Okay everyone, get in here.
Pōneke improv round up for the week starting Monday 29 August
Farewell to August! This week I have mostly been directing and coaching and plotting planning for future projects - it is a good feeling to have things in the works. Did you know there are only four more months in 2022? You’re so far through this year, can you believe it? 2023 is going to suddenly arrive and I’m excited to see what you all get up to.
WIT is close to my heart, being the place I re-found improv after a few years away during university and it’s lovely to have feature them in today’s imProfile. I would love a few more companies or even individuals to add to the roster - send me your deets, friends!
imProfile: WELLINGTON IMPROV TROUPE
Who they are: "The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) is Wellington’s not-for-profit, community-based improv group. We’ve been part of the scene in Wellington for nearly 20 years now, and make occasional forays to festivals further afield. We teach improv to adults in cheerful collaboration with the Wellington Community Education Centre, and hold weekly training sessions in the CBD for people who've learnt the basics with WIT or another troupe. During shows theatre is made up on the spot, often inspired by suggestions from the audience. WIT’s improv styles include classic playful game based shortform (Micetro, Gorilla, Battle of WITs) and also narrative/literary longform (Attack of the Killer B-Movie, Ferris Wheel, Late Night Puppets, Lovecrafted, Poe’d). " Our members range in age from late teens through mid seventies and come from all kinds of performance backgrounds (including none)
What they do: Shows, Workshops, WIT's weekly Tuesday sessions are run on a koha-towards-the-room basis, $5 or so is appreciated if you can spare it, but really, it's you we want
The vibe: Game based shortform, narrative/literary longform, and occasional leaps sideways into puppets or masks, and seasonal shows at Halloween or Panto at Christmas. Guest tutors with special skills regularly join us for workshops, eg music and stage combat.
Get involved: Buy tickets to our shows, Register for our public workshops, Join our open jams/trainings, WIT membership is open to those who complete basic WIT training OR trained with another group and come along to our Tuesday sessions for a month or two
Stay updated: Follow WIT on their Facebook page.
Help me profile all the improv companies and ensembles in Pōneke!
Send me your group’s info and you’ll feature in a future post.
coming up this week…
shows
Fundamentals of Improv Graduation Showcase (Improv Connection). Monday 29 August, 8pm at Pow Wow Room, tix from $5.
Late Night Knife Fight (Locomotive). Saturday 3 September, 8pm at BATS Theatre, tix from $18. Headlined by AWKWARD (Kathryn Fitzpatrick and Clare Rose).
Captain Caketin’s Special Recipe (Captain Caketin). 1-3 September, 9:30pm at BATS Theatre, tix from $15. This show was supposed to be in Fringe I think? Cancelled/postponed and finally happening! Sketch from a group that formed out of Basejump’s training course.
workshops
Fundamentals of Improv (Improv Connection). Starts next week: Tuesdays 6 Sept - 25 Oct, 6pm-9pm at 12 King Street, $299/339. Send to your improv-curious friends!
other links and stuff
Creative Communities funding from Wellington City Council closes August 31st. If that’s too soon, you might qualify for the Arts and Cultural Fund closing 27 October.
Fell into a rabbit hole of writing from Ellenor Cox via Big Idea and Arts Hub. This one on what creatives can control (and what we can’t) really spoke to me.
An older post but a good one: The Schnozzle isn’t what it used to be.
Help me collate all the upcoming improv and improv-adjacent events and useful news - tell me about yours! Deadline is Saturday, I put this together on Sunday.
let’s talk…
My parents are retired now, but before they embraced a life of senior leisure my dad was a physics technician and my mum was an office and IT manager. I’ve always considered myself to be an apple that consciously chose to fall a little further from that tree. That is, until this evening, when I thought about how my dad has always been a coach and a leader in his sports and community, and my mum has always been crafty, making things with her hands for her family and for other people, and helping others understand how to do them. It’s just nice to think about how my work directing and coaching and performing echoes those loves in a different way, and how many skills in improv in theatre are transferrable both in and out of our work.
What do you bring to your practice? Where does it come from?
Here is a playlist in case this email did not find you well.
Adding on here: TINY DOG - Thursday 1 September, 8pm at BATS Theatre
https://bats.co.nz/whats-on/tiny-dog/