BBIF 2007 HISTORICAL RECORD
BBIF 2007: SHOWS
BBIF 2007: WORKSHOPS
INSTRUCTOR: Asaf Ronen
WORKSHOP 2: RELATIONSHIP COMPONENTS INSTRUCTOR: Greg Tavares
WORKSHOP 3: IMPROV AS AN ART FORM INSTRUCTOR: Bob Wood
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INSTRUCTOR: Jen Caldwell
WORKSHOP 2: THE FIRST TWO LINES INSTRUCTOR: John Sexton
WORKSHOP 3: ATTACKING THE SCENE INSTRUCTOR: Bryan Buckley
WORKSHOP 4: HENERY LONGFORM INSTRUCTOR: Alyssa Mander
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INSTRUCTOR: Tommy Futch
WORKSHOP 2: TRUTH IN FICTION INSTRUCTOR: Amber Nash
WORKSHOP 3: FAR OUT INSTRUCTOR: Robert Lowe
WORKSHOP 4: EXTENDED MONOLGUES/REALITY FORMAT INSTRUCTOR: Greg Kinsey
WORKSHOP 5: THE ESSENTIALS INSTRUCTOR: Matthew Arisheh
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INSTRUCTOR: Jill Bernard
WORKSHOP 2: THE SPACE OBJECT INSTRUCTOR: Steven Kearin
WORKSHOP 3: TRANSITIONS INSTRUCTOR: Tim Orr
WORKSHOP 4: ACTING IN LONGFORM INSTRUCTOR: Rafe Chase
WORKSHOP 5: PHYSICAL IMPROV INSTRUCTOR: Asaf Ronen
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INSTRUCTOR: Josh Cohen/Tamra Malaga
WORKSHOP 2: MASTER THE SCENE (3 hr) INSTRUCTOR: Zach Ward
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BBIF 2007: PERFORMANCE GROUPS
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SHOW: FRI 9/21 8:00PM & SAT 9/22 10:00PM
One of the San Francisco Bay Area’s hottest improv ensembles, 3 FOR ALL, brings its own inimitable brand of high-stakes improvisation to the Black Box Improv Festival. Critically acclaimed improvisers Rafe Chase, Stephen Kearin and Tim Orr create a unique blend of intensely dramatic and outrageously funny, completely improvised scenes based on audience suggestions. Don’t miss the improv group that critics call “BRILLIANT… HILARIOUS… A MUST SEE!”…and “KILLER!” “San Francisco’s finest long-form improv troupe…single-handedly restored my faith in improv comedy. DON’T MISS!” – TIMEOUT NEW YORK |
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SHOW: WED 9/19 8:00PM
The Armed Farces are a collection of GCSU students sharing both an interest in the creativity of improvisation, and a feverish desire to cure small-town boredom. Now in their 3rd year at Georgia College, the Farces are still going strong. In addition to weekly free performances to a packed downtown audience, the Armed Farces have also begun acting as their own production company, selecting The Complete Works of William Shakespeare as their inaugural play. All that they ask? That Milledgeville doesn’t find anything else better to do. |
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SHOW: FRI 9/21 10:00PM
In the latter part of the last century, four babies were born with beards. By a series of fateful events, they came together to form one of the most intriguing and important improv groups in our time. Inspired by Schadenfreude, BmB extracts the essence of comedy from tragedy, dishes out samples to the audience in real time, and sells it in bottles after the show (side effects of essence include pee’d pants and overflexed facial contortions). |
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SHOW: THU 9/20 8:00PM
This two person long form improv show features Atlanta’s own Amber Nash and Greg Tavares (Cofounder of Theatre 99, Charleston, SC). At some point in the show there will be a blind date scene. Amber and Greg improvise from the heart and create realistic, relationship based scenes and oh yeah — they have never done this show before. So the show is kinda like a blind date for the audience. |
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SHOW: SUN 9/23 8:00PM
Jeremy Griffin and Zach Ward are veterans of the comedy festival scene and celebrated improv teachers from DSI Comedy Theater. They have partnered as Cajones, performing a hilarious show that’s completely improvised for audiences across the country. You will laugh out loud at the absurd characters created by these two characters. You might cry, and some girls might pee a little (was that too far?). You need to see Cajones. Yeah, You. |
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SHOW: FRI 9/21 8:00PM
The Charlotte Comedy Theater is a grass roots organization made of up of Charlotte’s most notorius improvisers. Founded and directed by an 13 year chicago improv veteran, this group is skilled in all improv forms. They perform both long and short form improv as well as having developed their own versions of both. This group of incredibly committed performers has taken Extreme Improv from a back room improv group to a top level improvisational Comedy Theater. Their hard work, enthusiasm and love for the art form is present in every show they do. |
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SHOW: SUN 9/23 8:00PM
Dad’s Garage is a casual theatre in Atlanta where you can get a drink, sit with your friends, and watch award-winning Comedy Improv and never-before-seen plays. Theatre in America is often thought of as elitist and Dad’s Garage is a perfect example of artists working to change that label. We do the kind of theatre we would want to see. Our improv shows are made up on the spot, our mainstage shows are all innovative and original, and our children’s show is the only one of its kind being done. When we’re on stage, there are few boundaries and hardly any rules. We believe in taking chances. The riskier, the better. |
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SHOW: SUN 9/23 8:00PM
4 long time friends and equal time improvers have banded together to bring you a comedy experience that you’ll have a hard time forgetting, no matter how you try. Dabbling in sketch comedy, slowly perfecting the art of the improvised serial, occaisonally known for orchestrating public pranks, and the self proclaimed masters of so called “Medium Form,” Diversionary Tactics is more than an improv group, and even more than a comedy troupe. |
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SHOW: SAT 9/22 10:00PM
Drum Machine is a one-person unscripted structure featuring scenes, monologues and songs accompanied by the mad beats of the Zoom-Rhythmtrak 123 which Bernard calls, “Nature’s finest drum machine.” Typically the show opens with an improvised sing-along, and then explores a historical period suggested by the audience. From a punk persona launch pad, Bernard switches back and forth between characters with stunning virtuosity. |
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SHOW: FRI 9/21 8:00PM
Einstein meets Elvis is ROCKET FUELED improv. This award-winning, powerhouse JaCKPie touring team brings together an all-star cast to rock your socks off! (EmE not responsible for lost socks.) What do you get when Einstein meets Elvis? A team that consists of career opposites in a builder of motorcycles, an actor/musician, a computer nerd, a master of all props, a lawyer, a banker and a filmmaker. EmE features: Mike Brune, Jen Caldwell, Damian Dunn, Jim Karwisch, Brad Kloth, Chris Nik and Kasey Libby. Together these minds create a show that just cannot be missed. Einstein meets Elvis: experiments in the rock and roll and science of Long-Form Improvisation. |
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SHOW: THU 9/20 8:00PM
A ragtag group of professional actors, filmmakers, musicians, puppeteers and writers, Free Kittens! is a long-form improv troupe at the JaCKPie Theatre Workshop, trained under Jim Karwisch and coached by Jen Caldwell. |
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SHOW: THU 9/20 8:00PM
Let us show you what’s so fun about being female! That’s right, Atlanta’s only all-female comedy troupe is bringing you their own brand of irreverent improv. Women of wit, jezebels of jokes, harlots of humor – whatever you want to call us, we’re GLOC. Our inspiration was a chance meeting at the Funny Women’s Fest in Chicago. In Atlanta, we were located only miles apart, however it took a trip to Chicago to see how close we really were. We’ll show you that sisterhood is beautiful, sisterhood is powerful, but most of all, it’s funny! |
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SHOW: FRI 9/21 10:00PM & SAT 9/22 8:00PM
The Josh and Tamra Show is New York City’s only puppet improv comedy duo. Starring Josh Cohen, Tamra Malaga, and a cast of amazing puppets. Each show begins with a one-word suggestion. Josh and Tamra then proceed to create a feature length improv show that interweaves different scenes and characters and puppets together. The Josh and Tamra Show may contain adult situations and language. |
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SHOW: THU 9/20 8:00PM
Laughing Matters is Atlanta’s longest running improvisational comedy troupe. We’ve performed for thousands of groups since 1985 and have been voted Atlanta’s best improv troupe by Atlanta Magazine! Let us get you involved in a great time! Laughing Matters is also the leading provider of interactive corporate entertainment on the East Coast!Troupe members and alumni regularly perform on stage and screen! Laughing Matters has also developed programs that have been used in product launches, national team building exercises, and award presentations. Whether you want to come see one of our public improv shows, book a private murder mystery, or help your organization communicate more effectively, Laughing Matters is your turn key solution! |
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SHOW: WED 9/19 8:00PM
Let’s Try This! is the offical theatre improv troupe of DramaTech. The troupe was formed in the summer of 1989, inspired by workshops taught by Robert Lowe, who has remained a constant source of help and inspiration to us. As our name suggests we will try many things, from games to short scenes to long-form to that-in-the-world-was-that? We have many directors with different styles amougst ourselves making our shows quite diverse, however we all share a common belief in being in the moment and making our partners perfect. |
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SHOW: FRI 9/21 10:00PM
Red Letters is a subgroup of Mock Turtle Soup at Clemson University. Bryan Buckley and Alyssa Mander formed Red Letters to experiment more in the realm of two man improv. They’ve been doing improv together for more than two years now. Of all the long forms out there, the Bruise is their favorite–and the one they will perform at BBIF 2007. To get ready for a show, the two love to dance, rap battle, and chug Dr. Peppers. |
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SHOW: SAT 9/22 10:00PM
Relapse Theatre was born out of a dream, then grew into classes, and is now a monster that will kill you all!!! As Promised! Relapse Theatre is growing by leaps and bounds. Starting from a solid foundation (aka the bottom), Artistic Director Bob Wood deflates the imposing “Rules” of comedy. A devolution from the whole world of judgment. Relapse is a harbor of welcome for every artistic expression: art, sketch comedy, improv, scripted works, storytelling, music, stand up, two guys sittin around… Be here or be nowhere. |
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SHOW: SAT 9/22 8:00PM
Red Letters is a subgroup of Mock Turtle Soup at Clemson University. Bryan Buckley and Alyssa Mander formed Red Letters to experiment more in the realm of two man improv. They’ve been doing improv together for more than two years now. Of all the long forms out there, the Bruise is their favorite–and the one they will perform at BBIF 2007. To get ready for a show, the two love to dance, rap battle, and chug Dr. Peppers. |
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SHOW: SAT 9/22 8:00PM
As the flagship troupe of TSF, the Sunday Group has been improvising at UF for over 10 years. Usually a group of 8 to 9, Sunday Group players practice improvisation scenes, with a focus on relationships and characters. Primarily, the Sunday Group works with extended forms such as the Harold, the Mammet, or Six Degrees. Directed by Skyler Stone, the Sunday Group also travels to improv festivals such as the Dirty South Improv Festival in North Carolina, the New Orleans Improv Festival and the Miami Improv Festival. |
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SHOW: WED 9/19 8:00PM
This, That, and The Other is an improv group based out of Shorter College in Rome Georgia. We are a student organized troupe that is made up of students of different majors and class levels. The purpose of our troupe is to further our education in theatre while having a good time. We would like to thank all of our patrons at Shorter for continually supporting us as we continue to grow. |
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SHOW: SUN 9/23 8:00PM
Formed in 2006, Troupe 93 has performed as ImprovNashville’s short form and game troupe for over a year. It’s members, who have been brought up through the ImprovNashville Comedy College, bring together their diverse talents and backgrounds into one emsemble. Alumni of Troupe 93 have gone on study improv in Chicago and New York. |
BBIF 2007: INSTRUCTORS
Matthew Arisheh is the founder and executive producer of the Black Box Improv Festival. He started doing improv in 2001 and has worked with many improv groups in and out of the Atlanta area, including serving as Production Manager of Let’s Try This! and Business Director of the Basement Theatre. He taught the Newbie Workshops for incoming freshman at GA Tech in the Fall of 2005 and 2006 and lead the Crawl Space workshops at the Basement Theatre in the Spring of 2007. He is a veteran of the Dirty South Improv Festival, Out of Bounds Improv Festival, and Miami Improv Festival and performed at the Basement Theatre weekly for three years prior to his recent departure.
Jill Bernard has been performing with ComedySportz-Twin Cities since 1993. Her solo improv, Drum Machine, has been featured at the Chicago Improv Festival, the Toronto Improv Jamboree, and the Philadelphia Improv Festival, among others. She has taught improv in over twenty states and two Canadian provinces, and on an episode of MTV “Made.” She is the recipient of the 2005 Chicago Improv Festival Avery Schreiber Ambassador of Improv Award.
Bryan Buckley is a graduate student studying economics at Clemson University. In 2002, he co-founded Mock Turtle Soup. As a member of Mock Turtle Soup, he has traveled to Atlanta, Charleston, Chapel Hill and Chicago on several occasions to study and perform improv. He has written and performed with the sketch comedy group Ask Your Doctor. He has also written many articles for the spoof news site The Almond. He hopes one day to move to Chicago and pursue improv there after graduation.
Jen Caldwell is currently a member of the JaCKPie touring team Einstein meets Elvis and House Team Amerika and coaches JaCKPie’s newest Harold team: Free Kittens. Previous Atlanta Improv and sketch credits include the Comedy Response Unit, Gorgeous Ladies of Comedy, and numerous shows with Dad’s Garage. She has trained with the Comedy Response Unit, Improv Olympic, UCB, JaCKPie and now teaches Improv throughout the Southeast. Jen was recently appointed to the Executive Committee of the Southeastern Comedy Arts Alliance that will hold it’s second annual Southeastern Comedy Arts Festival in September. Atlanta Theatre credits include Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical, The Computer Wore Flat-Soled Pumas, Kobe Bryant: The Totally Unauthorized Autobiography, Bad Habits: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Private Lives, Bedroom Farce and thousands of other shows. She can also be seen in Films and on TV, most recently on Tyler Perry’s House of Payne as Kim Chin. She is the front (! wo) man, writer and guitar/bass player for the band Anna NicoleMiner’s Daughter . She is now a rapper. That’s right, a rapper. Check out her myspace for more on that. Jen holds a BFA degree in Theatre (with and emphasis in Television, Radio and Film) from Valdosta State University. In a former life, she was a Sports reporter and Radio DJ and subsists on a steady diet of coffee and comedy.
In 1999, Josh became a Muppeteer when he was asked to join the Jim Henson Company. That same year, Josh and Tamra met while performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. They both received training from Chicago improv Luminaries Charna Halpern and Miles Stroth, as well as original members of the UCB: Ian Robers, Matt Walsh, and SNL’s Amy Pohler. Josh and Tamra have performed in several productions at the UCB Theatre, most notably, they are proud alumni of the UCB’s house Harold Teams, Team C.H.U.D., The Joe Ross Tribe, and My Kickass Van. Both Josh and Tamra are also frequent performers on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien. In 2001, Josh and Tamra opened a theatre devoted to improv, stand-up and sketch comedy called Freaks Local 413 Storefront Theatre, in Hell’s Kitchen NYC. The Josh and Tamra Show was created during experimental evenings at their comedy theatre. In 2006, The Josh and Tamra Show launched a website that includes short films, and on-line sitcoms featuring the cast. They are currently working on a pilot episode of their sitcom, “Apt 413″ and can currently be seen as on air personalities for AOL.com new broadband music channel www.DL.aol.com.
Rafe Chase did not know that “improviser” was a career option while growing up in Oakland, California, yet he intuitively spent an inordinate amount of time pretending. It paid off. Within a few months of taking his first improv class in 1978, he was asked to join the San Francisco group, Flash Family. Since that time Rafe has been a consistent and innovative presence on the improv scene as a member and, in many cases, the director of the groups Riot Squad, BATS Improv, Pulp Playhouse, Improv Theater and True Fiction Magazine. He has taught improv both privately and at various institutions including the American Conservatory Theater and Stanford University. Rafe is also a photographer, a writer and an aficionado of American show business history.
Tommy Futch is the President of Laughing Matters, an interactive entertainment company. In addition to improvisational comedy, Laughing Matters’ repertoire includes team-building, murder mysteries, game shows, scavenger hunts and school performances. Tommy’s life changed dramatically in 1971 when he was injured in a car collision near Adel, Georgia. Futch was paralyzed from the waist down. Everything he knew about life was altered or no longer applied. For the next 10 years, he dabbled in school, work and self-fulfillment. In 1985, Futch took a comedy course and discovered his passion—improv comedy. He and a dozen partners soon formed Laughing Matters, an improv comedy troupe. As years passed and partners moved on, Futch became President and expanded the company’s mission. Tommy has worked alongside and coached Mitch Rouse, a Laughing Matters member from 1987 to 1991, who helped write the comedy film Without a Paddle, Joe Kelly, who begins his first full season as a writer for Saturday Night Live. And Gary Anthony Williams who is part of the cast of Jeff Foxworthy’s surprise summer hit Blue Collar TV. Laughing Matters owner and executive producer Tommy Futch says he feels like a proud papa: “I can’t make you famous, but you can use me as a steppingstone.” For Kelly, who worked with Laughing Matters from 1993 to 1998, the troupe taught him “clean” humor. “I learned to be funny, as opposed to shocking,” he said. Kelly worked on three episodes at the end of last year’s SNL and got three of his skits in: a tattoo removal commercial parody, a hilarious Harry Potter takeoff where Lindsay Lohan played a suddenly buxom Hermione and a rap scene with Snoop Dogg. On any given day, you can find Tommy selling, performing and producing at corporate events throughout the South.
Stephen Kearin was a founding member of Improv Theatre and True Fiction Magazine, and has performed with BATS Improv since 1987. He has appeared in many local productions, including the stilt-walking Iago in San Francisco Opera’s Otello. He originated the role of Blaine Bustier in An Evening With Dirk & Blaine. Stephen can be heard as the lead male character in the popular computer game, The Sims. Stephen played the sideline reporter, Steve Kearin, in the improvised TV series, World Cup Comedy, produced by Kelsey Grammer.
Greg Kinsey is the artistic director of the Black Box Improv Festival and a member of Let’s Try This!. He was leader of LTT! for two years and has performed with troupes throughout Atlanta. He specializes in technology and free-form based improv.
Robert Lowe is the author of Improvisation, Inc.: Harnessing Spontaneity to Engage People and Groups, (Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer, 2000). This book is the pioneering work in the use of Improvisational Theatre techniques for organizational development and business and professional communication. Robert is known as the Grandfather (sometimes the Godfather) of Improvisational Comedy in Atlanta having founded “The Lightside City Players” in 1983, “Comedy Atlanta” in 1985, and “The Next City Comedy Theatre” in 1988. In 1989 Robert had a significant influence in the founding of Georgia Tech’s “Let’s Try This” Improv Comedy movement. For nearly 20 years he has brought Improv technique, fun, and exploration to business and organizations of every size and form. His work is known in more than 20 countries, and it has been noted that either Robert, or his students, and now students of his students, have had an influence on almost every venue of Improv comedy in the Atlanta region. Mr. Lowe’s public Improv Comedy Workshops have provided the inspiration and the formula for programs that have placed hundreds of non-performers on live Improv stages throughout the region.
Amber Nash has been performing with Laughing Matters for nearly ten years. Amber is also a member of the Ensemble at Dad’s Garage and is head of their education program. Why does she do it? Simply because she likes to see children smile.
Alyssa Mander is an English major at Clemson University focusing on writing and publication studies. She has been a member of Mock Turtle Soup for two years now, and she has loved every minute of it! As a member of Mock Turtle Soup, she’s performed at Clemson University, Winter Springs High, New Covenant Church, DSIF, Nashville and Atlanta. She’s traveled to Chicago, Chapel Hill, Atlanta and Orlando to study improv. Alyssa loves to write musicals, short films, sketch and articles. One day, she hopes to write top notch comedy for a television show like Desperate Housewives or Scrubs. She’s finishing up her English and philosophy studies at Clemson this year, and she’ll join the “real world” in May of 2008.
Tim Orr has improvised since 1988, primarily with BATS Improv, Improv Theatre, and as a guest for True Fiction Magazine. He has appeared in numerous plays in the Bay Area, and received critical acclaim for his role as Dick Goodman in Brien Burroughs’ 1999 improvised film, Suckerfish. He stars in the new Brien Burroughs improvised film, Security. Tim originated the role of Dirk Manly in An Evening with Dirk & Blaine. He has taught improvisation at BATS Improv and at American Conservatory Theatre and elsewhere. He coaches the championship wheelchair sports team, the Bay Cruisers.
Asaf Ronen, creator and Editor-in-Chief of YESand.com, a website devoted to improvisation, is the author of Directing Improv: Show the Way By Getting Out of the Way. Having done improv since 1990, has worked with Theatresports, ComedySportz and directed several longforms including the all-girl group goga, the comic book adventure Ka-Baam!!, and Death in the City, a dramatic longform for the NY Fringe Festival. Asaf has taught improvisation internationally and across The United States.
John Sexton is co-founder of and director of development for Improv Nashville. Since joining his first troupe in 2000, John has performed in hundreds of shows, taught hundreds of students, and has participated in workshops and classes with Second City, Dad’s Garage, Upright Citizen’s Brigade, iO and more.
Greg Tavares is a co-founder of The Have Nots! improv company, Theatre 99, Piccolo Fringe & The Charleston Comedy Festival. He has created the training program at Theatre 99 and taught thousand of people in hundreds of classes. Greg lives in Charleston, SC where he performes improv with The Have Nots!, Moral Fixation and many other groups.
Zach Ward is the owner of the DSI Comedy Theater and the Founder and Executive Producer of North Carolina’s Dirty South Improv Festival. Zach has been performing and directing improv comedy professionally for over a decade. He has been employed as Associate Producer for the Chicago Improv Festival (2003-2006) and Director of Education for ComedySportz of Chicago (2003-2004). Zach has received critical acclaim from the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Tribune with ARMANDO DIAZ EVENTÉ, DUAL EXHAUST (Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as one of the “Top 10 most important comedy duos of the past decade,” Critics Choice, Highly Recommended, Super CageMatch Champion 2003-2004) and THE BEATBOX (Critics Choice, Best Bet, CIF Mainstage w/ Mo Collins). Zach can currently be seen performing with CAJONES, MISTER DIPLOMAT and COMEDYSPORTZ NORTH CAROLINA at the DSI COMEDY THEATER. Zach has studied with Todd Stashwick, Mick Napier and Susan Messing (Annoyance), Bob Dassie, Craig Cackowski and TJ Jagodowski (ImprovOlympic), Matt Besser (Upright Citizens Brigade), Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live), Michael Gelman (Second City), and with every single student he teaches.
After seven years of paying his dues at Whole World Theatre, Bob left in November 2004 to found Relapse Comedy Theatre in Midtown Atlanta. He credits teacher and best friend, David Webster, creator of Whole World, as the inspiration for his style of improv – organic, free-flowing, and centered on what is truly real and in the heart.
