Improv Review ...Because Improv is Art, Dammit

Reviews

CHICAGO 2001

Once in a lifetime, Muslims are required to make a pilgrimage, or a hajj, to Mecca during the month of Dhul Hijjah, to visit the holy sites of Islam and pay homage to Allah. For improvisors, the Holy City is Chicago, and the mosques are the theaters of Second City, Improv Olympic, The Playground, WNEP and ComedySportz. And the best time for the pilgrimage is early May, when the Chicago Improv Festival, the world's largest festival of its kind, brings together improvisors from around the world for a celebration of improvisation, the worlds oldest performing art.

This smoothly run operation, headed by co-producers Jonathan Pitts and Frances Callier, was based at three theaters this year, the 550-seat Athenaeum serving as the mainstage, serving up many big name acts like the cast of Whose Line Is It Anyway, the Upright Citizen's Brigade, and alumni of Second City. The more intimate Playground served as the showcase stage,
featuring newer acts and those best served by smaller stages like the Liquid Radio Players from Los Angeles, goga from New York, and 3 Guys Named Joe from Detroit, while the WNEP Theater served as host of the Improv 'til Dawn set, a series of 15 minute slots created to give almost everyone and every
group some stage time. Other theaters like Second City and the Vittum lent their stages for a number of special events as well.

And just at publication, we got word from Mr. Pitts that the Festival will be adding a fourth stage in 2001, called the Fringe, to provide exposure for those improvised shows that are not easily categorized, or that not everyone will "get."

The performances ran the gamut of improvisation, from standard shortform (SAK Theater and On The Spot from Montreal), to Harolds (Carl & the Passions & People of Earth of Chicago), to more freeform work (the Swarm and Mission Improvable) to the indefinable (Annoyance Theater and Weaselicious).
Musical improvisation was ably covered by groups like Baby Wants Candy and Whose Chorus Line Is It Anyway?, as was work based on theater or other styles, like LA Theatresports Triple Play, Sin City's soap opera, or Liquid Radio Players recreation of a 1940s radio show. The groups also embraced
the history as well as the future of improvisation, with experienced, long established groups like Baby Wants Candy participating along with a group fresh faced high schoolers from Kansas City called Exit 16. Mr. Pitts said "About midway through this year's Festival, the new mission statement for
the fest hit me: 'To honor the past, celebrate the present and embrace the future."

Every production was professionally run, and the staff of the festival was efficient and courteous. Special mentions should go to Vivienne Dipeolu (on-site mainstage producer), Sean Sheridan (mainstage house manager), and Don Hall (on-site showcase producer). And intern coordinator Shaun Himmerick deserves hats off for his beaming, knowledgeable, helpful army of student volunteers, who were seemingly at the elbow of anyone who needed directions or help.

The theme of the festival was, unofficially, unity. The teachers and producers who are looked up to by improvisors around the world, attempted to hammer home that idea in every venue afforded them. Open minds took in each performance as learning opportunities, and open arms greeted them to teach and nurture.

A great improv story was related to us. At the very end of Improv 'til Dawn, a group from Winnepeg called The Probable Team, made up entirely of interns, was scheduled to perform. As the time approached however, Only one member of the team was there, a Michael Grajewski, the others having decided to take a nap. Rather than bow out, Mr.Grajewski decided to do the team's 15 minute set solo, something he'd never done, and had only first seen at this year's festival. So after screwing up his courage, and as he's explaining the situation to the audience, his team runs into the theater and they do their set.

If you have not been, it's difficult to express the scope of the 4th Annual Chicago Improv Festival. So many troupes, students and styles merge to create "the funniest week of the year." Improv Review attempted to be there for all of it, with reviews of the shows and interviews of many of the key players in the improv world. And we hope to see you next year in Mecca.

[Click here for Jeff Catanese's editorial about The Importance of Festivals.]

Interviews

Susan Gaspar of The Free Associates

Don Hall of WNEP

Yuri Kinugawa of Yellow Man Group

Stan Morse of Liquid Radio Players

Mick Napier of Annoyance Productions

Dan O'Connor of TNN's Lifegame

Joey Slotnik, Lauren Katz & John Lehr of Slotnik, Katz & Lehr

Special CIF 2001 Supplement

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	Special CIF 2001 Supplement