NCT at Phoenix Comic Con

This year marked National Comedy Theatre's 3rd round of performances at Phoenix Comic Con. I think that any of the players can tell you it is one of the events we look forward to all year. Cosplay! Panels! Art! Celebrities charging outlandish fees to snap a pic! And Nerds Nerds Nerds, delicious Nerds!

Our first panel was Saturday at 12. Spoof N Cinema: Star Wars the Clone Wars- wherein we took 2 Episodes of The Clone Wars (Defenders of Peace and Rookies, for the initiated) and created new dialogue, a new story complete with score and sound effects live! We packed in a standing room only crowd and fire marshals were turning people away. and the show was killer.



The team spent the day wandering around the con taking in various sights

Dont Blink! The weeping angels are here!

The cast of Voyage Trekkers? Didnt they win Best Web Series and Best of Arizona at this year's Phoenix Comic Con? Why yes, they did!

this inflatable time machine is bigger on the inside!

and then headed out for hilarious improv comedy at our own home, NCT in Mesa.

Sunday we packed back into Comic Con for our second set of shows. Something slightly out of the ordinary happened though...
we got set up and, per the norm there was some kind of weird and unexpected problem. the screen was yellow. we had all the right equipment so, one up on last year. and we had picture, so one up on saturday... but the picture was distinctly yellow. my super power of finding a tech guy came in handy and it seemed the problem was in hand when i excused myself to visit the powder room right across the hall before the show started. no sooner had trow dropped than the sirens and loud speakers began to blare in quiet and polite tones "the phoenix convention center has been alerted to an emergency. please proceed calmly to the nearest exit." and when i opened the restroom door a sea of nerd humanity was flooding past me, cutting off my connection to our panel room where my purse, phone and EVERYTHING ELSE lay in wait.
luckily, in the eye of the oncoming storm i bumped into, literally bumped into, one of my players who told me they had all my stuff and were booking for the exit.

ill tell you one thing i know for a certainty, if you want some fun people watching... visit phoenix convention center on the last hour of the last day of phoenix comic con and stand just across the street as the WHOLE PLACE gets evacuated. its unsane.
my players and i were super disheartened as well because our panel should have been beginning RIGHT THEN. and we were very unsure if we would be able to do it at all. at least a month of preperation and a whole bunch of positive energy was on the line if this weird bomb threat/fire alarm pull/ nefarious prank was not sorted out quickly.

evacuation smesmackuation!

it seemed darkest before the dawn when they ushered us from our roosts just outside the convention center doors and told us to cross the street.

However, no sooner did our feet hit the other side of 3rd street than the "All Clear" call went out and an even more robust sea of nerd humanity raced across, in front of the light rail for gods sake, BACK into the convention center.

miraculously we started our panel of Spoof N Cinema: Star Trek the Animated Series just ten minutes late. The crowd was significantly less than saturday, perhaps in part due to those fleeing for their very lives when the sirens blared? I hope so. the show was great, none the less and we walked out of Phoenix Comic Con, unbombed, and heads held high.



really looking forward to next year and the insanity that is sure to unfold. Phoenix Comic Con, we love ye.

High School Improv League Tournament & Shows 2013!

This year's Tourney was super fun, and a gimungous marathon of 7 improv shows in one day!



All of the teams represented really well and had a great time mingling and getting to know each other. We had so many parents, friends and supporters come to Tournament that we had to bring out another row of chairs. furthermore, in perfect accordance with Murphy's Law, the AC breaker broke and we were all jam packed in there, more than 100 people, most of them sweaty teenagers, with no fan blowing in the AC.

We soldiered through it, though and with good spirits and lots of laughs. We even had two guest judges on loan to us from the Torch Theatre, which was awesome. Mack and Rachel brought a fresh perspecitve to the festivities.



It was very close competition and, in the end, the Perry High School Perriwinkles took home the Franken Trophy and Basha High School's Sudden Impact Comedy Club took home the title of 2013 National Comedy Theatre High School Improv League Champions!

On May 24 NCT hosted the Tourney Champs vs. Pros show, a really exciting event where the players from Basha's winning team took the stage along with NCT Professionals. The All Star Show followed with All Star players from 6 of our schools on the NCT stage for the 9:45 show.



All of us at NCT are super proud of Basha's Sudden Impact, Perry's Perrywinkles and all of the teams who participated in 2013 Tournament. We are really going to miss the seniors who are moving on to become awesome grown ups somewhere out there but we couldn't be more excited for next year. Who knows what the 2014 High School Improv League will have in store.

Mom Squad: Squadders Assemble

this week intrepid NCT Director Krissy Lenz stepped into the 3TV Your Life A to Z Mom Squad...

it was funny and fun.
i'll tell you one thing, its a tough sell to show up pretty and pressed and camera ready at a TV studio in Phoenix after feeding and dressing and hefting two kids to school in Mesa. The threat of a complete Crumbing or Boogering is ever present. The Mom Squad aught to have a disclaimer "these are moms, dont expect a total absence of crumbs or boogers." I made it to call time with at least one minute to spare and met the other Moms of the Squad.

Its a good group of moms, very diverse and all of em seemed fun. An awesome grandmother named Marty kicked off our morning with tales of traffic tickets which somehow lead to discussion of the gilded boobies of Anne Bolin and that spun its way into a conversation on breast cancer (our group boasts two survivors) and mastectomy and breast reconstruction. This is what happens when you put moms in a room, we tend not to shy away from any and all topics. In fact, the conversation was so varied, immediate and lively that the wonderful make up lady, Karen Hall, kept having to interrupt in order to serve her purpose of giving us all camera polish and make up hints and tips.

You'll be pleased to know that I was only one of two moms in jeans and certainly the only one in converse sneakers. Luckily I wasnt the only one wholly underwater on the subject of doing one's makeup.

We taped our intros and it was awesome. Lisa Haffner is a total pro and incredibly nice, she spent a long time explaining that all the hubub in the studio was unusual and due to the Jodi Arias statement that was due to happen at any moment during our taping. The Your Life A to Z producers and crew are soooo patient and encouraging.

We all spent a long time after we taped our very brief hellos with Karen the awesome make up lady and she gave us a list of products she recommended. I felt very confident as I waltzed into the Ulta to make my purchases but quickly lost hope, underwater again when surrounded by so much crazy expensive make em ups... how do you ladies navigate these mine fields?
In the end I procured blush and powder, products I never had a mind to own.

I don't know when I can expect to appear again, but I'll be sure to keep you apprised of all Mom Squad movements.