Melanie PennStaff
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Happy end-of-February, Improv Shop! And happy birthdays to Jocelyn Matsuo-Acland, Logan Short, Melissa Tenholder, Jen Weinman, and everyone else celebrating birthdays this week! 🎂🎂 THURSDAY PROGRAMMING - This Thursday February 26th, it's teams on teams: House Team Night at 7:00 in mainstage with 3rd Wheel, Songbird, and Small Uncle The Menagerie at 7:00 in sidestage with Cassette Roulette, Good Platoon, Post Coital Muppets, and Celibate (whoa, two rhyming team names and two antonymous team names) The Merry-Go-Round at 9:00 in sidestage with Bumblefuck, Goon Platoon, Basement Family, and Manifesto The Jam at 9:00 in mainstage with ad hoc teams formed by fate 👐 FRIDAY PROGRAMMING - This Friday February 27th is a combo of some returning shows and some new shows: THE ASTERISK* at 7:00 in mainstage ~ this week's theme is in between – life moments where you weren’t who you were – but weren’t who you’d become yet Villain Origin Story at 7:00 in sidestage featuring Thank You Next and Basement Family Cagematch at 9:00 in mainstage with returning champions Manifesto vs. new challenger Spit Take Missed Connections at 9:00 in sidestage ~ a new show " inspired by the strange, sweet, and sometimes unhinged world of Craigslist Missed Connections" with special guest team Thank You, Next KNOTTY BY NATURE - The fiber arts craft club Knotty By Nature meets again this Saturday February 28th between 10:00 and 2:00 at Antagonist Cafe! Bring a craft project to work on with friends, and contact Cassie Ema at crepn2@gmail.com for information. 🧶 OPEN WINDOW returns this Saturday February 28th starting at 4:00 in sidestage! This is a community event focused on storytelling and sharing. It is not performance based and doesn’t require any storytelling or writing experience, just your own lived experiences. It doesn’t have to be a long story, or something that you tell often at parties or gatherings, just something you want to share. If you would like to get to know people, have an opportunity to speak in front of others, or just want to spend a Saturday afternoon hanging out at the theater before shows, come to Open Window and see Nathan's post for this month's optional story prompts! 🪟 SATURDAY PROGRAMMING - This Saturday February 28th has some vastly different shows lined up which I think is awesome and a testament to the creativity of their show producers: No Edit: The Improvised One Act Play at 7:00 in mainstage Love at the Speed of Light at 7:00 in sidestage ~ a queer sci-fi TTRPG adventure featuring Yas And and 2Zin Tarandon 👾 Kitsune Dojo: The Shifting Spirit at 9:00 in mainstage RUNNING CLUB - This Sunday March 1st, running club returns to Queeny Park, meeting around 10:15-10:30 at the Mason Road entrance. Forecast is a little brisk and possibly rainy, so dress warm! 🏃 All fast runners, slow joggers, casual walkers, and doggos are welcome. MONDAY JAMS - This Monday March 2nd is another fun one to look forward to for more miniworkshops at 6:00-6:55: Student Jam with AJ Surrell! Grad Jam with Chase Pierce! Come out to play, meet people, work out some metaphorical performance muscles (probably some literal ones too). 💪 MONDAY PROGRAMMING - After jamming, cheer on our Teams Level 1 guys at 7:00 in sidestage and/or our Teams Level 2 guys in mainstage! This is week #5 of their current 8-week cycle, three left till graduation. Also, at 7:00 in mainstage, opening for Teams Level 2, will be a very special one-off showcase by students of last session's Deconstruction Workshop! The Deconstruction is a (beautiful imo) longer improvised piece that highlights a relationship over time and harnesses big team energy. 👯♂️ Big shout-out to our Decon grads! 7 THINGS STUDENT SPOTLIGHT - Feeling inspired by my love for Google Forms, I made a link here for anyone that would like to participate in an old tradition we used to do called 7 Things Student Spotlight. If you're a current student (or grad) and would like to share 7 things about yourself to be featured in a blurb for a future newsletter, submit the form anytime at your convenience. 💛 Ok that's a wrap for this week, fam. Remember to secure your tickets for those two Kevin McDonald shows on March 14th and 15th. Looking forward to March being a real fun month! Much gratitude, Melanie Penn