Shakespeare in the Streets -- this weekend

Local Benton Park / Gravois Park / Cherokee Street business owners and residents will be appearing alongside professional actors in a play artfully adapted from William Shakespeareʼs The Tempest titled The New World, as part of the inaugural Shakespeare in the Streets, April 27-29. The event is underwritten by PNC Arts Alive and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The hour-long play will be performed at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, April 27-28, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 29, at the intersection of Cherokee Street and California Avenue. All performances are free.

Creative team members Tlaloc Rivas (director), Nancy Bell (playwright) and Justin Barisonek (set designer) spent the past four months in the neighborhood collaborating with the residents, immersing themselves in the culture.  The three attended neighborhood events, met with residents, business owners and the community leaders in an attempt to get to know one another and to simply understand the history, the stories and the current concerns of the neighborhood. 

The resulting script draws upon Shakespeare, real conversations with the residents, and the playwright’s own impressions. For example, the character Gonzalo says: 
 
 “The people here in City South, in Louis Saint,
 They do be different, that much is sure.
 Some immigrants, some working class
 Some artists and many others, too.
 But here they are.  Together.  Every day.
 And basically, they’re...
 Pretty chill
 With one another.....
 I would not change it.



Friday & Saturday, April 27-28 at 8PM and Sunday, April 29 at 3PM. It’ll be a block party. Get excited!

More on this exciting event here

Samuel Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape", Live at the Firecracker Press

The Firecracker Press will host four (4), weekend performances of Samuel Beckett’s “Krapp’s Last Tape” Dec. 9-10 and 16-17 at 7pm. LIVE theater in the printshop!

KRAPP’S LAST TAPE, a 1-man Beckett classic, is said to be as near an autobiography as Beckett wrote. In it, the 69-yr-old Krapp listens to a tape of himself at 39, comments, then records a new tape reviewing the events of the last year.

With Rob Suozzi as Krapp, directed by Dennis Corcoran and presented by The Black Mirror Theatre Company.

$10.00 donation at the door.
DATES: December 9-10th and 16-17th
TIME: 7:00pm
PLACE: The Firecracker Press – 2838 Cherokee, STLMO 63118





More information here.

FRI & SAT: ArtD Gallery & Studios & '2720' exhibit reception event

ArtD Gallery and Studios together with '2720' presents...
Large and Still in Charge

Two Night Opening Reception
Friday June 4, 2010 & Saturday June 5, 2010
7 – 11 pm


ArtDimensions' Flax Gallery brings you Flax’s first exhibit at the 2720 location.

The Flax Gallery is a concept gallery which celebrates women in the arts. All artwork will be by or about women. “Large and Still In Charge” is a sequel exhibition to the last exhibit called “Large and in Charge”.  The Flax Gallery is excited to host its first event at the new location. The ArtDimensions Gallery is located on the 2nd floor of 2720 Cherokee Street.  The building is shared with the venue, “2720”, on the first floor where there is a large stage for live music and performance art and a full service bar.   

Opening Reception Schedule
Friday, June 4 doors open at 7pm, enjoy live music on the first floor by:
The Good Pyramid, Abstracked and Farout, Z.A.P.
Meet artists from the exhibit, "Large and Still In Charge" on the second floor. There will be performances by Slightly Askew Theater Ensemble throughout the event.
Suggested Donation $7.  Donations will be discounted from art purchases during the opening.

Saturday June 4th  noon – 4pm free gallery hours.
                                7-11pm, enjoy live music on the first floor by:
dLAS and The Pimps of Joytime.  Meet artists from the exhibit.  Enjoy samples from local restaurants.
Suggested Donation $7.


Large and Still in Charge closes Saturday July 3, 2010.

ArtD Gallery & Studios will be open during these hours:
Friday & Saturdays, noon-4pm
And during all Loyal Family Events throughout the month of June or by appointment.

LIVE in the Gallery...
Slightly Askew Theater Ensemble :  Hamletmachine
Wednesdays-Saturdays, June 9-26 at 7:30 PM at
Featuring: Adam Elkana-Hale, Johanna Elkana-Hale, William Rauch, Rachel Tibbetts, Kimberly C. Weller Directed by Ellie Schwetye; Choreography by Sarajane Alverson. The plays of Heiner Muller are as dense as they are brief - shell fragments fired into our collective psyche.  What Mueller does is boil down a universally recognizable story to its skeleton.  Of his vast body of work, Hamletmachine is probably Mueller's most recognizable, and possibly the least accessible. Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble will transform Mueller's dark Hamletmachine text into a circus-like music video that both celebrates and challenges traditional theatre forms, using the best elements of pop culture to take the mystique out of the text, and make it accessible. The spectator may recognize the farce behind the so-called despair of the intellectual: Hamlet is a clown; Ophelia is a Lady Gaga. 

COMING UP
The exhibition in September will be “Seeing Green”, all works featured will celebrate sustainability. In addition to the exhibition and in collaboration with EarthDance Farms, there will be a Saturday Afternoon neighborhood farmers Market.

ArtDimensions, a 501(c)-3 nonprofit arts organization, has been working hard for the past 10 years to unite St. Louis artists and art appreciators at events like this one.  Please support the arts!                           

Lifetime Improv Class

From Bill Chott:

LIFETIME IMPROV CLASS

One price pays for free improv classes...for the rest of your Life!
Perform in a showcase and join us onstage for shows twice weekly!

Cost: $150, only $125 if you pre-register online.

Learn "The Trick" to Improv. This highly recommended class is a comfortable and supporting environment, suitable for people who have never been onstage before. Beginning Students find this work easier than they thought and advanced students find The Improv Trick approach fresh and inspirational. Students of this class appear in an improv showcase and can perform twice weekly at Improv Trick shows. This class is taught by Bill Chott and George Malich.

Chott is the star of Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place, The Ringer and Saturday Night Live. He's performed and taught internationally for The Second City, Improv Olympic, Upright Citizen's Brigade. He also teaches workshops for Special Olympics Global Messengers.

George Malich is an award-winning St. Louis Actor, star of the film A. Anonymous and one of the leading improv teachers in St. Louis, having trained with Keith Johnstone.

If you enjoy this free class, you can register at a discount for a 4-week introductory course — The Lifetime Class — that you can take again and again. This Lifetime Class is only $150 and you can register at the free class at a $25 discount.

WHERE: The Improv Trick Comedy Underground - 2715 Cherokee, STL MO 63118
WHEN: Sundays 3-5pm, Wednesdays 7:30-9:30pm - Sit in on either class for Life!
COST: $150, only $125 if you pre-register online.

Scholarships, gift certificates, and internships are now available. For more info, call 314-922-1998 or visit theimprovtrick.com

FREE Improv Class, Longform Class begins Monday

FREE Improv Class Wednesday, Longform Class begins this Monday, October 5.

Take this FREE class and you can register for The Lifetime Class:

Introduction to Improv – Level 1
Wednesdays, 7-9pm – Join in anytime, for Life!
PUBLIC SPEAKING, NETWORKING, FUN

Bill Chott from SNL, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Ringer is recognized nationally as one of the best improv teachers. Take advantage of this class while he’s in town, and you’ll be able to take it for FREE for the rest of your Lifetime. Bill and others teach this class year-round and once you’ve taken the class you can always come back and take this class for free. This class is a safe and comfortable environment, suitable for beginners and experienced improvisers looking for a fresh point of view.

Students in this class will be eligible to perform in a Student Showcase at the Improv Trick Comedy Underground.

The Improv Trick Comedy Underground is located at 2715 Cherokee St. Saint Louis, MO 63118

Instructors: Bill Chott and Marc Pruter

Free Improv Comedy Show Tonight!

If you haven't been to the Improv Trick Comedy Underground for the longform jam, then tonight is the night you need to go! You will be amazed as teams of improv actors create an entire play-let, from a single audience suggestion, right before your very eyes! And tonight, we have, Doug Foehner, acid head guitarist, opening the show.

The Improv Trick Comedy Underground is located at 2715 Cherokee, between Iowa and Ohio. The show starts at 8:00pm with LIVE music. Doors open at 7:30pm. Admission is FREE and you may B.Y.O.B.

Tuesday Nights at the Improv Trick feature a sampling of longforms, like:

• Dream (an audience member recounts their day, as our players portray that night's possible dream);
• Armando (a player provides comedy monologues based on an audience suggestion, and the other players create a montage of scenes, based on ideas generated from the monologues);
• Ugly Coyote: Harold (three different scenes revisited three times with palate-cleansing short-form games between).
  

So come on out for a riotous good time!

Original comedy August 6-8 at the Tin Ceiling Theater

Seen in NYC! Come see the St. Louis premiere!

"Ridgefield Middle School Talent Nite", an original two-person comedy about a very "talented" middle school

• Thursday, August 6 at 8pm
• Friday, August 7 at 8pm
• Saturday, August 8 at 8pm
• with a special LATE-NIGHT SHOW Friday, August 7 at 10pm

Created and performed by Jo Firestone and Dylan Marron

"Ridgefield Middle School Talent Nite" is a comedic tribute to middle school talent shows everywhere and the ugly and/or passion they try so hard to contain. An original play created and performed by two people who like themselves more now that they are no longer in middle school, "Ridgefield Middle School Talent Nite" is a play for anyone who ever thought it couldn't get any better than a moon bounce.

The Tin Ceiling
3159 Cherokee Street
(at the corner of Cherokee and Compton)
St. Louis, MO 63118

Tickets are $10

For ticket reservations, email ridgefieldtheplay (at) gmail (dot) com

National Improv Tour Coming this Saturday

Chris Trew and Tami Nelson’s Dream of Meal Tour brings Austin Comedy’s finest two-person show and classes to St. Louis’s Improv Trick Comedy Underground.

Here's what the critics have to say:

“Clever…deliriously unpredictable” – The Onion

“A fiercely enjoyable brain warp of a time” – The Austin Chronicle

“Energetic and razor sharp” – The Gothamist

Chris Trew and Tami Nelson are nationally touring performers and instructors and are the official improv group of Studio8.net.

The duo met, trained and began performing together in New Orleans at the Comedy Conservatory. After Hurricane Katrina they relocated to Austin, Texas where improv became life. After attending nearly every comedy festival in North America performing and studying the art form they returned to Austin and co-founded the ColdTowne Theater and Conservatory.

Chris and Tami were at the forefront of an improv revival and played a major role in exploding the burgeoning Austin improv scene. From 2006 to 2008 they were the Artistic and Conservatory Directors, producing and performing in hundreds of shows as well as training hundreds of students.

They’ll be performing at the Improv Trick Comedy Underground Saturday, August 1 and teaching the following workshops:

• Freestyle Rapping – Saturday, August 1, 5-7pm
• The Pattern is Everything – Sunday, August 2, 2-4pm
• Device Art – Sunday, August 2, 4:30-6:30

For more info and to make reservations, visit www.theimprovtrick.com or call 314-922-1998.

The Improv Trick Comedy Underground
2715 Cherokee St.
St. Louis, MO 63118

Improv Jam Tonight

We hope you can join us for our special All*Star Comedy Improv Jam and Bastille Day Extravaganza tonight at 8:00 p.m. It is FREE and FUN and FUNNY!

Ugly Coyote performs The Harold (a long-form improvised set of three acts forming a solid play created before the audience's very eyes and based on a single suggestion) every Tuesday night at 8:00 pm - 2715 Cherokee!

Come dressed for the occasion (whatever All*Star or Bastille Day means to you) and you may be eligible for prizes!!

Last chance to see Bill Chott in STL

One last week to see Bill Chott in action here in St. Louis. Three, if your schedule permits this week. Listen to us live on John Carney's show on KMOX tonight around 10:30 or so.

1. HAROLD NIGHT AND LONGFORM JAM - Bill Chott (Saturday Night Live, The Ringer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and St. Louis' hottest improvisers perform longform improv, an artform with roots in St. Louis history. Tuesday June 23rd (tonight) at The Improv Trick Comedy Underground 2715 Cherokee St. 8:00 pm.

2. COMEDY STAGE MATCH - St. Louis's top comedy improvisers match wits in The Stagematch, a no-holds-barred, knock-down, drag out head to head bout. Imagine if Wrestling at the Chase broke out at a Whose Line Is It Anyway improv show! Cheer your heros, boo your villains, and you'll laugh till you're down for the count. Funds from this show will benefit local at-risk kids and adults in the Cherokee area. Wednesday the 24th (tomorrow) At The Stable 1821 Cherokee 9:00pm

3. COMEDY ROAST - Bill Chott's 40th Birthday Roast. Bill's comedy friends and family will rip him a new one, and the public is invited. This will be every bit as raunchy and rowdy as a Friar's Club or Comedy Central Roast. Don't miss this once in a lifetime event! $8.00 ticket includes beer! At The Improv Trick Comedy Underground 2715 Cherokee 9:00pm.

Online ticketing is available for all these events...The Roast may sell out early, so buy your tickets now. For info, click here.

Dali's Liquid Ladies: A Surrealist Funhouse @ Cranky Yellow

Minneapolis' Bedlam Theater presents...

DALI'S LIQUID LADIES: a surrealist funhouse

A dark and subversive comedy about three mermaids who hatch a plot to kill Salvador Dalí.

Deep in the heart of Coney Island, we bring you the Midway’s only surrealist funhouse, where you can take a tour through your own most perverted secrets and your most terrifying nightmares. See social conventions tossed to the wind! Beautiful mermaids swim in the waters of our collective fantasies, clothed only in their commitment to high art!

Come one, come all to Salvador Dalí’s Dream of Venus. Where even your most shameful desires come true.

Date & Time:
May 9 2008, 7 pm

Event Location:
Cranky Yellow
2847 Cherokee Street.
Saint Louis, MO
63118