... from 13 to 113 to One N Tem... Improv Comedy Workshops For Everyone!

A busy week this week for classes and workshops at National Comedy Theatre and all around the Valley.

Tuesday: High School Improv League Class at Perry High School
AND Level 1 Workshop at NCT

Wednesday: Improv Workshop with the Improv Club at Sun City Anthem in Florence
AND Team Practice at NCT

Thursday: Speaking and presenting improv games and exercises at One N Ten Mesa
AND Thursday Night Troupe practice

Friday & Saturday: Shows

Performing improv is great fun and fans creative fire. Performing gives you the laughter of the audience and the delight of creating comedy with your fellow improvisers. And sometimes you get to pretend you are a "1920's gangster-slash-Leprechaun." It's tough to beat that.

TEACHING improv means setting other people on fire with insiration and positivity... as long as it is metaphorical fire and not actual flamible fire.
And really, once you have mastered that "prohibition-era mythical imp" character, you owe it to posterity to pass on the gift... am I right?

The High School Improv team at Perry High School and their team, the "PerryWinkles," has been part of our League going into their 3rd year. They have a new Team Captain, a batch of new recruits and after their workshop on Tuesday I can report that they have a really positive attitude and a good sense of team spirit.

We practiced scenework and games for their upcoming show with Basha High School- the proceeds are all going to charity. Check it out here.

Their Captain and some of their veteran players gave really insightful feedback and critique on the scenes and games we worked. It always my heart grow three sizes when I hear a High School Improv League Captain remind her team to "watch for opportunities to play with status." "remember to develop the relationship" and "dont forget to play with levels visually in your stage picture" it makes a teacher's heart go all a flutter.

I'm looking forward to working with them again next Tuesday to polish games for their upcoming competition at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

The new Level 1 Workshop also kicked off Tuesday evening. Its always great to get a new group together. The last Level 1 for the year is scheduled for October. You can find out more about our classes here.

Wednesday I drove out to Sun City Anthem in Florence. I've been coaching the SCATS Theatre Group there for about 2 years now.

The group is tons of fun to improvise with. They love to laugh and, I will tell you without hesitation, between the High School kids and the senior citizens... the seniors come up with the raunchiest suggestions. Between them and everyone else, really. It's a bawdy crowd up there in Florence. This week we worked on games for their upcoming Open Mic night.

Thursday night we went to present some improv at the One N Ten meeting in Mesa. Improv and the little communities of improvisers that come together can be a super positive experience, especially for teens and young adults. It was great to take a group of players over there to share our own stories and introduce the kids to improv.

We also had really solid Main Stage Team practice and Thursday Night Troupe rehearsal this week... busy, busy! The good news is that each experience brings us more positivity, stronger focus, new perspectives and sharper improv wits! All of which we will bring to bear at the shows this weekend!

-NCT

in 1492 Colubmbus Sailed the Ocean Blue and Longed for a Cooler Beverage and Hilarious Comedy...Right?

Voyage to Columbus Day Comedy and claim your Limited Edition NCT Beverage Koozie (while supplies last)

Friday and Saturday October 5 & 6 7:30pm & 9:45pm

We've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to "officially" celebrate the opening of the Lounge and give away some adorable little beverage Koozies so...

Bring your Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria over to National Comedy Theatre to celebrate Columbus Day and discover the Lounge!

Much as America existed before Columbus found it, the Lounge has been open for a few weeks... but have YOU explored it yet? Bring a flag and claim a piece of NCT for Spain, or Canada, or Chandler... just like they did it in the old days.

Our first 50 SuperFans at each show will walk away with a cusom NCT beverage koozie, while supplies last.

tickets are available online! www.nctphoenix.com/showtimes


This:

came from humble beginnings:

Auditions... a splendid turn out

Auditions... ah, they come but once a year. This year we are fortunate to be casting for our exciting new opportunity, the Thursday Night Troupe, as well as the Main Stage team. The possibilities are endless... as possibilities should always be. And gosh, we had a great group to choose from. It was a tough call and, more so that usual, we wish we could have taken everyone. I know you will join us in congratuating thenew members of our Thursday Night Troupe: Ariana, Ellen, Angelie, Chris, Summer, Ricky, Matthew, Sara, Marcus, Jonathan and Joshua. Check out the TNT performance on October 18th for s peek at the talent thats coming your way! And, be on the look out on Friday and Saturday nights for our new Main Stage cast member, Mr. Mike Warner

TNT at NCT... whats awesome about the Thursday Night Troupe

TNT at NCT: the Thursday Night Troupe kicks off their performance run Thursday August 9th at 7:60pm gosh. golly. i mean... my goodnight stars and garters... i am just so darn excited for the Thursday Night Troupe to kick it off on Thursday 8/9 at 7:30pm... with this show the TNT will take their place in the regular rotation of rad comedy shows that we put on stage at National Comedy Theatre.

this is a really great group of up and coming improv comedians. rehearsals with these guys have been funny, light hearted to the point of distraction and full of laughs. which is, i guess, how comedy rehearsal should be. most of the time.

The TN Troupe has got some faces you might recognize and some new faces you will be happy to meet. NCT PHX has the Main Stage Competitive Comedy Shows, the Midnight Shows, and soon the MashTerpiece Theatre and First Time Film Club BUT... there is always room for more comedy. the TNT at NCT show is going to be a different cup of tea with a format that is uncompetitive. i recommend you come and see the show!

Events at National Comedy Theatre

The Lounge is OPEN! Enjoy some San Tan Brewing Co. Craft Beer We are excited to announce that the Lounge is open! Join us at the Competitive Comedy shows Friday & Saturday nights at 7:30pm or 9:45pm to feast your eyes on all of the Loungey goodness and sip a cold one from San Tan Brewing Company (from Chander, AZ!) The concession area has been expanded and our lobby remodeled. In addition to our awesome new look, National Comedy Theatre will now be serving local craft beers and other selections as well! Make reservations today: www.nctphoenix.com/showtimes Level 1 Improv Comedy Class Begins Monday August 20 meets every Monday night from 7:30- 9:30pm for 6 weeks $175 Class fee Improv Comedy Class is a fun, unique way to sharpen your wits and your performance skills. In National Comedy Theatre's Level 1 Improv Comedy Class you will learn concepts and techniques that increase your potential awesomeness on stage, in the class room, the board room, the living room and beyond. Through interactive, no pressure exercises and games you will learn the techniques used by the professional improvisers and comedians at National Comedy Theatre. Classes are kept small so that you are guaranteed stage time and one-on-one instructor feedback. In this Comedy Class you will not sit back and listen to lectures, you will get on stage, get working and learn how to create comedy. Class size is limited. Call or email today to register. Additional dates in September, October and November. Click here. workshops@nctphoenix.com 602-374-5638 Audition to join us at National Comedy Theatre Sunday August 26 1:00pm Call 602-374-5638 or email workshops@nctphoenix.com to sign up National Comedy Theatre is expanding their performing teams and holding auditions to join the Main Stage Team or the Minor League. No experience is necessary. A positive attitude and big energy ARE necessary. Selected performers will participate in weekly rehearsals. The Midnight Show: No Holds Barred Improv Saturday July 28th 11:45pm Only $10 18 & up Experimental longform comedy with no Brown Bag Foul... watch your favorite hilarious comedy team churn out insane hilarity baseon on a single suggestion! www.nctphoenix.com/showtimes

Lounging... Its fun to reinvigorate! National Comedy Theatre Phoenix is in year four and we felt we were ready and excited to push it to the next level. We did some cool stuff this year, we built the stage and updated our lighting. That wasn’t the whole idea though… we actually started the process of planning the Lounge sooooo long ago… Simple plan (yeah right) move the ticket booth to the current concession area and remodel the Blue Room into a cool, classy, comfortable lounge where we will serve our regular concessions and soon, beer and wine as well. Our vision was for a place our SuperFans to relax and be awesome before the show, at half time and after the show in a place that invited hanging out and having conversations. As always, we started off by not only putting the cart before the horse but we pretty much put the cart in the middle of the living room before we even thought of finding a horse… that’s how we roll. Not purely by choice, but there it is. In hindsight, ripping out the wall was probably, logically, the LAST step to undertake… but the opportunity to hit something with a sledgehammer isn’t one to pass up lightly so that ended up being the FIRST thing we did… and as such we ended up with a big black plastic sheet up in the hall for a couple of awkward weeks. There are no old adages about knocking down walls. If only Benjamin Franklin had once said “we who knocks down walls before first furnishing the room within has black plastic sheeting in his future…” we may have thought twice about the fun of sledgehammers. And if old Ben had also offered a quip about how “finding a commercial style bar is darn near impossible, so get your Home Depot credit card in order before you take hammer to perfectly good wall…” we might have had an easier time of things. Luckily Ben DID say “beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy” so at least we had motivation! Finally things have started to take shape. We found a cool old bar at Stardust that had obviously been salvaged from the house of some very fancy and elegant human being. Lucky for us, that human being decided to get even fancier and more elegant and donated their vintage hardwood bar to Stardust where we snapped it up gleefully. We set to seeing it upcycled and repurposed it to fit our room. “youre going to paint that beautiful wood?” is an indignant phrase I heard a fair few times during our build out process… yes. Im going to paint that beautiful wood. Look around… this place is a festival of color, life and fun… this “elegant” and “fancy” hardwood bar was probably perfect for the stoic English gentleman who recently had it ripped out of his palacial estate… but for us it’s a bit too stodgy. It needs to get on board the NCT phoenix train. So I painted the beautiful wood, built an extension, and pilfered the cabinet doors to, as The Dude would say “really bring the room together.” And now the finishing touches are being finally touched. Im doing what I do best, rediscovering and repurposing long forgotten items and bringing them into our world. The result is coming soon, and it will surely be cause for celebration, casual hanging out, and further moving NCT into the realm of greatness.

High School Improv Legue Rides Again!

This years High School Improv League Champions, the Horizon High School 56th Street Comedy Club will send two teams of their very best improvisers to go up against the professionals of National Comedy Theatre on our Main Stage! Friday May 18 at 7:30pm & 9:45pm Get tickets HERE. The very best player from each High School Improv League Team will take the stage at National Comedy Theatre for our 4th Annual All Star Show! Saturday May 19 at 4:30pm $5 Get tickets HERE Recapping all the fun we could pack into a 2 day Tournament!

Horizon's 56th Street Comedy Club are our 2012 Tournament Champs Campo Verde's Copperpocalypse took home the Franken Trophy A special award was given this year. Our first Lil Trops Award recipients demonstrated friendship, leadership and kindness- turning their improv teams into mini-families and also reaching out to other teams within the League to make the League itself a mega-mini-family... From Desert Vista Tracy & Emily showed alot of determination and good old fashioned Moxie! Our only 1st year team. Greenway's Damon & Sam took home Lil Trops Trophies, and Cesar took home a tiny foam finger Award Basha High School gave Brigitte "Bam" and teacher Mrs. Schwartz the award Lani took home the award for Perry High School and new player Alli took home her own tiny foam finger award, as did Team Captain Katie. Our Franken Trophy Team from Campo Verde sent home Lil Trops Trophies with Afton, Cayli and Jamie as well as a tiny foam finger for Corinne Centennial High School's Captain Weston, the engine of his team, took home a trophy Agua Fria High Schools Captain Stephen and Maya won their Lil Trops awards and From Horizon tiny foam finger awards went home with Mike and Tyler, Lil Trops Trophies went to Teacher Mrs. Colson, Captains Caleb and Ryan and Alex it was a very exciting weekend and we cant wait to do it all again next year.