Pocatello improv troupe to hold two day ‘Improvathon’ festival
Published at
POCATELLO – A group of local performers are inviting people to come and see their upcoming two-day festival, where they will improvise story after story on the spot.
The Comedy Project, an improv troupe that’s been performing in Pocatello for 20 years, will hold its “Improvathon Comedy Festival” on March 14 to 15 at The Warehouse located at 1009 South 2nd Avenue. As is traditional with improv, the stage will feature no props aside from a few chairs, allowing the performers to “literally do anything.”
“You get to create everything. Everything and anything can be on that stage. You just have to believe it is, which sounds so artsy, but … as long as the performers are completely brought into the reality that they’re creating on the stage, you can literally do anything,” said Tiffany Briscoe, president of The Comedy Project.
Two decades ago, The Comedy Project started with around five or six members, a number which has grown and fallen over the years. Currently, the improv troupe has around 23 members throughout the Pocatello/Chubbuck area.
Year after year, after the group held auditions, new members would get busy with their personal lives and fall off. One way the troupe has maintained a larger group has been through fundraisers and events like Improvathon.
“Improvathon actually really helps with visibility in the community and getting more members,” Briscoe said.
This year, Improvathon will start on Friday evening at 6 p.m. High school students who could be future members of the troupe will kick off the night with the high school showcase, which will last around two hours.
After them, regular members of The Comedy Project will take the stage and perform until around midnight. During the night, Westside Players, the local nonprofit that owns the Warehouse, will serve drinks, and there will be food trucks outside.
Performances will start the next day at 10 a.m. and last until 10 p.m., with breaks in between. Food trucks will be available throughout the day, and the group will also offer prizes throughout the day with a raffle giveaway.
Starting the day on Saturday will be the community workshop, which is open to anyone who wants to perform, and will go until noon. The regular troupe members will improvise in a variety of genres, all the way from romantic comedy to high fantasy.
And the members will only perform sets for around 20 minutes before switching to a new one.
“If you can only pop in and watch one or two shows and then pop out, you can kind of come in and out throughout the day,” Briscoe said. “It’s really flexible in that way.”
Tickets can be purchased online for both Friday and Saturday for $25, or for $10 for just Friday or $15 for just Saturday. Tickets for just one of the days purchased at the door will be $15 for Friday and $20 for Saturday.
The funds raised from the tickets will go towards the group’s efforts to find its own permanent performance space and support its members in their efforts to attend improv festivals and workshops.
Briscoe said that when its members go out to these events, it enriches the group as a whole when they bring back “new, innovative improv ideas.” Rather than say that the group has expanded due to luck, Briscoe feels it comes down to the passion of its members.
“It’s not as much luck as it is passionate people that are keeping this going,” Briscoe said. “I want to continue building a really well-rounded and really strong improv community in this town.”
EastIdahoNews.com comment boards are a place for open, honest, and civil communication between readers regarding the news of the day and issues facing our communities. We encourage commenters to stay on topic, use positive and constructive language, and be empathetic to the feelings of other commenters. THINK BEFORE YOU POST. Click here for more details on our commenting rules.