Melanie PennStaff

Happy April showers, Improv Shop! 🌦️ And happy birthdays to Analicia Kocher, Kate Cole, Areaj Mubarak, William Gass, Nate Miller, and everyone else celebrating birthdays this week! 🎂🎂 Here's what's up in and around the theater: 🚨 NEW WORKSHOP ALERT 🚨 Registration is now open for a special one-off workshop: Improv to Sketch with Leslie Symonds! This will be Saturday May 2nd, 12:00-3:00, and is open to any grads and students who have completed Level 3. Let us know if you have any questions or are curious for more information! THURSDAY PROGRAMMING - Check out shows tonight, Thursday April 16th: House Team Night at 7:00 in mainstage with Songbird, MaMa Dearest, and Idiot Bitch The Menagerie at 7:00 in sidestage with SMUT, Is This Seat Taken?, Heavy Meadow, and Queuecümber The Open Jam at 8:45-ish in mainstage with maybe YOU and all your classmates idk?! The Merry-Go-Round at 9:00 in sidestage with Freakstyle, Cherry Wine, Sad Orgasm, and Rough Draft in Monterrey FRIDAY PROGRAMMING - More fun to be had this Friday April 17th: THE ASTERISK* at 7:00 in mainstage ~ this week's theme is spring cleaning (like what my basement needs 🫣) The Pajama-Rama: An Improvised Sleepover at 7:00 in sidestage with Kissing Booth and friends Cagematch at 9:00 in mainstage with champions D.A.D. vs. challenger Mid-Tantrum Group Therapy at 9:00 in sidestage featuring Intrusive Thoughts and friend teams Kissing Booth and Mansplain FREESTYLE JAM - This Saturday April 18th is one more Freestyle Jam, happening in sidestage at 5:00-6:15! Brandon Bowers facilitates this free, beginner-friendly workshop that combines freestyle rap and longform improvisation. Come try something cool and vulnerable in a super supportive environment. 🙌 SATURDAY PROGRAMMING - Another special night for shows this Saturday April 18th: No Edit: The Improvised One Act Play at 7:00 in mainstage 🎭 POC Improv League at 7:00 in sidestage ~ three new teams have their first show - FOMOsapiens, And Dem, and Freaky Lil Frogs - in this second cohort of the Performing Outstanding Comedy League, a league of all Person of Color improvisers! Am I the Asshole? at 9:00 in mainstage ~ inspired by life advice subreddits Happy Hands Social Club at 9:00 in sidestage ~ your favorite all-puppet team opened by our all-human friend team Campy 🏕️ RUNNING CLUB meets again this Sunday April 19th! Starting between 10:15-10:30, runners and joggers and amblers of all paces meet this week at Tower Grove Park, gathering at the Stone Shelter. Last week's meetup had 7 humans and 4 dogs - that's a lot of legs! MONDAY JAMS - Come out to play in more miniworkshops this Monday April 20th, 6:00-6:50: Student Jam in mainstage with Bailey Kepford! Grad Jam in sidestage with Sean Madden! The theme of Sean's workshop will be getting high on improv. 😎 MONDAY PROGRAMMING - This Monday April 20th is also a special night for shows: Teams Level 1 Student Showcases at 7:00 in sidestage Teams Level 2 Student Showcases at 7:00 in mainstage - it's week #4 of this eight-week cycle, which means we're halfway to graduation! 😱 ...then another super special showcase by students of last session's Shotgun Workshop 🚙 ...then School Night at 9:00 in sidestage with three more teams to cheer on 👏 Ok that's all for now I think. 💛 Thank you all for the hard work you put into this artform and all the activity it's capable of blossoming into. With gratitude, Melanie Penn

Kevin McKernanStaff

hi, all! my name's kevin mckernan. i've been teaching improv for 20+ years at the improv shop (much more in the beginning years than lately) and within local high schools. i still love improv ofc and getting to know some of the newer folks. hey, my summer schedule opened up a bit, so i'm excitedly offering a "scenes + notes" elective workshop in this upcoming session wherein i hope to listen to whatever folks are working on and thinking about in their scenework, then watching scenes, and giving some feedback. i'm particularly into listening, patterns, organic exploration, following the fun, trying not to judge and overthink, raising stakes, authentic reactions, being confident, relying on each other, and realistic characters. thanks for potentially considering! hope to see some of yas soon.

Leslie SymondsStaff

Come checkout the new Improv to Sketch workshop! In this single session, 3 hour workshop, you’ll learn how to use your improv skills to help you generate your own sketch ideas. This workshop will include an overview of sketch comedy, how it intersects with improv, and a series of improv exercises and scenes to show you how to make a great improv scene into a great sketch. And unlike a typical sketch class – there’s no homework! Starts 05/02 Sat. May 2nd, 12-3pm Taught by Leslie Symonds https://theimprovshop.com/workshop/improv-to-sketch/