There should be an AIC Student/Lab Show

acrouch · Post by **acrouch** » June 14th, 2007, 1:26 am

Asaf wrote:My one questions is, who is the audience for this? What is going to sell them on coming out for this?

Friends and family of the new troupes? Tuesday Jammers?

Roy Janik · Post by **Roy Janik** » June 14th, 2007, 1:32 am

Asaf wrote:My one questions is, who is the audience for this? What is going to sell them on coming out for this?

People who want to see live comedy for free.
Family members of new troupes and people graduating/taking classes.
friends of new troupes and people graduating/taking classes.
Improvisers who want to see what the new blood has to offer.
new troupes/improvisers who want to check out and meet their peers.
People from the Jam

And addendum I should make to my proposal is that there should be a tradition of going somewhere, like Opal's or the Gingerman afterwards.

Roy Janik · Post by **Roy Janik** » June 14th, 2007, 1:37 am

beardedlamb wrote:thursday is the next prime day after friday and saturday. i say we do it once a month or every second and fourth thursday.

My reason for suggesting Sunday or Monday is purely personal. My thing with regards to AIC projects is that no one should propose a project unless they're willing to take a large part in/oversee it.

I'm personally willing to host this, get the acts together, and make it happen, but I have a weekly conflict with Thursdays. If someone wants to take the ball and run with it so that it can happen on Thursdays, that's fine. I'll be sad that I'll never get to see the show, but I'll still meet up for drinks later and do what I can to support it otherwise.

Asaf · Post by **Asaf** » June 14th, 2007, 2:07 am

In order to make sure this gets the possible chance, I am going to suggest this based on personal experience.

You are not going to get people who want to see comedy for free unless you have a particular angle on the show. Improv jams are hard to market to people not in improv already. It is formless and extremely varied in quality and that makes it hard to sell.

acrouch · Post by **acrouch** » June 14th, 2007, 10:16 am

This isn't a jam though, right? It's a student/new improviser showcase. Let's do a trial show, see how it goes and schedule further shows accordingly. You guys are welcome to use a Sunday at the Hideout. Monday is taken up with classes generally.

smerlin · Post by **smerlin** » June 14th, 2007, 11:44 am

I think this is a great idea, Roy.

Maybe graduating classes can have a little run, instead of one show.

Roy Janik · Post by **Roy Janik** » June 14th, 2007, 12:09 pm

smerlin wrote:Maybe graduating classes can have a little run, instead of one show.

Yes! When I visited DSI in NC, that's what they were doing. The level 3 graduates picked a name for themselves and had a mini-run of graduation shows.

The other interesting thing was that the level 1 and level 2 classes had shows, too, heavily directed by the instructor.

shando · Post by **shando** » June 14th, 2007, 1:30 pm

I know of a certain improv-friendly programming director who might be able to absorb some spillover if the Hideout is too full.

ChrisTrew.Com · Post by **ChrisTrew.Com** » June 14th, 2007, 2:27 pm

Reminder: we are definitely doing a "lab" type of show at ColdTowne. Most likely late Friday night, most likely starting in July, details to come.

Roy Janik · Post by **Roy Janik** » June 14th, 2007, 2:28 pm

ChrisTrew.Com wrote:Reminder: we are definitely doing a "lab" type of show at ColdTowne. Most likely late Friday night, most likely starting in July, details to come.

I'm totally confused now. From the description Justin gave me of WIP, it seems totally different. The AIC show would be improv-specific, geared towards new students, new troupes, and experimental improv formats.

ChrisTrew.Com · Post by **ChrisTrew.Com** » June 14th, 2007, 2:37 pm

I'm confused now too. That sounds like the Tuesday Night Jam.

kbadr · Post by **kbadr** » June 14th, 2007, 2:42 pm

The Tuesday Night Jam is not a show. It is a loosely-structured, open jam where there is some instruction and we work on improv skills.

Roy is proposing a show for the explicit purpose of showcasing new(er) troupes who are hungry for stage time.

ChrisTrew.Com · Post by **ChrisTrew.Com** » June 14th, 2007, 2:46 pm

Okay, I'm clearer now.

Roy Janik · Post by **Roy Janik** » June 14th, 2007, 2:51 pm

ChrisTrew.Com wrote:I'm confused now too. That sounds like the Tuesday Night Jam.

This would be a show with three performance slots, like the 3-fer. The show would be improv only. It would be primarily for:

1) giving new troupes like Look Cookie, The Starter Kit, It's Full of Cobras/whatever more performance opportunities
2) giving students/recent graduates a show they can roll their graduation shows into, perhaps allowing them to do more performing than they would otherwise.
3) giving existing troupes an opportunity to experiment with formats

The whole reason for existence would be to give new students and new performers a chance to perform more, see each others' work, and get inspired.. to get much-needed stage time with some of the pressure off, since the show is free and explicitly billed as a Student/Lab show.

So yeah, even though there's room for the existing troupes to experiment, there'd be a much more hardcore focus on students and new performers/troupes.

It's wouldn't be like the Tuesday Night Jam, because the Jam is more of a learning experience where everyone gets together and plays games, does scenes, and does exercises as one big group.

I hope that helps clarify things a bit.

acrouch · Post by **acrouch** » June 14th, 2007, 3:02 pm

ChrisTrew.Com wrote:Reminder: we are definitely doing a "lab" type of show at ColdTowne. Most likely late Friday night, most likely starting in July, details to come.

Is this the WIP show? Can you tell us more about it? What does WIP stand for?