WIT NEWS ITEM | This Was Improvapalooza

WIT AD Mark Chalfant says some thank-yous and intros the last show of the night, the F*ckaround Sillyfest, which lived up to its name. Pics courtesy of Ellie Lee (see more here).

THIS WAS IMPROVAPALOOZA

POSTED 7.19.07

Sadly, DC's first-ever Improvapalooza festival has come and gone. How did it go? Really damn well, thanks. Despite lines down the block and a standing-room only crowd for most of the night, fans turned out in droves to pack the Source Theatre and cheer on more than two dozen ten-minute shows for more than five hours.

Oh, and there were highlights galore. If you've got a favorite moment you'd like to share, please visit the show page and leave a comment. Here are just a few of the sights and thoughts from WIT's Big Night at the Source. Check out more pics by clicking here...




Fans line up outside the Source Theatre for a chance to see the shows on Saturday night.

JOE BRACK
Caveat, The DC Crackemups, The Men's Room, Cell Block B

I felt like we really created a terrific night for a HUGE audience. I loved how messy and crazy, yet well thought out and composed the evening felt. It was a joy to be able to 'prov with folks I look up to and admire. I thank you all for a very memorable night.


JOSH PATTEN
JINX, The DC Crackemups, The Men's Room

The Source was a great home for Improvapalooza, and it was amazing to feel such a high level of audience energy over a five hour period.

I made the mistake of going outside to see the line snaking around the corner. After that, I felt too guilty about taking an audience member's spot, so I missed out on a ton of hilarious shows.

I was hosting during Neutrino Pequeño's technical difficulties, and the burden of stalling the audience once again convinced me that ensemble-based improv is roughly 1,000 times more fun than doing standup. I did shake hands with the guy who BYO'd fancy wine glasses, though.


STACY HIGGINS
The Shower, Makeup, Season Six, The DC Crackemups

The response from the crowd(s!!) was overwhelming on Saturday night. Improvapalooza was easily the best night of the summer and I was honored to be a part of it.



Members of onesixtyone blast through their "No Minor Characters" show.

JORDAN HIRSCH
American Breakfast, JINX, Buddy Pic, The Men's Room, Cell Block C

Awesome! Easily my favorite night of the run- I've never seen such a huge crowd who were all obviously enjoying themselves immensely. It was great to get to play with so many different WIT players I've never been on-stage with before. And I've never seen Mark Chalfant in his 1890's boxing shirt before- that was a treat.


BRIAN COLEMAN
Neutrino Pequeño, Don't Laugh, onesixtyone, Superbest, Cell Block C

Five hours just flew by. Before Saturday night my biggest concern was that we couldn't possibly be consistently entertaining for such a long stretch of time. Turns out we can! I hope we can do it again next year.


SEAN MURPHY
JINX, Bad Walken, Buddy Pic, The DC Crackemups, The Men's Room

I didn't know what to expect from the evening, but I got more than I had imagined. Playing with different players, experimenting with new formats, and playing to a packed house were all things I knew that I would enjoy. I just didn't know how exciting it would be. It was fantastic. I wish we could do it monthly. And thanks to Mark for sporting a keg. That was big time.



Caveat gets "Trapped" onstage for their ten minute set.

ZACK PHILLIPS
Neutrino Pequeño, Don't Laugh, Werewolf McButterbone, Bad Walken, The DC Crackemups, Jackie

Improvapalooza turned out to be everything I had hoped it would be, except that before it actually went down, I would have called those hopes "fantasies." Having the whole family, so to speak, under one roof, laughing and drinking was a really good Saturday night.

I would almost say that Bad Walken was one of the high points of my improv career, which sounds weird, because it was the silliest show I've ever played in. In a way, it almost felt cheap. But it was also the most unequivocally fun show I've ever been a part of and one of the biggest audience responses I've ever felt.

Actually, now that I think about it, I felt that way about a lot of the night's shows.


JASON SAENZ
Bad Walken, The DC Crackemups, The Men's Room, Jackie

The improvapoolza was a fantastic night. I was in complete awe the whole time, as soon as I pulled up in front of the theater and saw the huge line outside the door. I couldn't believe it. It was a surreal night and I am incredible proud to have been a part of it.


TYLER KORBA
American Breakfast, Neutrino Pequeño, onesixtyone, The Men's Room, Superbest

That. Was. Awesome. Topher says we managed to get 300 people in to see the shows throughout the night, which is just amazing to me. I couldn't believe how quickly it all flew by- I can recall looking at the lineup at 7pm and thinking I had all kinds of time to relax, but I was wrong... it was all over way too soon.

I felt bad for being at the heart of the one schedule change/technical glitch of the night with the Neutrino Pequeño presentation, but the show itself went really well- a great lesson in how to keep it simple. We owe a big fat thank you to Justin and Stuart for swapping spots with us and going on with their Shrimp on The Barbie set ten minutes early.

There was a little space between curtains in the wings which gave me a good view of everyone's shows- I was more than happy to hang out there. It was great to see Shame return to the WIT stage and I laughed my ass off at Bad Walken. So silly. Thanks to all of the volunteers and everyone behind the scenes who made the night work... we've got to make this an annual event...



Volunteers prepare for the onslaught of patrons before the Source Theatre opens its doors.

AMANDA HIRSCH
American Breakfast, The Shower, JINX, The Ladies Room

The best moment for me was during the F*ckaround Silly Fest. I jumped out to edit a scene, and started marching around chanting "Give Peace a Chance," and suddenly 5 or 6 other improvisors, most of whom I'd never played with before, joined right in. It was like insta-backup and really made me feel like part of a larger team.


MOLLY WOODS
American Breakfast, Neutrino Pequeño, Bad Walken, The Ladies Room, The DC Crackemups, The Waistcoats, Jackie

I knew my Walken was bad, but it was nice to get some pity applause for being the Lady Walken. Also, during Jackie's "Bat," the audience might not have known we were all pantsless.



The DC Crackemups- the worst improv group in the history of the world- take the stage.

MIKE BASS
Neutrino Pequeño, Don't Laugh, Bad Walken, onesixtyone, The DC Crackemups,
The Men's Room, The Waistcoats, Superbest

Improvapalooza is definitely something WIT wants to continue. That seems to be the consensus. And the Source Theatre is perfect for it, too. There's a pizza place right next door about the size of a closet that sells them by the giant slice and stays open until late. Sure to be a new friend of WIT's. I think this was actually the final show at the Source before it closes its doors for 6-7 months for major renovations.

And there's a back alley behind the theater perfect for hanging out. All the dumpsters came in handy for our Neutrino shoot. Poor Patrick and Dave had to roll around in three seperate dumpsters while Ken remained perfectly clean. Doing the Neutrino show reminded me how much fun it is to do and how much the audience digs it. It also reminded me how hard it is, though. I couldn't figure out the video switcher, which caused the only scheduling hiccup of the evening.

We did a show called Waistecoats - an English Improv Troupe doing an American show about American and British culture. But rather than stereotyping American culture, we were stereotyping British culture. And Stuart was in our troupe, so he just got more enraged at the blatant misrepresentation of English people. Every male character was named Nigel, and it ended with a Benny Hill chase scene. I enjoyed the crap out of it.

I watched most of the shows from the wings. I kept poking my head around the curtains to see if the crowd had dwindled at all. It never did. Tons of smiling faces at all times.



Mark Chalfant kicks off the night's proceedings with a brief intro. And a stopwatch.

JAIME FEARER
The Shower, Makeover, Season Six, The Ladies Room

What a magical evening - the improvisers, operatives, and crowd sustained an unbelievable amount of energy and good humor over the course of five hours and innumerable beers! I'm terribly honored and proud to have been a part of what I hope is the first annual WIT Improvapalooza.


DAVE JOHNSON
American Breakfast, Neutrino Pequeño, Werewolf McButterbone, Bad Walken, onesixtyone,
The Waistcoats

Some favorite things of mine were:

Doing Neutrino again and feeling concerned while shooting a scene that not enough was happening and then seeing it on the screen and feeling pleasantly surprised that I liked it.

Also in Neutrino, when after a scene inwhich Natasha was playing an acoustic guitar, the camera zoomed in on the guitar neck to end the scene and the transitional music track happend to be a soft acoustic sounding song... according to Zack, a total accident. But like Miles Davis apparently said, there are no accidents. Although I think Miles is right, I loved having an experience that helped me remember it.

Seeing Mark and Topher double cast themselves in Shame... I loved watching that stuff.


MARK CHALFANT
Our Happy Home, Neutrino Pequeño, onesixtyone, Shame, The Men's Room

It being our first time conducting an Improvapalooza, I was expecting several train wrecks off and on-stage (and I say that without judgment and, in fact, as a great appreciator of train wrecks). But only for a few moments did things hop off the rails, and then they hopped back on. I was delighted to see and be part of so much fun on stage, and even more delighted to see how brilliantly all the backstage and front-of-house personnel handled the many random unpredictables that popped up there.



Season Six runs through as many Harold longforms as they can in ten minutes.