The days they are a'changing
Pōneke Improv Roundup for 7-20 November
Felipé Ortiz at Improvention 2011 said “theatre is as serious as a child’s game”. I often think about that; moreso this last week, as I said goodbye to my Grandpa and then played with my son and his second and third cousins at the many family events held alongside Grandpa’s service. My art and my work and many of my responsibilities - they are serious in the moment, important for connection and wellbeing, and they have rules and obligations the way tag or foursquare or playing cars does, and you have to care about the rules to help the people you’re playing with, until something happens to someone or something and then the only rule is to take care of each other. Are you hurt? Do you need a bandaid? A snack? A hug? A hug. We’ll play another day.
In short, I didn’t write this newsletter last week and I’m okay with it, and I hope you didn’t miss me too much.
Heads up that I’m shuffling things around here, and moving to fortnightly newsletters to better accommodate life and events etcetera. I will likely take a break over the summer as everything tends to wind down in January, so that will be a good refresh. Invite your improv friends to join us here, and remember that you can download the Substack app (Apple, Android) and respond in the comments.
Help me profile all the improv companies and ensembles in Pōneke!
Send me your/your group’s info and you’ll feature in a future post.
coming up this fortnight…
shows
ALREADY BEEN: Tiny Dog - Fundraiser (Tiny Dog). “Tiny Dog’s November show is a woofin fundraiser for ‘best in show’ Stevie-barking-up-the-correct-tree-Hancox-Monk’s gender affirming surgery!” I missed sharing this last week, but you can still support Stevie’s fundraising at their GiveALittle page. Stevie is so damn lovely, if you can spare a few dollars I know it will be so, so appreciated.
The Engine Room (Trick of the Light). Friday 11 Nov, 7:30pm at BATS Theatre, tix from $10. Trick of the Light turns 10 11 this year (Covid cancelled their party last year) and they are doing a play reading of their first work. Ralph has played with many local and national improv groups as well as all this scripted malarky, and they have made some truly beautiful works. Get along and celebrate with them!
Anxiety… the Musical? (Maria Williams). 15-19 Nov, 7pm at BATS Theatre, tix from $18. “Join stressed-out millennial Maria Williams for a one-hour rant about her life from birth to now.” Maria is another beaut member of our improv community and this show is long, long overdue for its debut.
workshops
WIT Tuesday with guest tutor Kerryn Palmer (WIT). Tues 8 Nov, 6pm-8pm at Te Auaha Garage, free/koha.
other events and links and stuff
The Improvisor of the Year Awards, Locomotive. Sunday 11 December, 4pm at Southern Cross Garden Bar. This is a holiday party for any and all improvisors in Wellington, visiting or resident. All attendees will be eligible for the main award (follow the Facebook event for more info) and we’ll have some other celebratory community awards and accolades to share too. Tix are only $5 to cover the room and some snacks, come along!
WIT 2023 Celebration Plans (WIT). 9 Nov, 7pm online (Zoom). “Next year WIT will have been a troupe for 20 years, and it's a chance to look back and look forward and enjoy some great improv. The current committee has ideas, but you might have better ones, and maybe even shows you'd like to revive with old castmates.”
Happy birthday to PopRox who turned one last week!
Thanks Chris Mead for the heads up: eight hours of incredible improvisors TJ and Dave available for streaming here ($30US).
Shoutout to Pudgy White Men and their great review in Wellingtonista. We are pretty lucky here that we can get our improv reviewed - I’ve heard a lot of chatter from overseas improvisors that reviewers refuse to come along. It sounds like it was a great show and I’m gutted I missed it!
The Early Years of the Second City (photos gallore).
Help me collate all the upcoming improv and improv-adjacent events and useful news - tell me about yours!
let’s talk…
Twitter is dying, or will be soon. I’ve joined Mastodon (@jenniferalice@mastodon.nz) and who knows if that will do what we seem to need it to. That makes my social networks history: Mastodon, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, Myspace, MSN…
What are we looking for in these networks? Would love to have a IRL third place instead of whatever this hodgepodge is…