An Update, and a Sneak Peek!

Today marks our first ever full-length show for the public.

We're nervous, to be sure - but more than that, we're excited to be able to finally share what we've been working on for the past year.

On Sunday, we were lucky enough to be able to perform a short set at the State College Community Theatre fundraiser event at Webster's Bookstore Cafe. It was our first truly public performance, and it was a blast. A middle-schooler named Elizabeth gave us the suggestion "unicorn" and in the middle of our set yelled out, "THIS IS AWESOME!" Elizabeth talked to us after the show and told us she does improv at her school. Elizabeth is a cool kid. Be like Elizabeth.

Later on, despite Sam's sleep deprivation (he's 37 years old with two children, as he will often remind you), we joined Penn State's After Hours show for a quick interview and round of "scenes from a riot helmet." (See both clips below. A warning - the second clip has some sparse language). That was also a blast, though Nate must have missed the "PG" memo. (He's not really sorry about it).

On Thursday, our show is going to be much longer - we're hoping to go for over an hour with laugh-out-loud improv comedy. How will we do that, you didn't ask? We'll tell you anyway! Here's a sneak peek of what you can expect from our show, which will be broken into three parts:

Part 1: 10 Things About

We'll open the show with a round of "10 Things About," an improv form or game where we get a word from the audience and do scenes about that word. How many scenes? You guessed it - ten. You're a math major now! (Andrea says that's not true). This is a little different than what we do at the end of the show, because all of these scenes will somehow incorporate the word given to us. It's fast-paced and fun!

Part 2: Small Town

The second act of our show will be a performance of a form called Small Town. If you're into improv, you might also know this as a La Ronde. Basically, each one of the four of us will only play one character for the entire set. We set it in a "small town," but it doesn't always have to be a literal town - it could be a big city, a castle, or even a spaceship. The idea is to explore the interconnected lives of people in this one area. It's probably the most "artsy" part of the show, and isn't always inherently comedic - but we promise, you'll love watching it.

Part 3: Improv Jam

After a quick intermission to refill on drinks and snacks, we'll come back and do the old standby, the oldest longform improv trick in the book: an improv jam. No holds barred, no rules, we just get a word from the audience and weave a bunch of scenes together for the next 25-30 minutes. It's improv without a net - no forms, no games, just scenework!

So that's it. That's a sneak peek at our show. Check out the clip below to see us in action, and please come to our show tonight! All you have to do is click the "Tickets" link in the menu on this site and pick the right show (hint: it's the first one listed)!

Thanks for supporting us!

-Happy Valley Improv