City. At first glance it might not seem like the kind of place an improv theatre would do well in. It’s the kind of town where nothing is open on Sunday or after 10pm on the weekdays. However, it’s home to a University and has a small but thriving arts community. We used all this to our advantage. We took all the negatives and turned them into positives. For example, one of the biggest negatives about our small town is the fact that choices are limited. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard people say, “there’s nothing to do in Cedar City.” The advantage this gave us is we created something to do that quickly became a staple of entertainment, especially for the University students. Now when we hear someone say there’s nothing to do, we say, “have you ever seen Off the Cuff?” Another negative of our small town is they tend to fear change. This is where patience paid off big time for us. While the University students were quick to welcome us the town itself was a little reluctant. We realized that this feeling all came from a fierce loyalty to Cedar and we needed to prove ourselves. We accomplished this in two ways. We stuck around and continued to grow and we got involved in our community. Getting involved was huge. We do workshops with the local high schools, we volunteer at city events, we participate in the parades, and we get our name out there. It took a while, but we’ve been able to form connections and friendships that have helped us out more than we say. The more involved in your community you can be and the more you support local businesses the more they will, in turn, support you.

Go outside your town and network.

The great advantage to living when we do is how easily we can access information. It’s so easy to see amazing improv and find a lot of great information on the web that can help you stay current and fresh with your improv and always keep you moving forward. Off the Cuff has benefited so much from taking opportunities like the National Improv Network and Camp Improv Utopia. As a small community these types of things allow us to get connected and make our community better. Nick’s post about a rising tide raises all ships is very true for us. The more the word about improv gets out and the success of improvisors gets more mainstream smaller communities will grow and larger communities will prosper.  This is a huge. It’s really easy for your troupe to fall into patterns that limit growth, especially when the only improv you see is each other. OTC makes it a point to go outside our community as much as we can. We love to travel to festivals and theatres to see other shows so we can broaden our horizon. This is crucial, it’s so easy to get stuck in a rut and become complacent when you’re the only gig in town. In order for you to remain current you need to see what else is out there, take every opportunity to go to a festival, watch shows in person, meet other improvisers, take workshops so you can bring back to your theatre the best information out there. Through this you’ll also meet the most incredibly talented and giving people in the world who are so eager to help you in anyway they can. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and take advantage of the knowledge of those who have been through professional training and love improv as much as you do, they are so happy and willing to help. Off the Cuff would not be where it is today if it wasn’t for some amazing people that have helped us in so many ways and those people accepting us with open arms into their communities thus making our community bigger and better.

Strive to be better and be proud of who you are.

As a small community, NEVER become complacent. You have to drive yourself to want to improve and practice. Just because you might be the only improv group and the area doesn’t mean you are the best. Keep your ego in check, which sometimes in a smaller community might be harder because the audience only sees you perform and doesn’t have all the options a larger community might have. At the same time, don’t let your ego tell you the opposite that your group doesn’t know what they are doing and improv in larger communities is better just because it’s from a bigger city. Be proud of your work. There is a term called “farm-prov” thrown around in larger communities that refers to improv groups from smaller communities. “Oh great, here’s another farm-prov group from nowhere.” Embrace that term! WE ARE FARM-PROV! Watch us take that suggestion, help it grow into characters, relationships, themes and scenework and harvest the laughter! (By the way does anyone want to go to festivals as a group called farm-prov and dress up like hillbillies and totally kill a show with us?) Small communities rock! That being said, we are all part of a larger community and the more we as improvisors, theatres, festivals, friend’s, and foes embrace this it’ll do nothing but grow.

Make goals that are realistic and be ready to go beyond them.

We always have a clear vision of what we want to accomplish and what we think we can accomplish. We budget our money wisely and think business decisions through thoroughly. When we set goals for OTC we make two lists: what we want to accomplish and what we know we can accomplish. Both remain on the table at all times. We first try to accomplish the goals we know we can. We make it a point to not put the cart before the horse. That being said, in a small town you have to create opportunity for yourself and this requires doing some things before you’re ready. If we tried to accomplish only what we thought we could, we would never be as far as we are now. For example, when we decided we wanted to host a festival, we had no idea what we were doing. We didn’t live in a big town where there are already improv festivals or even festivals close by. We had never run a festival before and had only participated in one. We asked for advice from people we knew who went to festivals often and we went for it. We had no clue how to accomplish that goal but had we waited until we were ready, there wouldn’t be a Red Rocks Improv Festival at all. We always think ahead to next year, we never close ourselves off to the option of changing the festival, and this mentality has helped us improve. Each year our festival gets bigger and we learn more about what we can do to make it the best it can be. We remain flexible and ready to change but always have a vision and a concrete idea. Remember that there are amazing opportunities out there. You might have to look a little harder for them and work a little harder to make them happen but it’ll pay off.  In a small town where improv is not established, you’re going to be the first to do a lot of the things. Being the first at anything requires a huge leap that takes quite a bit of courage and faith. You have to take the leap and learn how to fall as you’re falling. Creating an amazing strong improv community in a small town is a lot like doing improv, first you say yes then you figure it out as you go.

Guest Bloggers: TJ and Wendy Penrod

Tj and Wendy are the Founders and Artistic Directors of Off The Cuff Improvisation in Cedar City, Utah. In January of 2014 they will be celebrating 10 years as a company and this year marked their 4th Annual Red Rocks Improv Festival which has attracted troupes from all over the country to their small town.

header

A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships

Posted by Nick Armstrong on October 8, 2013

a_rising_tide_lifts_all_boats

When we started the idea of the National Improv Network one of our goals was to help all improv theaters grow and succeed. As it is improv is not really widely known to the general public. To the improvisor shaking his or her head right now, you know your Mom thinks you still do stand-up. It’s true, we know what it is because we live, breath and sleep improv. But if you go do interviews on the street asking what they think improv is, I can guarantee their either going to say Stand-up or Whose Line is it Anyway.

Our philosophy is this, A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships. This means that working together for the common good of our art will only make each company grow and succeed. That since the general public isn’t aware of improv, working together to bring awareness, such as putting on an improv festival or going out together in your community is a great way to bring awareness, thus bringing more audience to all theaters. You’d think with a community that is so embedded in the yes and club it would be the way all over the place. It’s not. In my travels I’ve heard  and witnessed some communities that have drawn battle lines, poach players from each other, have non-compete clauses, where players can only play at their theatre and it makes me frown. If you only understood that following the improv philosophy of yes and is the way you should be conducting your business. We are not a corporate entity we are a community of people. I get that some companies are considered corporate improv, but we can’t treat it as you would like running a Walmart.

A perfect example is Los Angeles. There started out being only 2 improv theaters when I first moved out there, now there is probably 7 to 10. Could be more, they’re popping up everyday. Having all these improv theaters in town has only grown improv and brought more awareness to the general public. When I started at iO West in 2001, we only had one theater to perform in and maybe our friends came to watch. Fast forward to 2013 and we perform in front of sold out crowds and there are three theaters running at iO West and UCBLA always has a line out the door. There’s enough to go around if you create the awareness.

This may not apply to you, I honestly think it’s a small percentage of communities, but still if we all work together, if we are all the tide that makes all our ships rise the world will have to know who we are and what we do. After all aren’t you tired of your Mom asking you how your stand up is going…No Mom I do improv!

Nick Armstrong

Nick is the Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for grown ups. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network. We are always looking for better ways to serve the community. Drop us a line and let us know what you want!

Improvaganza Ohana

Posted by Bill Binder on October 3, 2013
Kumu Kahua Theatre

Kumu Kahua Theatre

Improvaganza had their 8th annual festival and it was a mix of traditions that have become part of that festival and completely new surprises. The Honolulu improv scene is constantly growing and changing and it reflects in a spectacular festival.

Many people assume the reason to visit an improv festival in Honolulu is spending a weekend in Hawai’i. And it’s not a bad perk. But the festival is one of the high water marks across the country for making the festival itself as rewarding and fun an experience for visitors as possible.

As a visiting performer, the variety of shows was one of the highlights of the festival. Most festivals generally tend to invite groups that are similar to the style of the town their visiting. But Hawai’i invites shows from drastically different schools. Funbucket from Seattle and Indigo Shift from Austin are stylistically about as far apart on the spectrum as you can be, but both were celebrated and both were shown to audiences that get to learn that improv isn’t just one thing. Geographically as well, Honolulu has the blessing and curse of being equally far for everyone. This year’s international entry came in the form of Paris Tales from – not surprisingly – Paris.

The Arts at Mark's

The Arts at Mark’s

The diversity doesn’t limit itself even to improvised theatre. Improvised musical performances from Leeni and the musical jam band and improvised movement and dance from Spatial Sculptors were part of the weekend as well. There was even improvised karaoke.

Another great gesture for performers is the walking situation of the festival as a whole. Visiting performers don’t always have transportation while in town. A cab ride was needed for many to get from their hotels to the festival, but once there, everything was a quick walk. Many good places to eat were nearby and both venues were within four minutes of each other. The Arts at Mark’s Garage and the historic Kumu Kahua theatre were both beautiful spaces well suited for improv and easy to travel between. This was great not only for getting to call times, but seeing other groups as well without being stuck at one venue all day long. This is something more festivals should strive for.

On a personal note, this was my fifth year going to Improvaganza. I am honored to have been invited back so many times to such a wonderful festival. My group Galapagos was inducted into the Five Timers Club and the pleasure to perform the closing show of the festival. It was a very special thing to me.

The Hawaiian culture is beautiful. Most visitors to the islands only see it in it’s commercialized, charicaturized form. But the real people who live their treat that culture with honesty and love. It’s a culture not dissimilar to that we all share as improvisors; support and trust. Mahalo Improvaganza.

—
Currently Bill is an instructor at The Torch Theatre and producer for the Phoenix Improv Festival. He tours teaching and performing across North America.

Take a Break! Don’t Forget About Life!

Posted by Nick Armstrong on October 1, 2013

“Improv is a life art so go experience it”

RelaxI see a lot of improvisors get burned out. Hell, I get burned out too.  You have to remember as an improvisor part of your learning experience and your rehearsal is the things you do in life. If you’re performing onstage all the time you are forgetting about the outside world. I’ve been there, three rehearsals, two shows and coaching and then you’re like, “Wow, where did my week go? I’ve been at the theatre every night.

TAKE A BREAK!

I think every improvisor should take a break from shows every once in a while. Think of it like a sabbatical. This will re-energize you and get your head away from performing for just a little bit and get you in touch with the world around you again. Being totally immersed into something is okay at first, but in improv you just have to take a step back. Improv is a life art. Part of what informs your improv is your experiences offstage so if you’re missing that your work may plateau. I often hear improvisors saying, “I think I’ve plateued.” It’s usually because they’re a student in the middle of classes they’ve been taking over the course of a year, or a vet who is doing everything improv from coaching, performing and rehearsing.

HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO BE AWAY FROM IMPROV?

There’s no answer to this. You could just take a week or maybe even a month. It’s really up to you. But read some books, go camping, catch up on your favorite shows, hang out with friends that you haven’t seen in a while that are outside the improv world. Think of it as a summer break so that when you come back to improv it’s like you’re going back to school and seeing all your old friends again.

Improv is meant to be fun and if you’re not having fun onstage and it just becomes work, then you need to take some time off. Improv isn’t work it’s art. So take a break, go have fun, live life for a little bit and then come back and get ready to have some fun!

Nick Armstrong

Nick is Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for grown ups in California and Pennsylvania. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network. We are always looking for better ways to serve the community. Drop us a line and let us know what you want! For more information visit: http://www.nickarmstrong.com or http://www.improvutopia.com

Spotlight On: Eau Claire Improv Festival

Posted by Bill Binder on September 26, 2013

ECIFThe Upper-Midwest doesn’t havea a great improv scene; it has several. Chicago, Minneapolis, Madison & Detroit are each growing communities with their own style. Smack in the middle of that, Eau Claire, Wisconsin has been looking to grow into a nationally recognized community of its own, and it seems to be off to a great start with the help of people like Amber Dernbach and Elliot Heinz. What tarted as a single high school team back around the time of Jurassic Park and Crystal Pepsi, has now grown to a vibrant improv town. Eau Claire now has an improv festival all it’s own. We’re excited to have a new festival as part of the network and I was able to reach out with some questions for Amber – the festival’s lead coordinator so travelling improvisors could learn a little bit about their festival and maybe try to add it to their next round of visits.

Eau Claire is pretty new to the national improv scene. What’s the improv like there? You’re in a pretty unique place to be quite near Chicago and Madison which are strong longform and shortform cities, respectively. How do those play out in Eau Claire?

The improv scene here has been fostered at our Eau Claire Memorial High School, where alumni have then gone out with the goal of improvising in the nation. Since the beginning of the high school program in 1993, Eau Claire has rapidly learned to love and support the local improv scene. The adult teams in the area share a unique blend of short and long form improv, where you can see both in one performance. The Memorial improv program begins its season with short form, but always works towards the final goal of a long form performance at the end of the school year. A university has also finally emerged in the last few years, focusing only on short form. High school alumni often come back to Eau Claire after years of experience in places like Chicago or Minneapolis with incredible long form performances. The Eau Claire audience is beginning to get the hang of long form improv as more teams emerge and continue to push the scene as far as it can go.

Rick Andrews

Rick Andrews

What can a visiting performer expect if they visit. In addition to a show, will there be any special workshops or other events? Will there be a chance for improvisers to meet each other outside of showtimes?

We will have workshops available from Rick Andrews (NYC, Magnet Theater), individuals from Minneapolis, Chicago, and Eau Claire. Most of the festival is close enough together where it will be impossible not to meet everyone. This year we are offering a “home base” of sorts at a local improv household. Here teams are free to crash on the floor or a cot. The basement of this house has a small theater and will be available for teams to practice, warm-up, or jam with one another. We will have other housing options if teams wish not to be a part of the “home base” household.

When the festival isn’t going on, what other things are there to do in Eau Claire? What’s the best place to grab food near the festival? Are there any historic sites or interesting places to visit nearby?

Accessible, affordable, park-like Eau Claire can be a winter wonderland in December. We have several parks that folks can walk through, antique shops for gazing, several eateries for grazing. The Leine’s Lodge is just a short drive away in Chippewa Falls, WI where adults can tour the brewery and have a few drinks as well. Grab a cup of coffee at Racy’s, breakfast at the Nucleus on Water St. or the Grand Ave Café on Grand St., lunch at the Acoustic Café, dinner at Tokyo Japanese Restaurant or Shanghai Cuisine. Eau Claire is full of cozy shops and café’s, all within 10 minutes of one another.

Lazy Monk

Lazy Monk

Other great things:

  • Rivers
  • Bike trails
  • Egg Roll Plus
  • Pad Thai (restaurant)
  • Lazy Monk Brewery
  • Banbury Place, independent artist studios in former tire plant.
  • Joynt, scooters
  • Galloway Grill
  • V1 Local Store
  • Public Library
  • Antique shop
  • UWEC Jazz
  • Vibrant downtown music scene
  • Strong local ethnic communities, primarily Hmong and Mexican.

This is your second year. What inspired you to put on a festival last year? What did you learn from that and hope to make even better this year? You’re surrounded by many improv cities, what are your hopes for making Eau Claire something special?

I decided to organize ECIF because there is an increasing improv scene in Eau Claire. What started as a near cult-level high school improv scene has spilled into a local adult scene. So many Memorial High Improv graduates have continued to be working improvisers around the region. Its important to celebrate this history and continue to develop local talent by offering accessibility to visiting national artists. What I learned from that first festival is that people in Eau Claire want more improv! Six hundred people attended a show or took a workshop last year. That level of support for a first year festival, run out of my kitchen between the hours of midnight and 2 a.m., spurred me to continue a second year. Eau Claire is special. We nurture our local artists and stay connected to those who started here.

I hope that we are able to offer shows to a wider audience this year and make improv a conversation topic for citizens everywhere. We want people to crave more improv in the community! We already have a thriving music scene, so we believe that improv can succeed just as well.

Anything else you’d like people to know about the festival?

Eau Claire is such a neat town and a place that you may not expect to find in Wisconsin. We experience every season here, Which allows us all to adapt to situations without hesitation. The scene here is young, but our community is very supportive with nightly crowds anywhere from 200-600 in the audience during the festival. Friends are made here and connections stay strong.

—
The festival is taking submissions right now. Feel free to submit or drop Elliot any questions on his profile or in the comments below.

Red Rocks Improv Festival Combines Improv and The Great Outdoors!

Posted by Nick Armstrong on September 24, 2013

547231_611653305522623_1019168721_nI just got back from Cedar City, Utah and I have to say I’m impressed! Off The Cuff Improvisation, which will be celebrating its 10th year in the small city, put on the 4th Annual Red Rocks Improv Festival. The festival was filled with improv performances from all over the country, workshops and wonderful trips to Cedar Breaks and Zion National Park where improvisors had the chance to hike and bond!

Tj and Wendy Penrod are the force behind the festival and OTC Comedy and have been since its inception. This year Red Rocks decided to partner with NIN and use our submission service to help gain some more exposure for the festival and it worked! Gaining improvisors from California all the way to New York! Tj and Wendy have created an amazing improv community in Cedar City and are actively involved in the arts culture there.

Being such a small town with one main street…named Main Street, I had worried that it might be hard to get a crowd. Not here! Wendy, TJ and their OTC gang have done such great work out there building a community that both nights were filled to the brim with audience. This audience was hungry for improv too!

This years festival added and extra bonus. OTC Comedy rented a 15 seater van, we dubbed the party van, to pick us up and take us hiking to places like Cedar Breaks and Zion National Park. I went on the Zion National Park hike through The Narrows which is not just any trail, it’s a 90 percent water trail where you wade through water in narrow slot canyons! AMAZING! It was a great experience and a great way to meet and hang out with people from other improv communities. When we reached the end of our journey one of the OTC gang started to jump off a rock into a pool of water…everyone followed suit in support, some conquering their fears! It was such an amazing experience filled with community, friendship and fun!

So should you attend this festival? Yes! This is the perfect example of what a festival should be. They took the idea of bringing great shows to their community exposing their small town to big named groups while also taking care of their out-of-town guests and treating them to their beautiful surroundings! Someone asked recently “Why do you go to festivals?” This is why I go to festivals!

Nick Armstrong

Nick is Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for grown ups in California and Pennsylvania. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network. We are always looking for better ways to serve the community. Drop us a line and let us know what you want! For more information visit: http://www.nickarmstrong.com or http://www.improvutopia.com

Spotlight On: OC Improv Festival

Posted by Bill Binder on September 19, 2013

2012 saw a huge freshman class of improv festivals in North America. Although not the largest, one of the more well known festivals from last year is the OC Improv Festival thanks in large part to the folks at Spectacles Improv Engine who spent the year traveling and getting engaged online with the larger improv community; looking to work together with other festivals and grow together.

I first met Josh Nicols at camp last year and was instantly impressed with his huge outgoing nature and willingness to talk about his deep love of improv. His enthusiasm is common among everyone I’ve met from OCIF and unquestionably responsible for its success. I had the opportunity to talk with Josh about the upcoming festival and what potential submitting troupes can expect.

OC is a quickly growing improv scene, but one that many folks don’t know about yet. What is the scene like? What kind of shows are really defining what OC Improv is all about?

Our community is mostly a collection of very popular short form teams with a handful of successful long form teams coming together in the last couple years.

It’s a pivotal time in our growth as we search for an identity as a community. Last year’s festival was a huge step in introducing us to the depth and variety of improv. Both players and audiences alike were blown away by the quality of improv we brought in. It’s a great time to come to Orange County and make a long term impression on a group of players and fans who are madly in love with improv.

What kind of events – outside of performances – can visitors expect at the OC Festival? Will there be any workshops or other events during the weekend?

We will be having a party every night at the theatre. Last year we had amazing workshops, which greatly impacted the quality of our scenes. We have the same goals this year. We plan on bringing in high quality training with focused and effective workshops at affordable prices. Also so Friday day excursions are in the works.

Dinner with the boys

Dinner with the boys

Where can people go during the festival’s off hours? What things are there to do and see in Fullerton?

There is plenty to do around the north Orange County area. Disneyland is just minutes away, we’re close to beaches and we’re well within walking distance of a thriving nightlife of bars and restaurants well stocked with party animals. If Disneyland isn’t your thing, we have Knott’s Berry Farm, Medieval Times and Pirate’s Dinner Adventure all just two towns over in Buena Park. Orange County is packed with good times. We are both an improv festival and a vacation destination.

Many of the organizers of the OCIF are very active in visiting other festivals and ImprovUtopia. You’ve spoken to many festival organizers and also visiting performers. What have you learned? What are you bringing back to the festival to make it a great experience? What have you seen in other festivals that you think can be improved?

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from other festivals is the confidence in knowing we can have a great festival. That it’s not impossible to get great teams and workshops. Nick Armstrong was a great mentor in making sure we didn’t make a ton of rookie mistakes. We’ve also seen that it is attainable to take a non-traditional improv market and, with hard work and time, give it a national reputation. It’s clear to us as well, that it’s not built in a day. It’s a commitment to getting better each year, building a quality reputation, and maintaining the relationships a festival affords you.

Anything else you’d like to share about the festival?

Our first year as a fest was a huge success, it really set the bar high for future OC festivals. Visiting teams consistently remarked how surprised they were that this was our first year because everything ran so smoothly and the quality of teams we brought in was so good. Our focus remains the same this year, celebrating the art of improv by bringing in great shows to full houses, all while elevating our own community through inspiration and education.

—

Submissions for The OC Festival are open now, but they’re closing soon. You can submit your troupe right now on the submission page. If you’d like more information on The Festival, you can visit the website or drop a message to Josh directly here on the site.

The Orange County Improv Festival started in 2013. It is a product of the growing and diverse improv community of Orange County, California. The festival is committed to the celebration and elevation of improv behind the orange curtain.

Can I Have a Suggestion?

Posted by Nick Armstrong on September 17, 2013

f139f95a49389299038c04dc0eeb-660x439Most improv teams start off with this very line in some form or another. It’s been on my mind a lot lately. It’s usually a word that is shouted out by an audience member to get the improvisors going on their way. Let’s dig deeper shall we and have a discussion.

Inspiration and 3rd Degree Choices:

A suggestion is a point of inspiration. You don’t have to hit it over the head. For instance, if your suggestion is Hammer, you don’t all have to start being a hammer or start talking about a hammer you can be construction workers on the job or a boss knocking the man down. (Hammer/nail metaphor). I call this my 3rd Degree Choice. When I get a suggestion from the audience, like Rose, the first degree of that is simply a rose, the second degree of that is garden or yard and the third degree of that could be love or beauty versus harm (Thorn and Rose) etc. What I’m trying to say is let’s dig deeper in our suggestion get to a deeper meaning that our show can hang its hat on. Love brings out certain emotions, beauty versus harm can bring out a great dynamic in your show at the very top. What if half the show had the POV of beauty and then we see that same first half done completely from the harm POV. That sounds pretty fun!

How do you get a suggestion?

We’ve all seen the standard, “Can I get a suggestion of anything at all.” That’s a fine one because we can be inspired by anything. When I was doing the JTS Brown we got a suggestion of a line of dialogue, poetry or song lyric. This inspired us because most of the time it had an energy or emotion attached to it that thrusted us into inspiration. Locations are fun and can definitely give you some sort of emotion or state. What do you ask for and how does it work for you or your team?

Feel a suggestion:

I like to tell my students to feel a suggestion instead of thinking about it. When a suggestion is hurled our way we often start thinking of what it is and then we are placed in our heads immediately. I like to say feel it. When you hear the word cabbage how does it make you feel? It makes me feel gross and yucky because I absolutely hate cabbage. So I might start an opening or a scene with that emotional state. Of course you might love it and start a completely different way, so the second scene or your part in the opening might be the opposite of my reaction and create a dynamic opening or the start of a dynamic show. There is no wrong way to feel about a word. Everyone is their own thumbprint of emotions.

Your suggestion is: Dildo!

Yes, we all get the inevitable suggestion of dildo at some point or something along those “Blue” lines. The best thing to do in this case is explore the third degree of it. One, a dildo, two, sex and three, sexual revolution. Give the jackass that gave the suggestion the best theatrical experience of his or her life by doing the best and smartest show possible. After getting a shitty suggestion it is one of the most fulfilling things ever to do a great, smart and funny show. We play to the top of our intelligence and this is one way to prove that to an audience.

Teams that don’t ask for a suggestion:

I know TJ and Dave don’t take a suggestion and still have amazing shows and I’ve seen some other teams do it too. I always felt the need to get one, so I felt connected to the audience. Thoughts?

I don’t believe there is a right or wrong way to approach a suggestion. Just some open thoughts on how I see them and would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Nick Armstrong

Nick is Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for grown ups in California and Pennsylvania. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network. We are always looking for better ways to serve the community. Drop us a line and let us know what you want! For more information visit: http://www.nickarmstrong.com or http://www.improvutopia.com

Pages: 1 … 11 12 13 14 15 16

Who’s Online

There are no users currently online