Recap: Philly Improv Festival Night 1
Beauty School Dropouts / Photo by Kevin Thom
Despite the incredibly lousy weather on Wednesday night, the 8th Annual Philadelphia Improv Festival got off to a pretty commendable start. In fact, the second block of the night exceeded my expectations both in terms of the turnout and the performances. (I’m sure the 7 p.m. show was also great—I just wasn’t there to see it.)
I really don’t know why I had any expectations given that three out of the four groups were totally new to me, but I’m almost glad I subconsciously underestimated them.
The only familiar act, Gross Butler kicked off the show serving their usual array of disturbing characters and grim scenarios. This includes a bit about a father prostituting his daughter, which oddly enough, made me burst in to laughter.
Next up, the Troika team Chaperone featuring Frank Farrell and Meredith Weir under the guidance of improv vet, Steve Kleinedler. I don’t know where hell Frank Farrell came from, but I really hope to see more of him. Playing a gullible teenager with uncontrollable nerves and bowels, he proved relentlessly funny. He and Meredith were also quite endearing together.
The same can be said of the ladies of New York’s Beauty School Dropouts who I can only assume have been performing together for quite some time in addition to being real-life besties. These girls fed off one another without a second of hesitation, turning one of the weirdest mother-daughter relationships I’ve ever seen into comedic gold.
Finally, I didn’t realize the Philly Improv Theater started supplying its house teams with large amounts
of amphetamines, but clearly Davenger is the product of some sort of comedic drug experimentation. Seriously, they were unreal. Generally I prefer smaller troupes, my logic being that the more people on the stage, the messier the scenes tend to get. Not the case with this crew. In fact, all nine members managed to out-perform each other. Yeah, I didn’t know that was possible either.
If I had to muster up any criticism it would be that this was one case where the best should not have been saved for last. The troupe was so fast and so sharp that my increasingly sleepy self could barely process it all.
The best of the Philly Improv Festival has yet to come with three more nights of shows. I’ll be hitting tonight’s line-up and shall report back tomorrow. My Philly Comedy Month coverage will then continue on Monday as the Philly Sketchfest gets underway.
FESTIVAL INFO: Each of the nightly performances (which are are split into either two or three hour-long blocks) will be held in the Prince Music Theater’s Independence Foundation Blackbox (1412 Chestnut St.). Tickets for an individual show block are $10 while a nightly pass costs $15-$20. As an additional bonus, a portion of tickets sales from this year’s festival as well as all proceeds from the annual Comedy Month raffle will benefit Career Wardrobe.
The Must-See Philly Improv Festival Shows, According to Local Comics
Tonight, the Philadelphia Improv Festival kicks off its eighth year, with more than 40 different acts performing over the next five days.
This includes a mix of the finest improvisational talents in town in addition to several noteworthy troupes from some of the nation’s top comedy meccas such as the Upright Citizens Brigade and New York’s Magnet Theater. (Note: the same goes for many of our local improvisers.)
Unable to cherry pick my own personal faves from the line-up (really, there’s too many to count), I decided to poll some local comics to find out which shows/troupes they’re most excited to see.
Greg Maughan (Philly Improv Theater Founder and Executive Director): “On Friday, Mayor Karen and The Imposters and on Saturday, Hey Rube and Junior Varsity are must sees.”
Jason Grimley (member of improv duo Grimacchio and PHIT house team King Friday): “I am very excited to see BILLY HAWK from Los Angeles. I know those guys from IO West and they never disappoint.”
Chip Chantry (stand-up comedian): “I’m looking forward to RARE BIRD SHOW. The three of them are masters at what they do, and I’m so glad they’re getting the band back together.”
Paul Triggiani (member Secret Pants; host of PHIT’s TV Party): “Thursday’s show represents three cities, both non-native acts sound novel and intriguing, and King Friday and Iron Lung are great local groups. Iron Lung is also collectively very attractive. So I’d recommend this block.”
Brendan Kennedy (stand-up comedian; member of Camp Woods): ”Hot Dish at 7:30pm Wednesday night. I saw every night of their Fringe show “BackStory” and they were brilliant!”
Corin Wells (member of PHIT house team Hot Dish): “Amie and Kristen/Kristen and Amie Show because every time they get on stage together, not only do they perform amazing improv but they have so much fun together. The audience feels like they’re are having fun right along with them.”
Alison Zeidman (Editor in Chief at Witout.net): “ZaoGao. They perform the best organic improv in the city.”
Aaron Hertzog (stand-up comedian; member of Hey Rube and Hate Speech Committee; host of PHIT’s Hey Everybody!): “Davenger. Because they are dope.”
Kristen Schier (PHIT instructor; member of Amie and Kristen/Kristen and Amie Show): “I am totally biased but I want everyone to check out ZaoGao. I love me some BILLYHAWK boys too! This year’s fest will be a blast.”
FESTIVAL INFO: Each of the nightly performances (which are are split into either two or three hour-long blocks) will be held in the Prince Music Theater’s Independence Foundation Blackbox (1412 Chestnut St.). Tickets for an individual show block are $10 while a nightly pass costs $15-$20. As an additional bonus, a portion of tickets sales from this year’s festival as well as all proceeds from the annual Comedy Month raffle will benefit Career Wardrobe.
**PHOTOS: Tom Lovelund, Musher-Lovelund Photography for Philly Improv Theater
Give The Gift of Style
If you’ve been cashing in on this seemingly endless string of summer sales then perhaps it’s time you purge your wardrobe of all your unwanted duds.
Fortunately, Career Wardrobe is now making it even easier to ditch your old clothes, having just added a few more drop-off locations around town.
The local non-profit, which provides women with the clothes, career skills and confidence necessary to transition to work, accepts biz casual/professional outfits and separates including medical scrubs and maternity wear (click here for more specific donation deets).
So check out the complete list drop-off locations below and opt to be a style philanthropist:
Career Wardrobe – 21 S. 12th St. (Mon.–Fri., 10am-4pm)
Wardrobe Boutique – 1822 Spring Garden St. (Mon.-Sat., 11am-7pm)
Susquehanna Bank – 1845 Walnut St. (normal business hours)
The Residences at Dockside – 717 S. Columbus Blvd.
Boutique Wearhouse – 5001 West Chester Pike (business hours)
Falls Presbyterian Church – East Falls (2nd Weds. of each month, 6-8pm)
Atherytun at Haverford Reserve – Haverford (2nd Tues. of each month, 5-7pm)
Too lazy to travel? Donate during your next wash using Wash Cycle Laundry.
What To Do This Weekend
Before they relocate to a bigger, better space, Bus Stop boutique is having a blow-out warehouse sale with 50-80 percent off shoes (regularly $100 and up) from designers like Irregular Choice, Dolce Vita, Nicole, OTBT, Terra Plana, Groundhog, Antelope and many, many more. Even hard-to-find European, Spanish and South American designers will be on sale. If you bring your own bag, they’re going to sweeten the deal more and give you an additional $5 off your purchase. The sale ends Monday so get there before everyone snatches up all the good shoes.
Since their Summer Warehouse Sale in NoLibs is such a hit, Arcadia Boutique has decided to hold a fall/winter edition at their Rittenhouse store. All this weekend, on the 2nd floor, you’ll find eco-friendly fashions from their fall and winter collections now up to 80 percent off, including pieces from BB Dakota, Current/Elliott, Popomomo and Pendleton, the Portland Collection. Sweetening the deal even more, there will also be a clearance section of clothing and accessories starting at just $20. If you’re already on the market for some warmer-weather apparel, both Arcadia locations will be offering $15 percent off their brand-spanking-new spring styles.
Tonight, Philly-based photographer, writer and model, Cassie Helper is celebrate the launch of her website while helping to raise money for Career Wardrobe, a non-profit which empowers women in transition by providing professional work attire and educational programs. In addition to drink special, raffles and a photo opportunity, the fundraising event will include complimentary Patron tequila libations, complimentary appetizers and desserts from Philly-based artisan and pastry chef, Dana Prophet. It all goes down from 7:30-10pm at Bourbon Blue in Manayunk. There’s a $5-$10 suggested donation, all of which will go directly to Career Wardrobe. Have some old business-appropriate clothes you’ve been meaning to get rid of? Bring them along! Staff and volunteers will be on hand to collect donations.
Sa Va Native Gypsy Community Fashion Show & Street Fair
Tonight from 6-9 p.m. join Rittenhouse boutique Sa Va for an outdoor fashion show on Sansom Street between 17th and 18th Sts. As part of Design Philadelphia, the event will include djs, venders, a raffle and guest speakers in addition to the runway show featuring fall looks from Sa Va. All proceeds will benefit the Career Wardrobe. Awesome Sa Va sidenote—the boutique now gives away a reusable cloth bag, made using remnant fabrics at their garment center, with all clothing purchases—unique and green. Two thumbs up Sa Va!
J.Karma and Career Wardrobe
Reasonably-good-cause alert!
From J.Karma Boutique, at 62 N 3rd St. in Old City, there’s a donation drive for Career Wardrobe with an added bonus:
November 2nd starts a MONTH long accessory drive for work appropriate shoes and handbags which will be donated to The Career Wardrobe, a non-profit organization which provides free work appropriate clothing and workshops designed to educate and inspire women returning to the workforce.
From November 2nd thru November 30th, J. Karma will be accepting much needed donations to benefit this important cause. During this time, please stop by and donate your gently used work appropriate shoes and handbags – we will also be accepting scarves & jewelry.
In exchange for your generous donations, J.Karma will offer a coupon for $10 off your next purchase of $50 or more OR $20 off your next purchase of $100 or more.
Arright, so $10 off $50 and $20 off $100 are kind of sneaky not-real-coupons, like those standardized Banana Republic/Gap/Express/whichever-mall-store sales in which you always run around trying to find something that’s exactly $5 to go with that $45 skirt and end up buying more than you would have (or maybe that’s just me), but!
The Career Wardrobe is a legit good cause, and I don’t think it’s going too far out there in feminist-land to say that it takes far more effort and money for a woman to outfit herself for most living-wage jobs than it does for her male counterpart, and that on top of that, women tend to be judged more than men on how they dress at work. Like, say you only have two or three work-type outfits and one pair of shoes: way less likely to be noticed if you’re a guy.
So even if you’re not in the market for a new pair of shoes, you might consider the Career Wardrobe when you clean out your closet for the season.
But if you’re looking to take advantage of what they’re offering, here’s some things we like at J.Karma at the moment, in addition to the Melie Bianco bag at the top of the post:
Short and tall boots by Jeffrey Campbell.
Bubble ring by Marlyn Schiff.
…more boots by Jeffrey Campbell. What can we say, we like boots.