Austin's own The Frank Mills opened for TJ & Dave at the Spider House Events Center this past month, who were in town promoting the debut of their documentary/concert film, "Trust Us, This All Made Up." The entire Austin Improv community turned out for two sold out shows in the midst of Austin's SXSW festival. Not only was there an enthusiastic audience who clearly knew what long-form improv was, there were just as much people being exposed to improvisational theater for the first time as well as plenty of SXSW badges. The shows, Sunday and Monday March 15-16 were produced locally by a joint venture of the Austin Improv Collective and ColdTowne Theaters, just the tip of the iceberg of what promises to be a full slate of nationally known Improv acts and sketch troupes to visit Austin in the coming months, culminating with The Out of Bounds festival in September.
Austin's Improv Community turned out in force to catch two sold out shows:

Labels: AIC, backstage, ColdTowne, improv, SpiderHouse, SXSW, TheFrankMills, TJandDave

We're always happy when a group who has graced the festival gets any national attention and that's why we're glad to redirect you away from our web site to read an interesting article about how geeky live theatre and comedy is finding niche audiences at conventions and private functions all over the U.S.

Check out Start Trekkin' New York (OOB '07) and Austin's own Ben Sterling (well hung jury '02, '03, '05, American Standard '06, '07) in the highfalutin stage actor's resource Backstage. Good to see geeks getting their own and we hope to see Ben back for the 2009 festival in Austin nerding the place up like old times.

Start Trekkin' NYC in Backstage

Labels: comedy, improv, links

Zach Ward recently visited Austin for the annual SXSW festival. Zach has spent the last 9 years building North Carolina's DSI Comedy Theater into a major national player, hosting an annual improv festival in Carrboro, NC, now called the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival. While Zach was in Austin for ten days this March, he managed to catch shows, teach, perform stand-up, sit in with improv troupes and meet most of the improvers in town. Over breakfast tacos and a gospel band at Maria's Taco Xpress, on the last day of SXSW, Zach talked with us about his experiences being immersed in the Austin Improv scene, what makes a good improv festival and the psychology of tag-outs.

What are your impressions of Austin and the Improv scene here?
Austin was awesome. I have been here for ten days. The people were great. Public Transportation is amazing. $1.50 to ride all day! Every place I went felt like hip Carrboro, but twenty times the size. Like a magnifying glass hovering over a small local town with twenty times the amount of hip locally owned businesses. Over the course of two weekends I played and saw improv shows in every improv house in town. Played at ColdTowne, played at the Hideout, saw stand up at Esther's Follies, did a show at Salvage Vanguard with the Frank Mills, and taught a workshop.
I think there is so much crossover and so many people doing so many different things at so many of the theaters in town, which is great. Even going to The Hideout and seeing pictures of teams up at the wall that I actually saw play at a different theater the night before was great! Having drama and infighting between comedy theaters is such bullshit. And even seeing the pictures of the AIC Thanksgiving Potluck was awesome. In North Carolina, DSI has a huge community around it and there is other improv stuff in the area, but people are so afraid to make nice. You guys have theaters that are 15 minutes from each other and you are still friends. I deal with theaters that are a 50 minute drive and there is nothing. So, I have been impressed and excited by this. There is a theater in North Carolina that celebrated their 20th Anniversary this week, and just being in Austin made me think of community a whole lot, so I woke up Friday in Austin and posted congratulations on 20 years to that other theater on the front page of my website, encouraging DSI fans to help them celebrate this weekend and go see shows there. Austin inspired me to do that. And the whole Idea of the AIC itself... just to think there is an organization that exists wholly to market and brand improv within the city is awesome.

What did you bring back to North Carolina from your time in Chicago and what will you bring back from Austin?
I had a lot of fun in playing in Austin. I got to play a style that is different than how I normally play. I got to slow down. Playing with and watching The Frank Mills was great. I want to play a more grounded and paced show and see how that feels. All of the students at DSI, I've taught them how I play and my style of show. I've played a slower style before, it just has not been my every weekend approach, but now I think I might try to bring that back in. My style of play is much more New York. I'm very game heavy. I heighten quick. I go absurd. It's not that I avoid relationships. I have significant detailed relationships when I play, but when you see me play, it's not that one-act-play feeling.
When I was in Chicago I appreciated my training. I appreciated the ability to see so many different kinds of shows, successful and not so successful. But I also took back things that I knew I did not want to do. During one of my classes, I did a tag out into a scene where a classmate was referencing the Bible and being vague and general. So I tagged in and called her out for being vague and general. I thought it was going to be a quick button, with a quick edit and we would move onto the next scene. I was not trying to judge her, I just wanted to get them out of there and move on. My teacher asked me to stay after class and told me that if I ever treated a classmate like that again, I would not be welcomed back. I did not mean it to read like that all, nor did I want to put anyone into that kind of situation. I learned that I cannot risk having my moves misinterpreted on stage, so now I try to support people unconditionally and be positive regardless of the move that could be made. It helped me understand the psychology of moves. So in my teaching now, I'm all about the love. Improvisers and characters are different. But if you do not play with that person all of the time, if a character is berating you, it gets hard to differentiate that the improviser might be berating you. That led me to think about conflicts and how much can be misread by your scene partner and the audience. That was nine years ago, and that has stayed with me.

What makes a good improv festival?
A great festival takes care of the people that are at the festival and makes sure they are appreciated for what they bring to the scene. It should be like working for a start-up. You might not have a great salary but you better make sure you have stock options and great benefits. Be Google and have a foosball table in the break room. Provide that positive atmosphere where everyone is on the same level. Whether you are a college group or a professional group, parties should never be or feel elitist; they should bring the entire community together, where college troupes can be shoulder to shoulder with the professionals and feel just as important. Who else is praising you for doing an awesome improv show? Not even your parents. At DSI, we try to put a younger group with experienced groups we know will knock it out of the park, so that younger troupe can go back and say, " I played with _____." And the experienced troupes can say, "Hey I saw your show before ours. Great job!" It means so much, and what a way to go back to your college campus for your four shows or so that school year with the experience of sharing a bill with a troupe from NYC. It fosters those relationships and building that community. But at the same time while you are having this cool event in your town, you have to think about how to elevate improv to the general public. The festival is a great excuse to reach out to the business community. As a producer I have this event that elevates the local population of our town by 4%. At DSI we try to reach out to every local business and say, "You will want to be a part of this." Also, every year we try to raise the bar to the next level. Next year is our 10th year. I'm already trying to think of ways to get more people involved and what can be better and bigger. Most improv festivals that have died off have stopped concentrating in one of those three areas. They have stopped taking care of people, they have stopped reaching out to the local community, or they have stopped looking for that next piece of the puzzle.

What makes good improv?
Adventure should be your subtext, and your scene partner is your buddy cop partner. If you are two nuns trying to save the local youth center or a husband and wife figuring out what movie to go to, or you may be arguing about the stale donut in front of you... but at the end of the day you will take a bullet for your scene partner. Also, at the end of your show you should be sweating a little bit and the audience should feel like they got an adrenaline rush. That is why I move fast in most of my shows. I'm like a puppy dog with ADD and OCD. I am intensely focused in the moment, but if there is a door that opens for me to jump through. I'm through it.

Labels: DSI, improv, improvfestivals, interviews, northcarolina, zachward

-Master Interview: David Razowsky-

Dave Razowsky is one of the great improvisors and teachers of the art in its long history. A veteran of two Out of Bounds and two Out of Bounds West festivals, he has been a part of our history, as well. We recently got the chance to ask him a few questions about improv, and the answers are conveniently displayed below.





Out of Bounds: You have been an improv teacher for quite some time now, but what do you feel like you still have to learn from it?
David Razowsky: Improv is a practice, not unlike yoga or meditation. I continue to learn why things work and why the rules are there. I also learn new ways to break rules and reinforce the idea that all improv is acting. I also learn that it's not easy to direct people who aren't ready to be vulnerable. I'm sorry if that sounds negative.

Out of Bounds: Who have been your inspirations in doing improv?
David Razowsky: I'm always inspired by Dave Pasquesi. He's smart, funny, vulnerable, and a wonderful actor.

Out of Bounds: What characteristics do you think all great improv shows share?
David Razowsky: The only mistake you make in improv is casting, so all great improv shows share one thing: great casting. They're an ensemble that enjoys, respects, celebrates, challenges and supports each other in the most wonderful ways.

Out of Bounds: What were your recollections of Out of Bounds in Austin when you came in 2008?
David Razowsky: I love the improv community in Austin and OOB is all about support, encouragement, growth and fun. Yes, fun.

Labels: improv, interviews, masters

Kaci Beeler has performed in a prodigious FIVE Out of Bounds festivals if you include Out of Bounds West (and we do!). Over the years, Out of Bounds has repaid her loyalty. Let's talk to her about it, shall we? Okay.

Out of Bounds: So, you got "discovered" by a talent agent at Out of Bounds. How did that come about?

Kaci Beeler: Well, I was at Out of Bounds West in Los Angeles, May 2008. At the time I was doing some film work in Austin here and there (mostly through contacts I had with friends) but I hadn't looked into getting an agent. You need headshots (mucho dinero) and you have to show them acting work or reels and it just seemed like too much trouble to go through - I'd rather just focus on improv and getting my undergrad degree for the moment.

And so that was what I was doing at the time I was "discovered" - focusing on improv at the end of my semester and doing a few shows at Out of Bounds West. It just so happened that a talent agent that worked in both Austin and LA was in the audience for the the Available Cupholders show I was in. Supposedly he loved it and asked around to find out who I was. He hunted me down a few weeks after the festival back in Austin. It was awesome. He and his agency, Tag Talent, wanted to sign me, even though I didn't have headshots or anything at the time. It was so much easier than trying to approach them myself. I'm glad I procrastinated in this instance.

Amy Heckerling, director of Johnny Dangerously and Clueless, actually saw our Out of Bounds Parallelogramophonograph show the year before. We only knew that because she told my fellow troupemate Kareem her name and said she enjoyed the show. He didn't recognize the name at the time and was just like, "Uh...thanks!", but we figured it out via the Internet later. Famous lady like our show!

Out of Bounds: What do you like most about Out of Bounds?

Kaci Beeler: Performing and watching others perform, and then getting together with other like-minded improvisers and talking shop. I could talk about improv and improv theory for hours, and I love getting to know new people and groups from around the nation. I have friends in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago, Hawaii, Tulsa, Omaha, and more all from meeting up at improv festivals. Out of Bounds has the absolute best parties of all the festivals in the nation - I am convinced of this! Having a conversation born of mutual respect with a performer over beer is one of the best ways to talk about the art form you love.

Out of Bounds: Tell us a bit about yourself and your improv.

Kaci Beeler: I'm 22 years old, a female, and getting my undergraduate degree in Art from St. Edward's University in Austin this May. I have an adorable puppy named Tuesday who has an obsession with licking. I think cupcakes are extremely pleasing to look at. I fly around the country and make blog videos for Southwest Airlines. I like to paint realistic and representational paintings with oils as well as design and create sets for the improv stage.

I've been performing improv for about 6-7 years now. I perform in at least two shows every weekend, usually more. Parallelogramophonograph is my main troupe, and we focus on improvisational theatre and create narrative longforms. Lately we've been performing Improvised French Farce around the country but here in Austin we're continually creating and experimenting with new formats. We're actually getting ready to wrap up our latest run - GRIMM : Improvised Brother's Grimm Fairy Tales. I also perform with the Available Cupholders, Perfect Season, Adventure Squad!, and in almost all the shows at the Hideout Theater. I've studied with Keith Johnstone as well as many other diverse instructors and performers from all over. I take what I like from them and leave the rest.

In my improv, I really care about creating shows that the audience can invest in. I always want to be challenging and pushing myself, and I never want to make a joke at the expense of a scene or show. I sincerely believe that well-performed improvised theater can be as good as the best scripted theater. Sometimes it's hard -- working in the ultimate ephemeral art form where even the best shows are only as good as they are in the moment and everything else is a fleeting memory -- but it's the intense connection I get with my fellow players and the audience keeps me coming back to it every week.

Oh yeah, I'm also getting married this September! After Out of Bounds, of course. ;)

Labels: improv, interviews, kacibeeler