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independent film and video on CAN Channel 19 The show that started it all... Twirly was a project that Allison Bazarko (the other half of Full Deck Productions at the time) and I came up with after we decided we were too lazy and too broke to put together a short film of our own. We figured there were a lot of less lazy filmmakers out there that were probably looking to have their film screened, so we created Twirly to facilitate that. The hour long show ran for about nine months on CAN (Chicago Access Network) Channel 19, and I'm told that they still air re-runs of it to this day when the programming is light. Twirly was actually responsible for the formation of Full Deck Productions, which has now gone on to do bigger and better things. For more information on Twirly, check out the archived episode guide and featured filmmakers on the Full Deck website. |
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an alternative improv showcase During our time on Kissing George together, Fuzzy Gerdes and I came up with lots of different ideas for improv shows we wanted to do. Most of them involved money that we didn't have to spend at that time... except for a little idea called Big Bowl of... Big Bowl of... was a monthly Full Deck/Fuzzyco Joint that featured alternative forms of longform improvisation. No Harolds, no montages - mostly stuff from the fringe - some that worked, some that didn't. Featured groups included Mission:Improvable (doing their signature form "The Trip"), Andy Eninger's "Sybil"(solo longform), Prism (a former 5B show), Pants Happy! (three men, one long scene), The Monologue Ponies (improvised monologue & storytelling), Kissing George (First Impressions, The Rashomon, and the ill-fated Flashlight Theater), The Laboratory (directed by Shaun Himmerick), and several others. It was my first venture into producing theater and I felt like it was pretty successful for a first time out. More detailed descriptions of the shows can be found in my improv journal, Sweet Justice (start in the January 2000 section, they end in the April 2000 section). |
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an improvised romantic comedy Dinner for Six, directed by Jason Chin, marked the beginning of the Director's Series and also my role as a producer at the Playground. The show had been performed a few years earlier at the Improv Olympic to not too many people. Jason had independently approached Fuzzy and I about producing something for him, and we countered his proposal by asking him to take the first spot as a director for the Series. He accepted and the rest is history. The show got several excellent reviews and ran for about 10 weeks before the cast moved it to the Improv Olympic. Reviews from our run can be found here. I enjoyed working on this, but I learned a few less than savory lessons along the way. |
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meisner meets improv During my time on Kissing George, I got to work with Rob Mello as a coach for several months. Rob had been playing around with the idea of fusing some of the Meisner acting techniques he taught at the Artistic Home with improvised scenework. Drive, the second show in the Director's Series, was the result of Rob's experiment. Drive was always interesting to watch because it was, in my mind, the complete opposite of what most improv strives for - it was theatrical and emotional, it was slow in pace and thoughtful in nature. The cast was superb - Lindsey Harrington (of Sirens), Lillie Frances, Justin O'Connor, David Castro, Ben Zolno, Cholley Kuhaneck and Christine Sinacore. A review from the run is archived here. |
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flying solo, improv-style During Big Bowl of... Andy Eninger approached me to see if I'd be interested in helping him put together a "Sybil" project where he could teach others his signature form. The result was Sybilization, the third Director's Series offering, a hybrid workshop and performance opportunity for six vetern improvisers. It was a success and we've repeated our "Sybilization" workshop for additional improvisers. Andy is an absolute delight to work with as a director and I'd have to say that putting together this show was one of the best experiences I've had as a producer. *1/27/02 - Sybilization is now an annual workshop program featured as a part of the Director's Series. We've had three different groups to date, and Andy has been featured at CIF as a teacher and performer on Sybil and solo improv. |
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dusk til dawn improv During the run of Drive, I was approached by Jonathan Pitts. Seems he had read my improv journal, Sweet Justice, and seen my comments about CIF from the year before. Long story short, he offered me a spot producing the Improv Til Dawn stage. It was an interesting experience, filled with last minute changes and minor emergencies (the Bailiwick became WNEP, my box office staff dumped the light board operator and didn't want to work the show, groups swapped time slots, etc.). I had an excellent crew that worked hard all night long, even during the 4am stupids that happen from lack of sleep and too much caffeine. |
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burlesque gone bad Burly-Q was a scripted show that I produced for Mike Flores, of Bettie Page Uncensored infamy. It was an "All about Eve" kind of story set during the last days of burlesque and starring Sarah Masters and an old college buddy of mine, Kate Lee. Ms. Lee is responsible for bringing half the population of Chinatown to the show. The show's highlights were the guest acts that rotated each week. Among my favorites: McHenry and Goldstein (Mark and Scott Woldman as an Abbott & Costello duo), the infamous Stump-Dog (wrangled by Kenan Derson) and Michelle Padgett's stand-up routine with a devil puppet. I learned a lot from it. And I'll leave it at that. |
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can you see the real me? Peter Gwinn created Faces in the Crowd, the fourth Director's Series show. Faces is a complex long form that highlights individual characters through a series of scenes. Peter brought me an idea summed up in a vague phrase - "exploring ensemble through individuals" - and turned it into a richly detailed form. It was a show that I wished more improvisers had seen. *1/27/02 - Faces in the Crowd was seen by more improvisers when the cast took the show to the Del Close Theater for a five week run during November and December of 2001. It received a great review in the Reader. |
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my mitten licks languidly I got an email from Dan Izzo during the Faces in the Crowd run about doing a Director's Series show, and a few months later Free Mason Jar was born. Dan worked with the idea of creating something that touched on as much pure free association as possible, sort of like chaos in a jar. The cast featured a lot of newer improvisers, many of which I had never worked with before. That was great - it's nice to see new faces at the Playground. Oh, and Greg Inda rocks. If you ever need a stage manager or AD for a show, call on Greg. He rocks. Did I mention that he rocks? Good. |
